What other benefits could be derived by the installation of the WCI Transmission Line?
• Several recent public studies indicate that substantial non-firm capacity is available across the six transmission lines that constitute the TOT3 transmission constraint. These studies indicate that as much as 500 MW of non-firm capacity may be available a high percentage of the time (see below, from Chapter 5 of RMATS). The development of the WCI line may provide enhanced opportunities to utilize the existing, unutilized non-firm capacity on TOT3, thereby improving project economics for the wind developers who contract for capacity rights on WCI. For instance, a wind developer could contract for 100 MW of capacity on the WCI line and “overbuild” its wind farm by 20% (i.e., a 120 MW wind farm). Such an approach would improve the utilization of its firm capacity on WCI by a similar amount which, in the case of a 45% capacity wind resource, would result in a 54% utilization of its transmission capacity on WCI (45% x 120/100). For a $3.50/kw-mo transmission rate, the transmission charge
