FERC last week approved a revised generation interconnection agreement proposed by MISO to link the Hoopeston wind project in rural Illinois to Ameren’s transmission.

FERC accepted MISO’s option A GIA, which proposed a 12.28% fixed charge rate on network upgrades, and rejected option B, which proposed a 12.82% rate. The restated GIA bears an Aug. 15, 2013, effective date.

The order (ER13-2157) approved in part MISO’s December 2014 compliance filing and denied Ameren’s October 2014 rehearing request.

Apex Clean Energy’s Hoopeston Wind consists of 49 wind turbines spread across east-central Illinois farmland. The wind company disputed Ameren’s proposed cost recovery for network upgrades, which stipulated that upgrade costs be subject to participant funding only if an interconnection customer offers up-front funding for the work.

MISO presented the two GIA options in response to an order directing the RTO to revise the restated Hoopeston GIA “so that the self-fund option does not include the recovery of costs other than the return of and on the capital costs of the network upgrades.”

— Amanda Durish Cook