"The execution of the Cooperation Agreement with Invenergy really makes the commercial case for the Green Line and provides Tonbridge with another very experienced customer and further development participation and support. We are very pleased to be working with a developer as reputable and experienced as Invenergy who installed the very first wind power project in Montana a few years ago" said Johan van’t Hof, Tonbridge’s Chief Executive Officer. "We are moving quickly now to develop this line, and undertake the studies to allow us file for the regulatory permit requirements needed for building."
The project, referred to as the "Green Line", will be approximately 100 miles in length and is Tonbridge’s second transmission line project. It will run southwest from the south end of Tonbridge’s MATL transmission line, currently under construction, and connect with Bonneville Power Administration’s transmission system on its 500kV transmission lines at, or west of Townsend, or at Garrison, Montana. Bonneville’s 500 kV lines connect its system with the Colstrip line and is the major "electricity highway" that runs East to West out of Montana into the Pacific Northwest region and enables renewable and other power to reach load centers in that region.
The total capacity requests now equal 850 MW on the Green Line. The formal allocation of these capacity requests will occur through a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved process. In this respect, Gaelectric and Invenergy will be "Anchor Shippers" and will receive their development contributions back over time, through credits against contracted transmission tariff charges after the line is in service. To advance projects needing capacity on the Green Line, Gaelectric, LLC, has recently announced that they requested 960 MW of transmission capacity on the Bonneville Power Administration system, and paid the required deposits to support these requests.
"Gaelectric’s reservation on the BPA system confirms their commitment to Montana wind and to making the Green Line project work" Johan added. "We are very grateful to both Invenergy and Gaelectric for their support and confidence in us and we look forward to working with them to bring their needed renewable energy generation to Pacific Northwest markets requiring it".
Invenergy Wind Development LLC is an affiliate of Chicago-based Invenergy Wind LLC, a company focused on the development, ownership, operation and management of large-scale wind energy generation assets in the North American and European markets. Invenergy companies have approximately 2,000 MW of wind projects in operation or construction. Invenergy is one of the five largest wind energy developers in North America. For further information please visit www.invenergyllc.com.
Gaelectric is a group of companies, each active in the different fields of Renewable Power Generation and Energy Storage with experienced teams specialized in all aspects of project planning, permitting, finance, engineering and management. Gaelectric is active in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and North America where Gaelectric operates regional development offices. For more information about Gaeletric visit: http://www.gaelectric.ie/.
Tonbridge Power Inc., is a Toronto-based developer of electrical transmission assets, whose principal asset is a 100% interest in Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. Shares of the Company are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "TBZ."
