Public Notice...

Public Notice...

PUBLIC NOTICE

    Pursuant to the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act and the Wyoming Public Service Commission’s (Commission) Procedural Rules, the Commission hereby gives notice of the Application of Rocky Mountain Power (RMP or the Company) for a non-situs Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to construct its Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission line as more fully described below:

    1.    RMP is a division of PacifiCorp, an Oregon corporation, engaged in the business of supplying electric utility service to customers throughout its six-state service territory, including Wyoming. RMP is a public utility, as defined by Wyoming Statute § 37-l-101(a)(vi)(C), subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction pursuant to Wyoming Statute § 37-2-112.

    2.    On February 6, 2023, the Company filed an Application, together with supporting testimony and exhibits, requesting the Commission grant a non-situs CPCN to construct the Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission line (segment H of the Energy Gateway Project) (B2H). The Company included a Petition for Confidential Treatment and Protective Order with its Application.

    3.    The Company’s proposed Boardman-to-Hemingway is an approximately 300-mile-long, 500-kV transmission line that will extend from a proposed switching station near Boardman, Oregon to the existing Hemingway Substation located in Owyhee County, Idaho. Approximately 274 miles of the transmission line is located in five Oregon counties: Malheur, Baker, Union, Umatilla, and Morrow Counties. A 24-mile segment of the Project will be in Owyhee County in Idaho. The project also consists of a newly constructed switching station near Boardman, Oregon, ten communication stations within the right-of-way of the transmission line, and construction of the Midline Series Capacitor substation.

    4.    The Company has partnered with Idaho Power Company (IPC) and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to develop the Project. IPC is the overall project manager, responsible for permitting, design, procurement, and construction. IPC will fund and own 45.45 percent and the Company will fund and own 54.55 percent.

    5.    The Company states the proposed project is necessary for the following reasons: 1) it increases the ability to move resources across and between both of the Company’s balancing authority areas and will allow the Company to export 818 megawatts (MW) of additional generation capacity from Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho generators to Oregon, Washington, and California customers; 2) it enables the Company to avoid higher cost transmission and generation investments to serve the system, including Wyoming, that would be required absent B2H; and 3) it reduces the cost of third-party transmission service included in the net power costs allocated to Wyoming retail customers. The Company states that construction of B2H is expected to produce total-system cost savings of $1.7 billion. The Company states that IPC must begin construction in July 2023 to have the project come into service by 2026.

    6.    The Company expects its share of the estimated total cost of the project to be between $800 and $900 million, which is estimated to increase Wyoming customer rates by an estimated 1.95 percent once the Company proposes to include the costs of the project in a future general rate case. The Company intends to finance the project through its normal internal and external sources of capital.

    7.    This is not a complete description of RMP’s Application. You may review the Application at RMP’s Wyoming offices and at the Commission’s office in Cheyenne, Wyoming, during business hours or online at: https://dms.wyo.gov/external/publicusers.aspx (enter Record No. 17236).

    8.    Anyone desiring to file a statement, intervention petition, protest or request for a public hearing in this matter must do so, in writing, on or before March 15, 2023. Petitions shall set forth the grounds of the proposed intervention or request for hearing as well as the position and the interest of the petitioner in this proceeding. Please mention Docket No. 20000-631-EN-23 in all correspondence with the Commission.

    9.    If you wish to participate in this matter and you require reasonable accommodation for a disability, please contact the Commission at (307) 777-7427, or write to the Commission at 2515 Warren Avenue, Suite 300, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, to make arrangements. Communications impaired persons may also contact the Commission by accessing Wyoming Relay at 711.
Publish: March 1 & 8, 2023    2767

 

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Glenrock Independent

Physical Address:506 W. Birch, Glenrock, WY 82637 Mailing Address: PO Box 109, Douglas, WY 82633 Phone: (307) 436-2211

The Glenrock Independent is located in the Bronco Building

Office hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday - 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

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