Twin Cities High Voltage Lines
Minnesota regulators today approved plans to build three long-distance, high-voltage transmission lines, with the condition that one of the lines carry wind energy.
The state Public Utilities Commission granted a certificate of need for the $1.7 billion CapX 2020 project, which involves erecting three 345-kilovolt lines designed to meet the needs of the state for the coming decade.
"It's a great day for us," CapX 2020 chairman Will Kaul said, after two days of commission hearings in St. Paul.
The project, which was pushed by a group of 11 utilities led by Xcel Energy and Great River Energy in the Twin Cities, will have to sign agreements with wind developers for the line that stretches from outside Brookings, S.D. to the town of Hampton in southeastern Dakota County.
Renewable-energy advocates and environmentalists had pushed for that condition on all three lines but agreed to a last-minute compromise hammered out during the hearing today.
All the lines still need permits for their final routes. Some landowners along the Brookings-to-Hampton line told the commission that the state's eminent domain laws governing land-taking will have to be changed to ensure they get a fair price for their land.
Once the approval process is on its way, the landowners looking for assurance of just compensation will be "left in the backwind" so to speak.
