DOE pushing forward with Grain Belt Express

KANSAS (KSNT) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that despite scaling down the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor it would push forward with the Grain Belt Express transmission line in Kansas.

The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) said in a press release the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor was scaled down to three projects, none of which will cross Kansas. However, the Grain Belt Express project, approved by the KCC, will continue through the regulatory process.

Earlier this year, Kansas residents met to discuss the proposed corridor, expressing concerns their land would be taken under eminent domain to build it. The corridor would have connected with the already approved Grain Belt Express, linking Kansas to a power transmission line stretching east through Missouri and Illinois to western Indiana.

The DOE announced Monday that it had dropped that plan but is going ahead with the Lake Erie-Canada Corridor, the Southwest Grid Connector Corridor involving Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Mexico and the Tribal Energy Access Corridor in the Dakotas and Nebraska.

"Its status as a previously approved project has not changed and is moving forward," the KCC wrote in a press release. "In addition, without a Federal Corridor designation, State jurisdiction and approval processes remain intact for the Grain Belt Express and the KCC will continue to review any potential future projects."

The DOE's decision to scale down the corridor project won't impact the $4.9 billion loan guarantee awarded to the project in November by the Biden administration. The following actions have been taken in respect to the Grain Belt Express project, according to the KCC:

• 2011 – The Grain Belt Express project, designed to transport energy from Kansas wind and solar farms was approved based on benefits to the state and was granted a Certificate of Convenience and necessity to build the line.
• 2013 – The route of the Kansas portion of the line was approved, beginning at a converter station in Ford County and continuing on to Missouri.
• 2019 – The Commission approved the acquisition of the project by Invenergy Transmission LLC from Grain Belt Express Clean Line LLC.
• 2023 – The KCC approved a request to allow the line to be built in two phases. Phase 1, which includes Kansas and Missouri, can begin once all regulatory and financing requirements have been obtained. The order issued did not remove or alter any of the protections for landowners.
• 2024 – The KCC gave conditional approval to a siting plan for two 345 kV transmission lines, known as the AC Collector System, designed to connect wind and solar farms to the Grain Belt Express.

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