Regulators set January hearing in PSO Wind Catcher preapproval
A preapproval case for a $4.5 billion wind farm and electric transmission project by Public Service Co. of Oklahoma will get a hearing in January.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission approved a case schedule Thursday that includes a hearing starting Jan. 8 at the commission in Oklahoma City. Public comments can be given in person at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 4.
PSO’s Wind Catcher project involves 800 turbines in the Oklahoma Panhandle and a dedicated transmission line to take the electricity to 1.1 million customers of PSO and sister utility Southwestern Electric Power Co.
So far, 10 parties have intervened in the case. The deadline to get involved is Friday.
PSO seeks preapproval to recover from customers its share of the project costs when Wind Catcher becomes operational in late 2020. The utility said the higher costs will be offset by bill savings from lower energy costs and a federal tax credit for wind generation.
PSO said estimated savings to customers would range from $16 million to $41 million in 2021. That’s based on forecast natural gas prices between $4.16 and $5.44 per thousand cubic feet. Natural gas has been trading around the $3 mark in the past few months.
Attorney General Mike Hunter, whose office represents consumers in utility cases, and the Corporation Commission’s public utility division are involved in the case.
They are joined by Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers; Plains and Eastern Clean Line LLC; Walmart; natural gas power plant operator Oneta Power LLC; the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority; antiwind incentive group the Windfall Coalition; Guymon-based wind developer Novus Windpower LLC; and South Central MCN, a transmission-only utility operating in the Panhandle.
The hearings will include two former Corporation Commissioners who now work for intervening parties in the case. Jim Roth, an attorney with Phillips Murrah PC, represents Plains and Eastern Clean Line. Patrice Douglas, an attorney with Spencer Fane LLP, represents Novus Windpower.
“We’re happy to see the approval of the scheduling order and glad to have a seat at the table,” said Shawn Lepard, one of the partners of Novus Windpower.