The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

• Latest Stories

  • Certified Nursing Assistants
  • Delivery Driver
  • Brandon-Evansville tops Knights in shootout, 14-10
  • Knights’ boys, girls win sub-sections
  • Church softball league is more than a game

Power line gets key decision

In response to growing energy demands throughout the region, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has approved a Certificate of Need for the CapX2020 project, which recognizes the demand for three 345-kilovolt electric transmission lines, two of which Otter Tail Power Company is involved with.

Of the three lines approved Friday, Otter Tail Power Company is participating in a 250-mile, 345-kilovolt line, which runs from Fargo, N.D. through Alexandria, St. Cloud and Monticello. It is also involved in a 240-mile, 345-kilovat line between Brookings County, S.D., Hampton, Minn., Marshall and Granite Falls, Minn.

Otter Tail Power will eventually be involved in a fourth line between Bemidji and Grand Rapids, which is expected to be granted a Certificate of Need through the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in 2010. Otter Tail Power would be the lead developer in that particular project.

The recent decision does not mean construction of the lines will begin immediately. Instead, it recognizes the need for the lines and lays out a plan for the future. The lines’ routes are currently being worked out, with route permit applications in the midst of state review. If all goes according to plans, such permits are expected to be granted in 2010.

Otter Tail Power Company Public Relations Director Cris Kling said the lines are needed to maintain function in order to meet customers’ energy demands expected in the near future.

Plans for the project began in 2004 after engineers’ evaluations found that, in order to meet growing energy needs, such lines would have to be erected. Once it was determined there was a need, a thorough study on the project was completed to ensure the construction of lines would be beneficial to investors and customers. The formal CapX2020 project was created in 2005 from such studies. The project calls for a total of 700 miles of electric lines throughout the state — the largest electric line project within the past 30 years.