Power from the Prairie (PftP) LLC plans a follow-on Stage 2 Proof of Concept (POC) Study. It will be based on the successful design and results of the Stage 1 Concept Development Study (CDS). Like the CDS, the POC Study will involve multiple and diverse Participants from the utility and datacenter industries who through their participation will affect the design of the project and Study and will subsequently own pro rata shares of the capacity of the PftP project.

 

The purpose of the POC is to support a Go/No-Go decision among the Participants whether or not to proceed with the innovative PftP Strategic Solution (See graphic below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like the previous Stage 1 Concept Development Study (CDS) the POC will not be just an engineering technical study. The challenges involved are not technical. Instead, they are geopolitical, organizational, and regulatory. It entails four Tasks:1) Modeling, 2) Technology and Market Relationships, 3) Organization and Regulatory, and 4) Study Management.

 

The Stage 2 POC will take 18 months to accomplish and cost $4 to $6 million (or$1.00/kW to $1.50/kW of project capacity). That is a modest cost for due diligence for a project that will eventually cost $2,000/kW, not counting generation resources and cost of datacenters, if any. The study cost will be syndicated among the POC Participants.

 

The Stage 2 Study will further extend and expand the results of the Stage 1 CDS. Among other things, it will include:

 

• Expanded production cost studies.

 

• Consideration of additional potential benefits including capacity, reliability and resiliency savings.

 

• Conceptual potential transmission routes.

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• Costs for undergrounding the project, potentially on railroad or Interstate highway rights of way.

 

• Stakeholder input from states, landowners, tribes and datacenter developers.

 

• Consideration of the effects and benefits of adding large-scale datacenters at the PftP converter stations, collocated with generation to serve them.

 

• Interactions with Balancing Authorities, RTOs and ISOs on interconnection requirements and processes.

 

• Additional regulatory consideration of the effects of Rights of First Refusal (ROFR), datacenter ownership of facilities, and payment of infrastructure costs.

 

• Relative benefits between utility customers and datacenters.

 

• Rate design methods to avoid subsidization by other electric customers of costs to serve datacenters.

 

In short, the POC will determine whether the PftP project is beneficial to both utility customers and datacenters, if any, to be served by it.

 

Please enter your information here to request a copy of the proposed Stage 2 POC Study work plan.