Xcel transmission — Opposition anyone???

January 27th, 2009

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Poor Xcel, getting picked on… a City of Minneapolis resolution to delay the route application for the Hiawatha Project transmission line, and a unanimous preference for undergrounding if it should be built.  SNORT!

LET’S SEE THE SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS LOAD SERVING STUDY (which the Hiawatha Project is supposedly based on) and the SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS ELECTRIC RELIABILITY PROJECT STUDY which is shooting in a 345kV line from Hwy. 280 to the new Hiawatha substation… “100 MW need” my ass…

Here are 16 questions posed by Midtown Greenway to Xcel and 9 answers:

List of 16 Questions for Xcel

9 Answers from Xcel

Piecing together studies found on line, here’s what I think Xcel is up to:

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Xcel’s plans for power line run into opposition

By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune

January 26, 2009

A resolution asking Xcel Energy to delay its proposed high-voltage transmission line in south Minneapolis and offering an alternate route advanced Monday at City Hall.

The resolution sent to the full council is a rebuff to Xcel’s preferred route for the power line along the rim of the Midtown Greenway recreational corridor.

It was approved without opposition by the council’s Health, Energy and Environment Committee and is due for a Feb. 6 council vote.

The language approved Monday asks Xcel for more study of electrical needs in the central Lake Street corridor that the line would bisect and urges that alternative ways to supply those needs be investigated.

Bury the line?

But if the line is needed, it should be buried under E. 28th Street, according to the resolution by Council Members Gary Schiff, Robert Liligren and Cam Gordon. Xcel has said burying the line would add nearly $16 million to the cost.

Xcel spent much of its presentation arguing that localized power-generation projects or conservation measures alone won’t come close to negating the need for an additional 100 megawatts of power to the area to assure reliable service.

The utility proposes to build the line mostly on the south rim of the greenway, crossing its bike and walking paths four times.

The $15 million project would also include a substation on the east side of Hiawatha Avenue at 28th, where an existing transmission line now runs, and another on Oakland Avenue.

The Midtown Greenway Coalition, an advocacy group for the corridor, also has opposed Xcel’s preferred route and has sought more study of alternatives.

Betty Mirzayi, Xcel’s project manager, said the company forecasts growth in demand for electricity of 1.5 percent annually for the area to be supplied by the proposed line.

She called the proposed line essential to meeting demand caused by redevelopment in the area that has “stretched our capacity to the limit.”

Wanting more proof

But speakers among the many residents who appeared in support of the resolution said they want more proof that the power line is the only way to improve service.

They also argued that the line would stunt planned housing development along the greenway because potential residents would be leery of living near the line.

One legislator, Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, said later Monday she’s considering legislation that would require additional analysis by the state and Xcel of any health effects associated with the high-voltage line in areas with high poverty or high minority concentrations, which describes portions of the proposed route.

Mirzayi said the permitting process, which will be under the authority of state agencies, provides an arena for analysis of the issues raised by those opposed to the line. Xcel plans to submit its proposal to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission by the end of March and wants to begin using the new facilities in the first half of 2011.

Take your transmission line and go home, Xcel…

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Posted by Carol A. Overland
Filed in Transmission
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