A new plan for Midwest power lines could cost $23 billion. Is it enough?

The cost of a gargantuan new plan to upgrade the regional electric grid with more than a dozen transmission lines across the Upper Midwest could top $20 billion. And that still might not be enough.

State utility regulators and several major power companies are calling for even more transmission capacity to help the region grapple with major challenges like rising demand for power and the shift away from fossil fuels, even as some welcome the sweeping proposal as a start.

Joe Sullivan, vice chairman of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, said "it's pretty clear that it doesn't get us where we need to go."

"They're taking a bite out of these issues," he said.

The draft proposal the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) released in early March is light on specifics but includes at least three power lines in Minnesota, including part of what MISO termed a "superhighway" of high-capacity infrastructure across much of southern Minnesota and extending into Wisconsin.

MISO's executive director of planning transmission, Laura Rauch,also promised a second wave of Midwest projects to complement its latest proposal. But as it stands, this transmission package would be historic in scope and price tag, with undetermined costs eventually passed to millions of utility customers.

"It would be, to my knowledge, the largest portfolio of high-voltage transmission lines in the country to ever have been proposed and to ever be built," said Mike Schowalter, senior manager focused on the wholesale electric grid transition for the St. Paul-based nonprofit Fresh Energy.

A call for more

This latest proposal is the second in a series of at least four transmission packages meant to strengthen the system across MISO's footprint. The Indiana-based nonprofit manages the electric grid and the open energy market in 15 states from Minnesota to Louisiana and north into the Canadian province of Manitoba.

In 2022, MISO approved the first set of projects — called Tranche 1 — aimed at the Upper Midwest. That included three new power lines in Minnesota worth more than $2 billion as part of a $10.3 billion package of 18 lines across the Midwest.

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