Legalectric

There’s so much going on at the “North Rochester” substation, and in addition to the just dropped “Gopher to Badger” transmission line, there’s the just

And don’t forget this one, I think I did! This is a little bitty line, well DOUBLE CIRCUIT 345kV, jumping across Hwy. 52 from the “North Rochester” substation to a data center proposed for Pine Island, one that Pine Island really wants, and seems to want to give away perks to a massive high revenue data center owner/operator. WTAF? They need subsidies why??? This is classic example of a City acting against interest. It’s not like other communities are welcoming data centers, why give it to them? How much water and from where? How much electricity, and from where? Oh, well, we may know from where:

It’s here, 2nd HUGE transmission line application to drop this week, FIFTH since the beginning of the year, FIFTH in the last 30 days! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Here’s the Application – I recommend starting off with the Application Narrative, then Appendix D, Xcel Energy Revenue Requirement and Appendix E, Planning Analysis (hey, App E is ONLY 400+ pages!!!):

The Gopher-Badger 765kV Transmission Project application is soon to drop, per today’s filing:

The PERTINENT part, application expected February 6, 2026, THIS FRIDAY:

When it’s out, I’ll post it here.

Oh, lordy, a handful, or more, of prior non-transmission clients affected by this — got notice from two recently, they learned from postcards in the mail. No, that’s not campaign pre-caucus blurbs! Very glad they didn’t throw them away. Also heard of another person down in the Iowa section today! So many are affected by this MISO Tranche 2.1.

Now, on to the “Power on Midwest” projects that dropped today:

These were FOUR Certificate of Need dockets, CN-25-117, CN-25-118, CN-25-119, and CN-25-120. They’ve been consolidated into ONE. Here’s the rough breakdown from the application (linked below, p. 4-5):

Here’s the application, all across southwest and south central Minnesota, and heading north to the “North Rochester” substation north of Pine Island and on to Hampton:

A little light reading so you’ll be ready for the round of scoping & early comment meetings in a week or two…

Missed all the “open houses” for “Power On Midwest?” I did… sigh… It’s a big project, to put it mildly:

Info from the “POWER ON MIDWEST” website.

Keep an eye on it for additional info. There were a LOT of open houses announced in October, way too many to cover. I wasn’t here in October, and by happenstance learned of the last one on the 14th of November when in Cannon Falls… arrrrrgh, I could have shown up at that one.

They’ve divided it up into segments consistent with the initial filings with the Public Utilities Commission:

• Big Stone South-Brookings County-SD/MN Border (South Dakota)
• SD/MN Border-Lakefield Junction
• Lakefield Junction-MN/IA border
• Lakefield Junction-Pleasant Valley-North Rochester
• Pleasant Valley-North Rochester-Hampton

Do note that all the Commission dockets are now consolidated under CN-25-117 (adding CN-25-118, CN-25-119, and CN-25-120).

FYI, aren’t these 765kV structures decorative?

I must admit that I appreciate their mention of “Buy the Farm” at this stage of the process, and hope they continue. From their boards at the open houses:

Here’s their link to all those boards.

Keep an eye on that CN-25-117 docket. To do that, go to eDockets HERE at the PUC, click on eDockets again, and enter the docket number as below, click “search” and there ya are:

Onward…