It’s an energy project that planners say is big enough, but a skeptic said it is too big.
The PowerOn Midwest is a multi-billion-dollar project that will build a 765 kV transmission line that will connect eastern South Dakota, southern Minnesota, and the larger Upper Midwest. The grid needs to move 10,000 megawatts of capacity for the coming decades, said Kevin Coss of Xcel Energy. One megawatt is enough to power about 800 average homes in the Upper Midwest, he said in an email response to KELOLAND News questions.
It’s the first 765kV line project in the Upper Midwest, PowerOn participants said. The 345kV transmission line is more common in the Upper Midwest, according to multiple industrial websites. American Electric Power “operates more than 2,200 miles of 765 kV transmission lines across six states, supported by over 8,000 structures that span diverse terrain,” according to its website. States include Ohio and Indiana.
The project cost in South Dakota is estimated between $1.3 and $1.7 billion, Coss said. PowerOn Minnesota costs are estimated between $3.4 and $4.3 billion dollars, he said.
It will traverse parts of Minnesota…
The project’s path takes it from near Milbank, South Dakota, down to Brookings and across southwestern Minnesota, including Murray County. The South Dakota route will be about 90 miles from the Big Stone South Substation in Grant County to the Brookings substation near White, Coss said. The Minnesota portion is about 160 miles.
The article outlines the history, including controversies of the project.