>The polluting coal plant is on its way out… but the most valuable of its parts is the plug — how it connects to the grid that powers our homes.
>Instead of letting it go to waste as the fossil fuel plant closes, Xcel Energy is going to leave it plugged in to connect the largest solar project in the Upper Midwest, and one of the largest in the entire country, directly to the grid.
>Repurposing the so-called interconnection system is short-circuiting what could have been seven years of bureaucracy and red tape to get this electricity distributed to its customers.
Great, but there are a number of other coal plants doing the same thing – everybody knows the interconnection is the valuable part of the system
Same thing is happening in Eastern MT at the Colstrip coal-fired facility. Wind farms are being built within the BAA, which tie directly to the Colstrip Transmission System. The megawatts are flowing via Northwestern, Avista and Puget Sound Energy transmission assets which formerly flowed MW from Colstrip Units 1&2 that were retired.
Next year will be interesting as test energy from some of the wind farms are under construction will begin to flow despite the fact that Colstrip units 3&4 will continue to operate at their maximum capacity. This is one of the issues I’m working on right now.
Then, in 2026, we will see similar challenges with retiring the Centralia coal-fired power plant in Western WA. That plant is pretty important with regard to reliability in the North-South corridor, west of the Cascades. We have some solutions on the table but they are not straightforward, due to WA State’s requirements to decarbonize. Election Day will be very fascinating to watch in the PNW. Repeal of WA’s aggressive decarbonization legislation is on the ballot. This will impact asset planning and power markets in all of the PNW.
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>The polluting coal plant is on its way out… but the most valuable of its parts is the plug — how it connects to the grid that powers our homes.
>Instead of letting it go to waste as the fossil fuel plant closes, Xcel Energy is going to leave it plugged in to connect the largest solar project in the Upper Midwest, and one of the largest in the entire country, directly to the grid.
>Repurposing the so-called interconnection system is short-circuiting what could have been seven years of bureaucracy and red tape to get this electricity distributed to its customers.
Great, but there are a number of other coal plants doing the same thing – everybody knows the interconnection is the valuable part of the system
Same thing is happening in Eastern MT at the Colstrip coal-fired facility. Wind farms are being built within the BAA, which tie directly to the Colstrip Transmission System. The megawatts are flowing via Northwestern, Avista and Puget Sound Energy transmission assets which formerly flowed MW from Colstrip Units 1&2 that were retired.
Next year will be interesting as test energy from some of the wind farms are under construction will begin to flow despite the fact that Colstrip units 3&4 will continue to operate at their maximum capacity. This is one of the issues I’m working on right now.
Then, in 2026, we will see similar challenges with retiring the Centralia coal-fired power plant in Western WA. That plant is pretty important with regard to reliability in the North-South corridor, west of the Cascades. We have some solutions on the table but they are not straightforward, due to WA State’s requirements to decarbonize. Election Day will be very fascinating to watch in the PNW. Repeal of WA’s aggressive decarbonization legislation is on the ballot. This will impact asset planning and power markets in all of the PNW.