Dive Brief:
- Formed last year to focus on the public power sector, competitive transmission provider GridLiance has announced its first two acquisitions including systems in Missouri and Oklahoma.
- The company will acquire a 10-mile, 69-kV transmission line from the city of Nixa, Missouri, which runs between Springfield and the Southwest Power Administration.
- GridLiance will also acquire 410 miles of 69- and 115-kV line from Tri-County Electric Cooperative (TCEC) in Missouri in a deal aimed at bolstering the grid's reliability.
Dive Insight:
Backed by Blackstone Energy Partners, GridLiance appeared on the scene last year intending to focus on collaborations with what the company views as an underserved sector: municipal, cooperative and joint action agency utilities. The differentiated operating model, the company said, would allow its public power partners to invest in regulated transmission projects that had been unavailable to them.
Now the company has announced its first acquisitions, including more than 400 miles of transmission line in Missouri and Oklahoma as well as the associated infrastructure and substations.
“We are excited to join forces with TCEC and believe that our partnership will bring important benefits, including never before available opportunities for TCEC to invest in Southwest Power Pool transmission projects that will reduce congestion and provide more reliable transmission service,” Ed Rahill, GridLiance’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
Both transactions are subject to federal approval and are expected to close by the end of the year, the company said. Upon completion, GridLiance would assume full operational control of the transmission systems.
That will allow Nixa to shift its "operations and regulatory risks to GridLiance, while gaining increased reliability and access to opportunities to invest in transmission projects that were previously inaccessible," Rahill said.
And according to RTO Insider, GridLiance will bid to construct SPP's North Liberal-Walkemeyer 115-kV project. It would be the grid operator's first competitively-bid transmission project.
