Missouri to get bigger share of power from multi-state wind energy transmission line

Regulators on Thursday gave the go-ahead for a multistate wind-energy power line to provide the equivalent of four nuclear power plants’ worth of energy to Missouri consumers.

At issue is the Grain Belt Express, a power line that will carry wind energy from Kansas across Missouri and Illinois before hooking into a power grid in Indiana that serves eastern states.

Invenergy Transmission, the Chicago-based company attempting to build the Grain Belt Express, last year proposed expanding the high-voltage power line’s capacity after years of complaints from Missouri farmers and lawmakers worried that the line would trample property rights without providing much service to Missouri residents.

Under the new plan, approved 4-1 by Missouri’s Public Service Commission, Grain Belt Express plans to bring as much as 2,500 megawatts of power to Missouri. Previously, state utility regulators approved a line that would have brought only 500 megawatts of energy to the state.

Investment in the project, which would stretch about 800 miles from Kansas to Indiana on a route crossing Missouri and Illinois, also is expected to soar to about $7 billion, Invenergy said.

In March, the Illinois Commerce Commission granted the Grain Belt Express transmission line project a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, marking the successful conclusion of over a yearlong public input and review process.



(Map: courtesy Grain Belt Express.com)