More Reliable Energy In The Valley And Beyond

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A portion of one of the largest transmission expansions in the Upper Midwest is complete.
 
The Fargo–St. Cloud–Monticello transmission line is allowing more reliable and affordable energy service to North Dakota, Minnesota and the surrounding region.
 
CAPx2020 is an effort to upgrade and expand the energy grid in the upper Midwest.

The Fargo–St. Cloud–Monticello line will help export energy from North Dakota to different parts of the region.
 
State and business leaders are celebrating a project that’s taken three years to build.

You may have seen these sights while driving along highways; helicopters helping expand the transmission line.

People in the area will now have a more reliable source of energy.
 
“Ultimate goal is really to prepare the energy system for the future, to be able to export energy from North Dakota and to have a robust, reliable transmission and energy delivery system,” said Chris Clark with Xcel Energy.
 
It’s a project that involved many utility companies spanning multiple states in the Upper Midwest.
 
“We came together with eleven other utilities. This one was built by a subset of five of those in that group. So it’s really part of building the backbone for our energy infrastructure,” said Clark.

Along with making energy more affordable and reliable, leaders say the project is also building jobs.
 
“This serves as a testament, as a leading economic indicator of the diversity and the robustness of this economy in the Red River Valley, so it creates jobs as well as supplies jobs,” said North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer
 
Cramer says projects like this one should serve as an example.
 
“When people look at North Dakota’s success, we need to be able as national spokespersons to point to projects like this as to how it can be done, how it ought to be done and how it can be done in other places,” said Cramer.
 
The last major upgrade to the region’s electric transmission infrastructure took place more than 40 years ago.

One of the main reasons for the expansion is that demand for energy has been increasing over time.