wiredinUSA September 2012

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MAKING
THENEWS
9 wiredInUSA - September 2012
Indiana wants power!
Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners
plans to build a $2 billion, 700-mile
transmission line stretching from Kansas to an
existing transmission line in Sullivan County,
southwest Indiana, which connects
to the eastern states.
The precise
path of the “Grain Belt Express” trans-
mission line is not yet confirmed, but is
likely to pass into southwestern Indiana
from Illinois. Property negotiations and
regulatory approvals are being sought in
Kansas, Missouri and Illinois.
Clean Line Energy plans to file with the
Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission,
before the end of the year, to become
recognized as a regulated public utility,
said Diana Coggin, project development
manager. Kansas regulators have already
granted the company public utility status.
The company planned a public meeting
in Sullivan County during August , where it
was to make a presentation to the Indiana
State Chamber of Commerce’s energy
management conference in downtown
Indianapolis.
Clean Line said the transmission line
project could facilitate investment of up to
$7 billion in new wind farm installations in
the plains states. Wind power generation
there is restricted because transmission
line connections to the east are lacking,
Coggin explained.
The privately funded project would not
allocate construction costs to Indiana
ratepayers, and Clean Line would sell the
resulting electricity to the utilities.
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