Alexandria to
Big Oaks

Project Description

Minnesota's electric utilities are committed to delivering safe, reliable, cost-effective and increasingly carbon-free energy for our customers.

The current transmission system in western and central Minnesota is at capacity, which can cause reliability concerns for customers. Expanding the transmission system that connects into the region's larger grid will help ensure long-term reliability and provide additional capacity throughout the region, better connecting eastern South Dakota and western and central Minnesota. Additionally, the new infrastructure will help add new low-cost renewable energy for customers, along with providing resilience as older power plants are retired throughout the region.

The Alexandria-Big Oaks segment (also known as the project's eastern segment) will primarily be added to infrastructure within the existing easement. If approved, the project will add a second transmission wire circuit to the existing CapX2020 transmission line between the Alexandria substation and the proposed Big Oaks substation that will be built on Xcel Energy property near the Sherco power plant outside of Becker, Minn. The project will need between 1 and 4 miles of new right-of-way, which we expect to be located on Xcel Energy property.