The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says a regional grid operator in North Dakota was legally right to remove a wind farm developed by an EDF Renewable Energy subsidiary from the power grid.
FERC stood behind the decision that Midcontinent Independent Sytem Operator Inc. made in booting Merricourt Power Partners LLC because the project’s three-year time limit for coming online had expired. Merricourt is in the process of constructing a 150 MW wind-powered electric generating facility. The company is a subsidiary of EDF Renewable Energy which is also starting construction of the 201 MW Great Western Wind Project in Woodward and Ellis Counties of western Oklahoma. The Great Western should be operational by the end of the year and provide power to Google, Inc.
In fighting the rejection order, Merricourt indicated it had already invested $20 million in the project, including $17.8 million to pay for completed upgrades to the Montana-Dakota electric transmission network.
