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Minnesota Power outlines route changes, timeline for Northland Reliability Project
Summary
Minnesota Power officials told the Crow Wing County Board the Northland Reliability Project will largely follow existing corridors, reduce new right-of-way need, begin localized work in 2026 and aim for in-service around 2030; the company described consolidation of existing lines, new substations and ongoing permitting and surveying.
Zach Okalski, a senior environmental compliance specialist with Minnesota Power, updated the Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners on the Northland Reliability Project, an 80-mile transmission line stretching from the Grand Rapids area to the Big Oak Substation near Becker.
Okalski said the project is a Midcontinent Independent System Operator–approved regional plan that will be a double-circuit 345 kV transmission line and that roughly 90% of the route will follow or parallel existing transmission corridors, reducing the need for new right-of-way. “We did increase the consolidation and the paralleling of existing lines from 85% to 90%, with the reduction of new right of way needed,” Okalski said.
The presentation described two new substations and a series compensation station in the Riverton area. Okalski said engineers are reconfiguring several existing local lines so the new line can occupy existing corridors rather than adding a third, wider corridor in many places. That consolidation includes stacking two smaller circuits on one set of…
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