Xcel Energy and other companies
plan overdue power upgrade
Towering steel structures that snake transmission lines across the state may not be pretty, but they are vital in supplying the massive amounts of electricity consumed in the metro and elsewhere.
While energy use dramatically increases, Xcel Energy and 10 other power companies have joined together to propose CapX 2020, Minnesota’s first major power grid upgrade in more than 25 years. CapX 2020 contains four proposed projects that will add more than 600 miles of transmission lines throughout Minnesota. Most of the lines will carry 345 kilovolts, and a short section will carry 230 kilovolts.
Demand for electricity is expected to increase up to 6,000 megawatts by 2020, causing “significant reliability concerns” for consumers, says Randy Fordice, a representative from Great River Energy, one of the companies involved. One project is a 200-mile line in southwest Minnesota designed to generate between 700 and 800 megawatts of wind energy, Fordice says.
However, George Crocker, executive director of the North American Water Office, says the interests of South Dakota coal companies had a major influence in the placement of the project and that more coal energy would be produced than wind. The power grid is designed to utilize the cheapest form of energy first. For example, if wind power costs more than coal, then coal power is used. If energy is cheaper outside Minnesota, then the energy is imported. With this setup, opponents accuse the power utilities of wanting to sell wholesale energy to other parts of the country.
“I can’t stress enough how absolutely false that is,” Fordice says. All the energy generated would be used for the direct region, and the fact that the power grid hasn’t been updated for so long demonstrates the need for the lines, he says.
Crocker agrees more high-voltage lines will eventually be needed, but he says the power companies are working prematurely. Rather than take the time to strategically enhance renewable energy resources within the state, CapX 2020 will run the same as the current system, which imports about $6 billion worth of energy a year, he says.
Crocker says building wind-powered substations throughout the state would be better than the current system of a few major power generators supplying all the electricity needs.
CapX 2020 isn’t expected to be online until around 2013. a
Joe Courtney
