BP's Project Status QUO, in the QUEUE

Posted 9/17/12
9:30PM
Updated 9/18/2012
9:48 AM
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) manages New York’s electricity transmission grid – a 10,775-mile network of high-voltage lines that carry electricity throughout the state. The NYISO also oversees wholesale electricity markets where more than $50 billion has been transacted since 1999.

The NYISO Interconnection Queue (the spreadsheet) lists projects that are active in the NYISO interconnection process, or were active in the process but recently went into service (projects that have gone in-service eventually are removed from this list). This list is the “Queue.”

What does British Petroleum’s  buyout of Acciona’s interests in the St. Lawrence Wind development,  mean as far as the positions of the two projects in the NYISO Queue?

When these two projects merged, British Petroleum’s Cape Vincent wind project’s position was # 207 in the Queue. They are planning to connect to the yet to be built RockLedge substation.
In addition, St. Lawrence wind was # 166 in the Queue,the plan for this project is to connect to the existing Lyme Substation.

Last February, I had an opportunity to ask a representative from NYISO how this merger may affect their status in the Queue.

Below are my questions and the answers.

Q1. What happens if a developer sells their project; does the new owner of the project retain its spot in the queue? If not, does the new owner slip back to the last spot in the Queue?

Answer: Under Attachment X of the NYISO Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), if a Developer of a project in the NYISO Interconnection Queue sells the project to another Developer, the new Developer assumes “ownership” of the project in its current Queue Position, provided that the new Developer does not modify the project in a way that may affect its Queue Position.

Q2. What happens if a new owner of a project wants to amend the project, e.g. increase or reduce the number of turbines? If they change, do they lose their spot in the Queue?

Answer: Under Attachment X of the OATT, certain modifications to a project may be made without affecting the project’s Queue Position, and certain modifications would cause the project to lose its Queue Position.

Q3. In the case of the St. Lawrence Wind Project being sold to the Cape Vincent Wind Project, both located in the Town of Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, if both project are combined what will be the new status of the combine project in the NYISO Queue.

Answer: Although the two projects may be “combined” outside the NYISO interconnection process, within the NYISO interconnection process the projects will continue to be treated as separate projects in their respective Queue Positions.

Q4. Acciona’s St. Lawrence wind planned to connect to the existing Lyme substation, BP’s Cape Vincent wind is scheduled to connect to the Rockledge substation, that has not been built yet ,if the two projects combine will this change their interconnect point?

Answer: Per the previous answer, the two projects will continue to be treated as separate projects in the NYISO interconnection process. They cannot be “combined” within the NYISO process.

Additionally,
Under the NYISO tariff, a Developer can withdraw their project from the Queue at any time (they don’t have to give a reason).
The tariff also allows NYISO to withdraw a project from the Queue for very specific reasons/circumstances spelled out in the tariff. (NYISO cannot withdraw a project from the Queue without a reason defined in the tariff.)

NOTE
At this point in time, British Petroleum’s Cape Vincent wind and Acciona's St. Lawrence wind projects, have merged and continue to retain their positions and remain active in the interconnect Queue.  Year to date thirty two projects have withdrawn from the QUEUE . I do not know if this affects BP's position in the QUEUE.

Below is the portion of the QUEUE spreadsheet that pertains to Cape Vincent

Link here to the complete NYISO Queue spreadsheet updated August 31/2012


APPLICATION BY NIAGARA MOHAWK POWER CORPORATIONTO INSTALL A 115kV GENERATOR ATTACHMENT FACILITYAND PERFORM MISCELLANEOUS FACILITIES WORK TO ACCOMMODATE THECONSTRUCTION OF THE CAPE VINCENT WIND FARM GENERATION FACILITIES (ROCKLEDGE)