Xcel proposing $500M transmission expansion project in western Wisconsin - WQOW TV News 18
Xcel proposing $500M transmission expansion project in western Wisconsin | News | wqow.com
EAU CLAIRE (WQOW) - Xcel Energy is proposing a transmission expansion project across western Wisconsin and they want your input.
The project would add a new 345 kilovolt transmission line, one of the largest types of transmission lines in Wisconsin. It would connect existing transmission lines starting near Blair through Eau Claire and connecting near Owen or Sheldon.
The project would cost an estimated $500 million depending on the route that is selected.
"Being able to build a new line that connects to those existing transmission lines and substations, that's what gives us the ability to improve reliability to move power around to customers when they need it, regardless of the generation where it's coming from," said Randy Fordice, a spokesperson with Xcel Energy.
Xcel is holding public open house sessions throughout October in Eau Claire, Blair, Chippewa Falls, Stanley and Holcombe.
After the public comment period is complete, the project will go to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission for review in mid-2024, with their decision expected in 2025. If approved, construction would begin around 2026 and is expected to take about two years.
You can find information about those open house sessions by clicking here.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.