Xcel’s Minnesota Energy Connection Transmission Line One Step Closer to Approval

Correction: The original version of this article said the Minnesota Energy Connection ran between Big Stone, South Dakota, and Sherco. That is a separate project.

(KNSI) – Xcel Energy says it has finalized a proposed route for the Minnesota Energy Connection transmission line, pending regulator approval.

The project will run from Lyon County to the Sherco plant in Becker, carrying power generated by wind farms in the southwestern part of the state. The 345-kilovolt transmission line stretches for 175 miles in total. It will bring up to 4,000 megawatts to Sherco. Xcel is retiring the coal-fired generators there by the end of the decade.

Senior Vice President Michael Lamb says, “Southwest Minnesota holds some of the richest wind resources in the country. Proposing route options in this application for the Minnesota Energy Connection brings the transmission line one step closer to harnessing these resources to better provide clean, reliable and affordable electricity to the communities we serve.”

Xcel says it has talked to 150,000 landowners as it developed the potential path for the Minnesota Energy Connection line. The Public Utilities Commission is expected to take between 12 and 15 months to review the application.

A link to the map for the route of the western end of the line is here. The goal is to have the transmission line built by 2027. In a separate project, Xcel is building a transmission line from Big Stone, South Dakota, through Alexandria and eastward to the Sherco facility.

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