The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, on behalf of American Transmission Co. LLC, on June 15 filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an agreement for engineering design and procurement of material for a portion of the required network upgrades needed to interconnect the 98-MW Quilt Block Wind LLC project to the grid.
Quilt Block plans to own and construct a wind farm in Lafayette County, Wisconsin. It will consist of forty nine (49) Vestas 2- MW wind turbine generators, a collection system, an interconnection substation, and associated facilities, with a total output of 98 MW (gross). The facility is presently expected to interconnect to the 138kV X-14 Darlington Substation and Hillman Line and transmission system owned by ATC.
Quilt Block is in the February 2015 MISO Definitive Planning Phase (DPP) cycle. The needed studies are underway. If MISO approves the studies, the interconnection customer and transmission owner intend on constructing permanent interconnection facilities and network upgrades. The provisional Generator Interconnection Agreement (GIA) has not been completed, but the parties anticipate negotiating and entering into such a GIA upon completion and approval of the studies. The parties anticipate that the provisional GIA will be in effect until the DPP cycle concludes and the parties will enter into an unconditional GIA.
Incidentally, Dairyland Power Cooperative announced June 8 at its 75th Annual Meeting a significant expansion of wind resources, with Barbara Nick, Dairyland President and CEO, stating in her address that Dairyland will purchase the renewable energy from a 98-MW wind project in southwestern Wisconsin. Dairyland said it has reached a power purchase agreement with EDP Renewables North America LLC, which will develop, operate and maintain the Quilt Block Wind Farm, located 20 miles southeast of Platteville. Construction is expected to begin in 2017, with commercial operation beginning toward the end of that year.
