Buffalo Ridge Transmission

Xcel Energy filed an application on December 4, 2006 for a Certificate of Need for three new 115-kilovolt transmission lines in southwestern Minnesota. These transmission lines are needed to enable further wind farm development in southwestern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota.

• A 10-15 mile, 115 kV transmission line between Lake Yankton Substation near Balaton and a new substation near Marshall
• A 15-20 mile, 115 kV transmission line between Fenton Substation near Chandler and Nobles County Substation northwest of Worthington, and
• A 10-15 mile 115 kV transmission line between Yankee Substation south of Hendricks and Brookings County Substation near Brookings, S.D.

Thanks to support from local communities and landowners, construction already is under way on our larger plan of transmission improvements necessary to accommodate more than 800 megawatts of wind capacity from the region. These proposed companion projects will enable about 350 additional megawatts of wind development in the region.

Like our ongoing project, these three new 115kV lines require various permits. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will decide if the lines are needed and if so where they should be routed.

Property owners selected to host new transmission line projects will be fairly compensated for the use of their land, and we will work directly with them to address their concerns.

Possible route areas

Potential route areas by county:

Lincoln County (88K pdf)

Lyon County (169K pdf)

Murray and Nobles Counties (190K pdf)

Certificate of Need application

Our Certificate of Need application and appendices (linked below) describe the need for new transmisssion lines on Buffalo Ridge and our analysis of alternatives. Some of these are large files that may require significant download time:

Certificate of Need Application (22MB pdf)

Appendix A-Forecasting & Conservation Information (1.3MB pdf)

Appendix B-Engineering Analysis (10.4MB pdf)

Supplemental Filing  (195KB pdf)

Project updates

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