LS Power on Aug. 26 said that its subsidiary, DesertLink, LLC, on Aug. 12 energized the Harry Allen to Eldorado (HAE) 500-kV transmission project, which is designed to strengthen the connection between the California ISO grid and NV Energy’s transmission system.
The company also said that the project — which covers about 60 miles between NV Energy’s 500-kV Harry Allen substation to the north and Southern California Edison’s 500-kV Eldorado substation to the south — will increase transmission import and export capacity, while providing economic and reliability benefits to California consumers.
The company noted that in selecting DesertLink to build, own, and operate the HAE line, the ISO in 2016 concluded that DesertLink’s proposal provided “… more robust capital/construction cost and ROE caps that should result in lower costs and present less risk compared to the proposals of the other two project sponsors, thus benefiting ratepayers.”
The company also noted that it, through its subsidiary, LS Power Grid California, LLC, (LSPGC) was selected earlier this year by the ISO under its FERC Order 1000 compliant process for two additional competitively procured transmission projects, the:
- Gates 500-kV Dynamic Reactive Support project
- Round Mountain 500-kV Area Dynamic Reactive Power Support project
As TransmissionHub reported, the ISO, in a Jan. 17 notice, said that it has selected LSPGC as the approved project sponsor to finance, build, own, operate, and maintain the Gates transmission solution. The ISO noted that it conducted a comparative analysis of four qualified project sponsors and their 10 applications.
As noted in the Jan. 17 selection report concluding the competitive solicitation process for the project, the project involves an approximately 800 MVAR dynamic reactive device to be installed in two equally sized blocks independently connected to the 500-kV bus at the Gates substation owned by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). The ISO said that LSPGC proposed several cost containment mechanisms, including a binding capital cost cap of $68.3m, with certain exceptions; a binding return on equity cap of 9.80%; and a binding equity percentage cap of no more than 45% equity for the life of the project.
Also, as reported, the ISO, in a Feb. 28 notice, said that it has selected LSPGC as the approved project sponsor to finance, build, own, operate, and maintain the Round Mountain transmission solution. The ISO noted that it conducted a comparative analysis of six qualified project sponsors and their 12 applications.
In a March 2 statement, LS Power President Paul Thessen said, in part: “The project to be constructed by LS Power consists of two static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) units and a new 500 kV switching station to be installed in rural Shasta County, California, interconnecting the two existing Round Mountain to Table Mountain 500 kV transmission lines. The in-service date is planned for June 2024.”
The ISO noted that LSPGC proposed several cost containment mechanisms, including binding capital cost of $75.5m, with certain exceptions; AFUDC included in project cost cap; binding return on equity cap of 9.80% for the life of the project; and binding equity percentage cap of no more than 45% equity for the life of the project.
In its Aug. 26 statement, LS Power said that it has an additional transmission project in advanced development that would be complementary to the HAE project — namely, the Southwest Intertie Project (SWIP) North, which is a 275-mile, 500-kV transmission line that would run between Nevada and Idaho.
Among other things, LS Power said that, once energized, SWIP North would provide bulk system reliability enhancements, congestion relief and economic energy exchange, as well as additional transmission capability, delivering access to wind, geothermal, and solar energy resources in areas that would otherwise not have access to those systems.
