Invenergy plans two additional central Montana wind farms, buys capacity on proposed transmission line

Chicago-based Invenergy Wind Development LLC, the owner of Montana's second-largest wind farm, is planning to construct two additional wind facilities in the Great Falls region and has agreed to co-develop and co-finance a new transmission line needed to ship the power to market.

Invenergy's Mark Jacobson said the company has agreed to a "cooperation agreement" with Tonbridge Power Co. of Toronto, which is developing a transmission project called the Green Line between Great Falls and Townsend.

Under terms of the agreement, Invenergy will invest in the early development of the line and has agreed to become an "anchor shipper," paying Tonbridge to ship 350 megawatts of power.

Jacobson declined to say how much Invenergy will contribute toward development, but Robert van Beers, Tonbridge's chief operating officer, called Invenergy's commitment a "tremendous boost" to the project.

"It means we have financial partners so the development can proceed, and the development is supported by three parties," van Beers said. "Secondarily, it means the project has customers."

Invenergy is the second anchor shipper Tonbridge has lined up, behind Gaelectric of Ireland, which has an office in Great Falls.

Invenergy and Gaelectric have reserved a combined 850 megawatts on the line, more than double the state's existing output from wind and the equivalent of about five wind farms.

"This Green Line is going to unlock a tremendous amount of energy," van Beers said.

The 350-megawatts Invenergy plans to ship on the line would be generated at wind farms the company has in the works near Belt and Cut Bank, Jacobson said. Construction is expected to begin in two to five years.

Cascade County, which has courted wind farm developers since 2002, is backing the Invenergy plans for what will be called the Big Otter wind project near Belt.

"We have a world-class wind resource and this is just another sign that we will have a mature wind industry, I think, in the near future," Beltrone said. New wind farms will generate additional economic development and property taxes, she added.

Gaelectric officials previously said the company's 500 megawatts worth of wind projects are planned east of Belt and in the Geyser area.

The 100-mile Green Line would connect Great Falls to a major east-west transmission line near Townsend that reaches out-of-state markets, where developers are eager to sell power tapped from Montana wind.

"It's a way to be able to market our power to the Pacific Northwest," Jacobson said.

The initial financial contributions from the wind farm developers will cover the bulk of the development of the project but not construction costs, van Beers said. Once the line is in service, the shippers will receive credits to repay their investment. In effect, the wind developers are advancing money to Tonbridge to develop the project, he said.

Tonbridge received a $161 million loan from the Western Area Power Administration to construct the Montana Alberta Tie Line, a transmission project that will connect the electrical grids of the United States and Canada at Great Falls and Lethbridge.

Funding for that project was made available through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009.

Tonbridge also plans to seek a loan from WAPA to construct the Green Line, van Beers said. The Green Line would be a southern extension of MATL, which is in the early stages of construction.

Invenergy decided to invest in the Green Line because it was encouraged by Tonbridge's success in developing and financing MATL, Jacobson said.
"We've been evaluating a lot of different options, and this is the one we've decided to throw our hat in the ring on," he said.

Invenergy owns the I35-megawatt Judith Gap wind farm in Wheatland County, where operations began in 2006. At the time, it was the state's largest facility, but it has since been surpassed by NaturEner's 210-megawatt Glacier Wind Farm, which is located on the border of Glacier and Toole counties.