CARMEL, Ind. — MISO announced today that Republic Transmission, LLC will lead development of a new double-circuit 345 kV transmission line that will ultimately connect NIPSCO’s Hiple substation in LaGrange County, Indiana to the new Duck Lake substation in Michigan. The Hiple to Indiana/Michigan State Border 345 kV project is the first competitively bid project from the Long Range Transmission Planning (LRTP) Tranche 1 portfolio approved by MISO’s board of directors last year.
“Republic Transmission’s proposal reflects an efficient project cost and design,” said Jeremiah Doner, MISO’s director of cost allocation and competitive transmission. “This includes a superior 40-year cost containment commitment, and a well-reasoned project implementation strategy.”
The Republic Transmission proposal includes an estimated project implementation cost of $77 million (in nominal dollars) for a new 23-mile 345 kV project extending from Hiple to the Indiana/Michigan State Border where the new Michigan transmission line – to be constructed by Michigan Electric Transmission Company (METC) – will connect with the new Duck Lake substation in Michigan. Only the Indiana portion of the transmission line was eligible for MISO’s competitive transmission process.
“Republic Transmission moves forward as the developer following a rigorous competitive selection process that included seven proposals from three submitting developers to construct, own, operate and maintain the project,” said Doner. “We look forward to working closely with the developer, regulators and other stakeholders to support a successful and on-time completion of the project.”
LRTP is a component of MISO’s Response to the Reliability Imperative – the shared responsibility of MISO and its stakeholders to address the urgent and complex challenges to the electric grid. MISO evaluates proposals based on cost and design, project implementation, operations and maintenance and transmission planning participation – all relevant factors in ensuring project success. MISO used the established criteria and competitive selection process as described in its Tariff to evaluate proposals, and ultimately to select the developer.
MISO issued a request for project proposals on September 13, 2022, and developers had until January 11, 2023, to complete submissions. This is the first of five competitive projects identified out of LRTP Tranche 1 to complete the competitive selection process. The competitive selection process for the remaining four will continue through the first half of 2024. The project is expected to be in service by 2030. The complete selection report for the project is available on MISO’s Competitive Transmission webpage.
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