Iowa Utilities Board sets hearing for SOO Green underground electric transmission line project

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Iowa Utilities Board on Friday issued an order setting public hearing dates this summer regarding a proposed underground electric transmission line project that would travel through Floyd County, including Charles City.

The IUB set Tuesday, July 11, and Wednesday, July 12, at Johnson’s Family Restaurant and Reception Hall in Elkader regarding the proposed by SOO Green HVDC Link Project Co.

The project is hoping to avoid much of the opposition that has befallen several proposals to construct underground carbon dioxide transportation pipelines through the state, by following existing railroad property rights.

The project by Direct Connect Development Co. is for a 349-mile line to run primarily on Canadian Pacific Railroad right-of-way to carry electricity generated by wind power and solar power from Mason City to Plano, Illinois.

According to the company, by burying the transmission cables on property already owned or controlled by railroads, instead of stringing them on high-rise towers, the project limits environmental impact and hopes to avoid landowner and neighbor resistance that has thwarted some other high voltage overhead power transmission projects.

The lines would also be more secure from weather-related power disruptions such as those caused by ice storms or high winds, it said.

“The project’s construction methods will limit impacts to the environment by boring under sensitive habitat, limiting the impact on birds and other endangered species,” according to a press release issued by Direct Connect Development Co..

SOO Green would serve as a renewable energy hub by connecting two of the largest electric power markets in the United States — the Midcontinent Independent System Operator group (MISO), that includes 15 Midwest states and Manitoba, Canada; and the PJM Interconnection LLC, that includes northern Illinois and parts or all of 12 other eastern states and the District of Columbia, the company said.

The project idea had been announced originally in 2017. The company filed an with the IUB in September 2020

“The SOO Green Renewable Rail project is a first-of-its-kind infrastructure project transporting renewable energy through the Midwest via an underground HVDC transmission line along an existing railroad,” the company said in a press statement when the petition was filed with the IUB.

At an IUB scheduling conference held on Dec. 20, 2022, the parties had agreed to a procedural schedule, which is included in the IUB order that was issued Friday. The schedule establishes the two-day hearing for the presentation of evidence and the cross-examination of witnesses.

Under IUB rules, the hearing must be held in the county where the midpoint of the line is located. The midpoint of the proposed 174 miles of the line that would run through Iowa is Clayton County.

If the underground electric transmission line franchise is granted, the company would be allowed to build the approximately 525 kilovolt underground high voltage direct current electric transmission line through Allamakee, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clayton, Dubuque, Floyd, Jackson, and Winneshiek counties.

Participation in the public hearing will be in-person only. Documents regarding SOO Green’s proposed project are available for review in the IUB’s electronic filing system under Docket No. E-22436.