Northland Reliability Project regulatory hearings a success

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) held six in-person public hearings and one online hearing for the Northland Reliability Project last month with more than 300 people attending.

These regulatory hearings were held along the proposed project route and presided over by an administrative law judge. They provided the public with a formal opportunity to comment on the proposed route and route alternatives. Great River Energy and Minnesota Power representatives were there to support the hearings and fielded questions from attendees.

“These public hearings gave members of the public and agencies an opportunity to share comments about the route alternatives proposed during scoping and analyzed in the environmental assessment,” said Great River Energy Transmission Permitting Project Manager Brian Hunker. “The meetings were an important part of the regulatory process.”

Great River Energy and Minnesota Power are co-developing the Northland Reliability Project, which is a 180-mile, double-circuit 345-kilovolt transmission line from Itasca County to Sherburne County.

The next steps for Great River Energy and Minnesota Power will be to file comments on the environmental assessment and file responses to comments from the public hearings. The administrative law judge will issue a report in fall 2024. The PUC will issue its decision on a route in late 2024 or early 2025.