Just under the wire… with one-tenth of a mile to spare

First Wind – an energy company headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts – had a plan that certainly seemed straightforward enough: build a wind turbine farm in Cohocton, New York, and connect it into the grid of that area’s utility, New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG).

Not a particularly big deal there, one would think. But early on, a few complications arose, not least of which was a daunting permit process that could easily have put the project into profitless limbo for as long as 2 years.

MSE Power Systems, Inc., a proven entity at NYSEG from prior projects and one of its pre-qualified engineering contractors, was the perfect choice for the job at hand. Consequently, First Wind tapped MSE to design and build a new substation for NYSEG, as well as manage the details of the interconnection to their grid, and construct two other substations for the project that would be owned by First Wind.

While the project was still in its early design stage, New York State's regulations governing transmission interconnects were in the process of being revised. There were two other NYSEG substations serving the project that had been grandfathered under outdated NY grid reliability standards.  However as the regulations changed, they were newly deemed to be non-conforming because of the significant amount of generation now being added to this region of the grid.  As a result, the First Wind Cohocton project grew from constructing three new substations (one for NYSEG and two for First Wind) to building three - and renovating two 50-year old NYSEG substations.

"It was something of a surprise," says MSE's president, Mark Scher, "but it certainly wasn't enough to keep us from going forward." Scher's company has long had a reputation of being a premier on-time/on-budget firm, and they weren't about to be thrown off their game by a "slight" change in plans.

"Frankly," says MSE's Mark Scher, "there were more than a few points in the process where it looked like our original timetable just couldn't be met."

Going the distance by reducing it

But that was only the beginning as two other state regulations soon came into play. The lines that First Wind needed to run from its main wind turbine site to the new NYSEG interconnection substation would be transmitting power at 230 kilovolts of power. But state law required that any transmission line operating above 115kv-or whose length exceeded 10 miles--had to obtain a special permit from the state Public Service Commission, known as an Article VII permit. Historically this permit has taken 18 months to 2 years to obtain, a period during which everything would go on hold, including First Wind's ability to generate not just power, but income.

In response, MSE devised two innovative solutions. The first was to position the new substation at the main turbine site at a distance of 9.9 miles from the new NYSEG interconnection substation.  Secondly, MSE added a transformer at a new First Wind substation adjacent to the NYSEG interconnection substation which dropped the system voltage from 230kV to 115kV.  The combination of these two changes achieved a short enough distance and low enough voltage that the Article VII permit was no longer required.

As Scher puts it: "First Wind essentially was faced with the choice of adding $1.5 million in costs for the new line versus absorbing potentially $6 million in lost revenue while the permit process dragged on. In the end, the decision was really pretty easy." MSE got the go-ahead. And construction could now begin in earnest.

What's in a few kilovolts? Plenty, it turns out.

Still hanging over the project, though, was another challenge.  First Wind had a few turbines that were close to the new NYSEG interconnect substation. These turbines needed to be connected at a voltage of 35kV.  Unfortunately, the only substations in the immediate area were the new NYSEG interconnection station at 230kV, and the adjacent new First Wind substation designed to step down the voltage from 230kV to 115kV  for the transmission line to the main turbine area.  At the main turbine area, there was yet another substation to reduce the voltage from 115kV to 34.5kV for interconnection of the majority of the projects turnbines.   

After evaluating a number of ideas, each of which seemed either technically impractical, financially unsound, or both, MSE hit on the answer.

"The First Wind project proves that determination and innovation have a way of overcoming obstacles and guiding you to success," says MSE president Mark Scher.

"We basically changed the transformer at the step-down location to a 3-winding transformer" says Scher. "This transformer steps NYSEG's 230kV system voltage down to 115kV, keeping the outgoing line to the main turbine area within the state's regulatory limit without the need for an Article VII permit. The third winding steps the voltage to 34.5kV in the same substation to allow connection of the few turbines located in that immediate vicinity."  This was an innovative solution that saved First Wind from having to install an additional main transformer at an additional cost that would exceed $1 million. 

So many obstacles - yet still online, on time

MSE had originally specified 7 months from the design phase of the Cohocton project to its up-and-running completion. There were more than a few points in the process where it looked like the original timetable just couldn't be met. And, as usual, there were a couple of glitches that pushed back the start date a few months.

Those glitches were effectively smoothed out, however, and the project was in fact completed in...7 months, exactly as promised. In September, 2008, the turbines started turning and the power started flowing.

"We stick by our commitment to move projects along quickly," Scher notes.  "We see that as one of our priorities, along with figuring out innovative solutions to overcome hurdles and help our clients save money, in this case, millions of dollars."

Happy endings

Today, First Wind's Cohocton project continues churning out clean and efficient power. And MSE took the lessons learned from Cohocton and put them to work on two subsequent projects involving interconnections to the NYSEG system.  These projects involved both building new substations and upgrading additional 50-year old NYSEG substations to comply with the new reliability standards.

Meanwhile, NYSEG continues to specify MSE as a "preferred resource" on its interconnect projects.

"The First Wind project had its share of surprises," Mark Scher allows. "But it just proves that determination and innovation have a way of overcoming obstacles and guiding you to success."