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Otter Tail says Jamestown–Ellendale (JET‑X) line will add resilience and site capacity; plans construction in 2026–2028
Summary
Otter Tail Power described the Jamestown–Ellendale double‑circuit 345 kV project approved in MISO's tranche 1 portfolio as a reliability loop that would have prevented recent outages in the Jamestown load pocket, estimated to cost roughly in the low‑billions and to support local jobs and land payments during construction.
Otter Tail Power told the interim Energy Development and Transmission Committee that the Jamestown–Ellendale ("JET‑X") 345‑kV transmission project — included in MISO's tranche‑1 portfolio — will create a high‑voltage loop that strengthens resiliency for the Jamestown load pocket and create capacity to accommodate future generation and large industrial load.
"If the JET‑X project would have been in service during these past events we would have had an additional transmission path into the Jamestown load pocket and avoided these reliability challenges," said Jason Wires, Otter Tail's manager of transmission project development. He referenced multiple recent weather‑related events that temporarily left Jamestown with limited transmission paths and forced curtailment or reduced operations at large customers.
Wires described the project as a double‑circuit 345‑kV line with initially one circuit strung and foundations sized for the second. He said Otter Tail and Montana‑Dakota Utilities jointly proposed the line to MISO in its 2020 long‑range planning processes; MISO approved JET‑X in tranche‑1 as a multi‑value project with regional benefits. Wires noted that, because Otter Tail and MDU North Dakota customers represent only about 1.5% of the MISO Midwest subregion load, the tranche‑level cost allocation spreads the majority of construction cost across the broader MISO region.
He reported an extensive public routing and landowner outreach process starting in 2023, multiple open houses, roughly 50 reroute requests considered, and that Otter Tail had acquired about 73 percent of required land rights at the time of testimony. He said permitting steps include the PSC certificates of public convenience and necessity and a combined corridor/route permit application filed in August; one PSC certificate had already been approved.
On schedule, Otter Tail said it expects regulatory conclusions in mid‑2026, construction beginning in 2026, and project in‑service in 2028. Wires described localized construction economic impacts in a three‑county study with NDSU estimating hundreds of jobs and millions in local labor income and public revenues over the six‑year development period. He also flagged typical local benefits during construction: landowner payments, tax revenues, and work for local concrete and gravel contractors.
Wires urged legislators to recognize the long lead times for transmission and the value of coordinated planning to match where load grows with where transmission and generation can be developed.
