EQB Issued Route Permit, June 16, 2005

The Environmental Quality Board�on June 16, 2005, determined the final routes and permit conditions for the two high-voltage powerlines involved in this project. For the 345-kV line, the EQB selected the Excel Energy Interstate 90 Route as originally proposed in Jackson County. For the 115-kV line, the EQB selected the Xcel Energy modified East Route as proposed at the hearings, except for the north-south section in Murray County.�In that area, the EQB instead selected a modified version of the route along 70th street that would relace an existing 69-kV line with a "double-circuit" 115-kV/69-kV line where the new line would be placed on the same poles with the existing line.�The maps of the approved routes are available below in the file registry, along with the final permit and numerous other documents.�

Background:

Xcel Energy applied to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) in late April, 2004, for a route-permit for two new high-voltage transmission lines in Southwest Minnesota. This application covers two of the four new power lines that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) determined in March, 2003, were needed to increase the outlet-capacity for wind energy from Buffalo Ridge.

The PUC determined the end points of the new lines in its March, 2003, certificate of need order. However, the EQB was responsible for determining the routes and structures for the new lines in its route permit, which was issued in June, 2005. The larger of the two lines is an approximately 86-mile 345-kV line running east-west from the Split Rock Substation near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the Lakefield Junction Substation in Jackson County, Minnesota. The second line is a new 115-kV line running approximately 40 miles from a new Nobles County Substation north or northwest to the existing Chanarambie Substation in Murray County. A new substation is required in Nobles County to connect the new 115-kV line into the new 345 kV-line. Detailed maps of the final route, and earlier preliminary routes considered are available through the links provided below.