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Board extends approval for battery-storage project to September 2029 after developers cite MISO delays
Summary
The LaPorte County Board of Zoning Appeals voted to extend a previously approved special-exception for a Monroe Power/Leeward Renewable battery-storage project through Sept. 2029 after the applicant said regional grid-operator delays have pushed the project’s power-on and construction schedule several years.
The LaPorte County Board of Zoning Appeals on Sept. 16 approved an extension through Sept. 2029 for a previously granted special-exception allowing a battery-storage facility proposed by Monroe Power LLC and Leeward Renewable Energy LLC.
Attorney Anthony Novak, representing the applicants, told the board the project has been delayed by the regional transmission operator MISO’s interconnection process. "MISO...the schedule has just gone completely out of whack," Novak said, adding that the project’s application was submitted in 2019 and that multiple rounds of study and GIA (generator interconnection agreement) revisions have pushed the power-delivery date well into the next multi-year period.
Novak said the applicants received iterations of a GIA — initial paperwork in April 2023 and an amendment in September 2023 — and later received a further iteration in September (the transcript identifies a recent GIA iteration). He told the board the agreement and MISO’s updated schedule drive when the project can be energized; Novak said the current power-delivery date tied to the latest GIA is in mid-2028, which in turn drives the construction timeline.
Board members asked whether any work could be started earlier (for example site prep or landscaping). Project lead Harry Marwell said the development must align with the MISO-driven power-on schedule and that construction would follow that schedule, though preliminary site work might be possible depending on engineering constraints. The applicants signaled willingness to provide periodic updates: the applicant agreed to provide an annual status update to the building commissioner.
A board member moved to grant the extension until September 2029; another member seconded. The board approved the motion by voice vote. The applicants were advised to keep the building commissioner’s office informed and to provide any documentation required under the original approval and extension conditions.
Why it matters: the extension maintains a county-level land-use approval for a utility-scale battery-storage project that depends on multijurisdictional grid approvals. The board’s extension preserves the prior conditions of approval while requiring the applicants to keep county staff updated on progress.
What remains: the project’s next milestone is satisfying the final MISO/GIA conditions and any engineering requirements that enable construction and interconnection. The transcript records the applicants’ projection of a mid-2028 power-delivery date tied to the GIA and notes the original permit had been administratively extended previously; the board’s extension runs to Sept. 2029, with follow-up reporting requested.
The board took the vote on the extension at the meeting and approved it; no remonstrators spoke on this petition at the hearing.
