MISO announced Republic Transmission, LLC has been selected through its competitive developer selection process to develop the Duff-Coleman EHV 345kV competitive transmission project in southern Indiana and western Kentucky.
Republic Transmission is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LS Power Associates, L.P. LS Power is a privately held power generation and transmission company and owns and manages a large and diverse independent power generation and transmission portfolio. Republic Transmission, LLC headquarters is located in St. Louis, Missouri.
Republic Transmission’s proposal includes one proposal participant, Big Rivers Electric Corporation, a member-owned not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Henderson, Kentucky. In addition, LS Power and Hoosier Energy have entered an agreement for Hoosier Energy to acquire a percentage of ownership in Republic Transmission and provide operations and maintenance for the segment of the project in Indiana.
“Republic Transmission’s project proposal exhibited the best balance of high-quality design and competitive cost, best-in-class project implementation, and top-tier plans for operations and maintenance,” said Priti Patel regional executive for the MISO north region and executive director of MISO’s Competitive Transmission Administration. “Its proposal provided the strongest combination of attributes, including but not limited to, the highest degree of certainty and specificity, the lowest risk, and low cost. It comes down to providing the greatest value. That encompasses more than just cost. We want to congratulate Republic Transmission and all of the companies who invested their valuable time and resources in this rigorous selection process.”
The Duff-Coleman EHV 345kV competitive transmission project is MISO’s first competitive transmission project under its FERC approved Order 1000 competitive developer selection process. The project is part of the MISO Transmission Expansion Plan 2015 (MTEP15) and is expected to be in-service no later than January 1, 2021.
Republic Transmission was selected from a group of 11 qualified developers. Developer submissions included wide-ranging technical and financial proposals. MISO evaluated each proposal according to its competitive developer selection process outlined in the MISO tariff and applicable Business Practice Manuals. Four FERC-approved criteria were used in the evaluation process: cost and design, project implementation, operations and maintenance, and participation in the planning process.
“The proposals were sufficiently distinct from one another and each provided varying levels of specificity, certainty, risk mitigation, and cost. The selected proposal will deliver the greatest overall value to the MISO region. Republic Transmission was the clear and decisive winner,” said Patel.
Republic Transmission will execute a binding developer agreement, incorporating the commitments made in the selected proposal and contained in the MISO tariff. Part of the selected developer’s responsibilities will be to complete quarterly project status reports to MISO.
“With the evaluation and selection phases of the competitive developer selection process now over, we look forward to working closely with Republic Transmission, stakeholders and the Organization of MISO States to ensure the success of this project,” said Patel.
