Transmission

Background
Much of the existing transmission infrastructure in the United States was built in the 1950s and 1970s when the country's energy needs and power generation infrastructure differed significantly from today. The power grid has not expanded at the same rate as demand, which has resulted in a severe strain on the grid, congestion increases, and more expensive delivery of power.

Current Need
There has been a strong public policy push over the last few years to encourage the production of renewable energy. Although additional supply of renewable energy benefits us all, a challenge that the nation is facing is the lack of appropriate transmission that would deliver new potential sources of renewable energy to consumers. Fortunately, recent regulations have been passed that promote the building of additional transmission capability, including the Energy Policy Act (2005), which led to increases in incentives for transmission developers, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee's Order 890, which increased openness and transparency in transmission planning.

Pattern's Plans
Building on this momentum, Pattern is making it a priority to develop transmission projects in selected regions across the United States and Canada in order to address the urgent need for new transmission. As a renewable energy company, we are uniquely positioned to undertake the successful development of complex transmission infrastructure projects. We have the expertise in developing, financing, building, and operating large complex energy generation projects as well as an intimate understanding of the needs associated with transmission.

We are confident that our projects will increase access to renewable energy generators, provide more cost-efficient energy to customers through reduced congestion costs, and contribute to the power grid's reliability.

Recently, Pattern's management team successfully conceptualized, developed and financed the Trans Bay Cable Project, a transmission infrastructure project in Northern California. The team established a public-private partnership with the Pittsburg Power Company, a California municipal power authority, to develop the project that, when completed, will serve up to 40% of the energy needs of San Francisco and the Northern Peninsula and provide critical transmission grid reliability services to the area. Construction on the project began in August, 2007, and SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners acquired the project in 2008. The project is expected to be completed in 2010.

Pattern is actively pursuing other transmission projects across the U.S. and Canada, including transmission projects undertaken in public private partnerships with entities such as the Pittsburg Power Company.