Frazee to Erie Transmission Project

To address reliability concerns and increase the load serving capability of the existing transmission system between Audubon and Rush Lake in west central Minnesota, Great River Energy and Otter Tail Power Company, in collaboration with other neighboring utilities propose to construct a new substation and a new 115-kV transmission line in Becker and Otter Tail counties. This project will reduce risks associated with low-voltage and transmission line overloading and ensure continued reliable service to customers in the future. A route permit must be issued by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission before the project can be constructed.

The proposed project will include constructing a 230/115-kV substation called Erie northwest of the intersection of the existing Audubon to Hubbard 230-kV and its intersection with 360th Avenue in Height of Land Township. A new 115-kV transmission line will also be constructed to connect the new Erie Substation to Great River Energy’s existing Frazee Substation.

Specifically, the project will entail:

• Otter Tail Power constructing and owning the new 230/115-kV Erie Substation and connecting it to the existing Xcel Energy 230-kV line.
• Great River Energy constructing and owning approximately 9.4 miles of new 115-kV transmission line,  potentially with some distribution underbuild, between the Erie and Frazee substations. Approximately 1.7 miles will be double circuited with Great River Energy’s existing 41.6-kV line.

State permitting process

The next step in the state permitting process is a scoping meeting. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and the Minnesota Department of Commerce will hold a virtual public information and environmental assessment scoping meeting on the route permit.

6 p.m.
Oct. 22, 2020
Remote-Access telephone and/or internet

To provide verbal comments, you must join the meeting via telephone.

Visit the Minnesota Department of Commerce website to view a project overview, key documents and learn about other opportunities to provide feedback about the project.