Tres Amigas

About Tres Amigas

Tres Amigas LLC is a United States-based energy company established to develop the Tres Amigas SuperStation, a project conceived in 2009. The venture was initiated by CEO Phil Harris, the former chief executive of PJM Interconnection, the largest transmission balancing area in the world. His experience in high-voltage transmission projects in both China and Europe informed the creation of the SuperStation concept. The project's primary objective is to interconnect North America's three main power grids: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

The core of the business model is to function as a merchant transmission hub, enabling the transfer and balancing of energy, particularly from renewable sources, between these disparate grids. By creating a marketplace for electricity, Tres Amigas aims to sell transmission capacity based on real-time market conditions, offering short- and medium-term pricing flexibility unlike traditional transmission operators who rely on long-term contracts. The company operates in the power and utilities sector, with a specific focus on clean technology and electric utilities. The ambitious project was designed to be constructed near Clovis, New Mexico, a strategic location where the three grids are in close proximity.

The proposed SuperStation was designed to utilize three high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations linked by an underground DC superconductor cable, initially capable of transferring up to 5 GW of power. This infrastructure would allow for the buying and selling of electricity, such as wind power from eastern New Mexico, to high-demand markets like California. The project also incorporated plans for large-scale battery systems for energy storage and grid balancing. Despite its ambitious plans, the project faced significant hurdles, including the loss of a key interconnection agreement in 2015 and the relinquishing of property leases in 2017. However, in 2016, the company successfully developed and sold the 497MW Broadview wind project, which included the construction of the Western Interconnect transmission line as a first phase of its broader plan.