Montana Alberta Tie Limited (MATL)
MATL is a 600 MW, 215 mile merchant (private) transmission line connecting Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alberta. The Governor’s Office tracked the state and federal permitting process closely which was completed in the fall of 2008. Groundbreaking on the $100 million 230-kilovolt line was held in October 2010 and the line is scheduled to be fully operational by mid 2011. MATL will result in the creation of 50 construction jobs, 10 permanent jobs, over a $1 billion in investment in transmission line / wind farms and will bring in $700,000 annually in property taxes. More importantly MATL provides transmission capacity for 600 MW of wind farm development that will bring in over $1 billion in investment to the state along with hundreds of construction job, dozens of permanent jobs, and millions in property taxes and lease payments.
Mountain States Transmission Intertie (MSTI)
Mountain States Transmission Intertie (MSTI) is a proposed project from NorthWestern Energy to provide 1,500 MW of new transmission capacity between the Townsend area and the Midpoint substation in Jerome County, Idaho. The company submitted permit applications to the state in July, 2008 for the proposed $1 billion project. MSTI is a 500 kV transmission line that would relieve constraints on higher-voltage systems and provide west coast market access to new Montana power generation projects. The project would be built between substations located near Townsend and Jerome Idaho with an in- service date of 2013. The construction of MSTI is estimated to result in 742 jobs and generate $12 - $37 million per year in property tax revenue, dependent on how facilities are classified by the Montana Department of Revenue.
Green Line
Tonbridge Power’s Green Line Project is a 230-500 kV transmission line under development to connect Great Falls to Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) transmission system. The line would link the MATL transmission line to BPA’s 500 kV transmission line either at Garrison or Townsend and would provide increased access to west coast markets. The final route for the approximately 100 mile project has not yet been determined but there have been requests for at least 850 MW of capacity on the line and MOUs have been signed with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) to further review and evaluate this project.
Chinook
TransCanada’s Chinook Project, is a proposed 800 mile high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line proposed to connect Montana through Townsend to Las Vegas, Nevada, with target markets in Las Vegas, Southern California and Phoenix. The project will use 500kV bi-pole lines to minimize land impact and provide for a total capacity of 3000 MW. As of late 2010 TransCanada has been holding an open season for prospective power generators to reserve capacity on the line.
Havre to Rainbow Transmission Upgrade
This Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) project will upgrade the existing 103 mile line from 161 kV to 230 kV and in addition to the construction of an additional 20 miles of new transmission line. This project was permitted in 2008 and remains under construction.
Wolf Point to Williston Transmission Upgrade
Wolf Point to Williston was permitted in 2006 and is currently under construction.
BPA / Colstrip 500 kV Transmission Line Upgrades
NorthWestern Energy is commissioning technical studies on a project to increase the capacity of the existing high voltage transmission line from Colstrip to the west coast by up to 750 MW. NorthWestern is working with the Energy Promotion and Development Division, Pacific Corp, Puget Sound Power, Portland Electric and BPA. Studies to move this first phase forward are expected to be done in early 2011.
Grasslands Renewable Energy
This Bozeman based company is associated with Spain based Elecnor and has plans to develop a transmission system that would provide capacity to ship 1,000 MW of firm power generated by an aggregation of 3,000 MW of wind farms dispersed across Montana and surrounding states and provinces. As part of this wind / transmission development plan and as a means of providing “green” firming power, Grasslands is actively developing a 300 MW pumped hydro storage project to be located near Martinsdale. If developed, Grasslands’ projects would result in over 1500 direct jobs and a total economic impact of over $287 million for Montana.
Montana Renewable Collector System
NorthWestern is evaluating a project to construct $200 million worth of transmission lines to collect renewable energy and efficiently deliver it to market. The project would consist of a series of up to five new 230kV lines that would connect high quality wind areas to a substation south of Townsend. From there the lines would connect to both the existing 500kV Colstrip Transmission System and the proposed MSTI 500kV line. NorthWestern has established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) to coordinate the planning of this project to determine how it may enhance WAPA’s mission of enabling renewable energy development.
