A joint proposal by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Great Plains Institute and two regional electricity transmission operators for federal funding has received the green light from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to submit a full application. The funds, if approved, would help build five high-voltage transmission lines across seven Midwest states. 

The funds would come from the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships program (GRIP) if the DOE approves the final application, which was submitted May 19. The DOE is expected to announce awards later in 2023.  The DOE GRIP offers an opportunity to leverage federal clean energy funds to deliver reliable, affordable, safe and clean energy to people across Minnesota and the region. 

The proposal creates an innovative shared pool of funding for transmission line projects within two regional transmission organizations, which serve as “air traffic controllers” of the electric power grid: 

• MISO – the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (misoenergy.org), which manages the flow of electricity across 15 states, including Minnesota, and the Canadian province of Manitoba;    
• SPP – the Southwest Power Pool (spp.org), which manages electricity energy across 15 central and southern states. 

MISO and SPP have five high-voltage transmission line projects planned that would be eligible for the GRIP funding, with projects located in Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. These transmission line projects would deliver a range of benefits for communities who get electricity along the routes, including: 

• Reduced cost of electricity production and lower energy costs for consumers 
• Improved grid resilience and reliability in delivering electricity to communities  
• Increased ability to transfer energy generation between MISO and SPP, which is especially important during extreme weather conditions
• Increased inter-regional capacity with a more robust transmission network, enabling more carbon-free resources to interconnect to the system, and to do so more quickly, reducing carbon emissions 

Proposed DOE funds would spur   private sector investments in transmission lines. At the same time, the federal funds would reduce costs for utility ratepayers. The collaboration could become a model for building multi-state energy infrastructure into the future. 

A key component of the joint proposal is to ensure disadvantaged communities in the region would benefit from the energy infrastructure investments. The Justice40 Initiative, a stated federal government goal that at least 40% of the project benefits accrue to disadvantaged communities, is a component of GRIP funding. Justice40, and its foundation of equity in energy resources, is supported by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.    

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MEDIA CONTACTS: 

Mo Schriner, Communications Director
Minnesota Department of Commerce
mo.schriner@state.mn.us