Missouri Public Service Commission

JEFFERSON CITY---The Missouri Public Service Commission has granted, with certain conditions, a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) to Evergy Missouri West, Inc. (EMW) to acquire, own, operate, manage, maintain and control an existing and operational wind generation facility in Woodward, Ellis and Dewey Counties (near the town of Vici) in Oklahoma known as the Persimmon Creek Wind Farm (Persimmon Creek).

“It is the public policy of this state to diversify the energy supply through the support of renewable and alternative energy sources,” said the Commission. “The Commission has also previously expressed its general support for renewable energy generation because it provides benefits to the public.”

Persimmon Creek is expected to serve EMW’s customers in Missouri and EMW expects to recover its investment through base rates and operations and maintenance expense (O&M), as opposed to purchased power costs.

After reviewing all of the evidence in the case, the Commission determined that a CCN should be granted but with the condition that the ratepayers and the shareholders share equally any costs associated with owning and operating Persimmon Creek, including but not limited to those related to Plant In Service Accounting (PISA) treatment and any required wildlife mitigation, that exceed the ratepayer realized market revenues including the market value of energy serving EMW’s customer load and ratepayer realized tax benefits.

The Commission also required as a condition for approval of the CCN, that all Production Tax Credits (PTCs) that EMW recognizes for income tax purposes related to Persimmon Creek be tracked and credited to ratepayers in future rate proceedings and included in the ratepayer realized tax benefits.

Persimmon Creek is an existing electric generating facility with 80 wind turbine generators. It has a nameplate capacity of 198.6 megawatts (MW). It became operational in August 2018. Persimmon Creek generates renewable energy that provides renewable energy certificates (RECs) and is eligible for currently available federal Production Tax Credits (PTCs).

Evergy Missouri West provides electric service to approximately 336,640 customers in the Missouri counties of Andrew, Atchison, Barton, Bates, Benton, Buchanan, Carroll, Cass, Cedar, Clay, Clinton, Dade, Daviess, DeKalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Holt, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Livingston, Mercer, Nodaway, Pettis, Platte, Ray, St. Clair, Vernon and Worth.

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Case No. EA-2022-0328