Fortis Inc. presented first quarter 2017 earnings on May 2, 2017. The presentation highlighted their newly acquired independent transmission company ITC Holdings investment plan to invest $958M this year and $3.0bn to $4.0bn over the next five years. Fortis completed the ITC acquisition on Oct. 14, 2016, at a cost of $11.8bn. ITC is the nation’s largest regulated independent transmission company. The company has projects in seven states and since its formation in 1999, has invested more than $6.2bn in projects to improve reliability, lower costs, access new markets and interconnect renewable power generation projects to the grid. ITC owns over 15,700 circuit miles.
The ITC investment forecast is part of an overall capital spending plan by Fortis expected to total $13bn over the next five years. Fortis’s report cited progress on major capital projects including ITC’s multi-value regional projects and a conversion of several 34.5-kV to 69-kV projects. Also, subject to meeting milestones, ITC is moving along nicely with the 1,100 MW bi-directional 320-kV HVDC underwater Lake Erie Connecter project. If everything goes to plan, it will be completed in late 2020. The project will connect Ontario Energy at Nanticoke with the PJM interconnection in Erie County, Pennsylvania.