State board grants SOO Green underground power line permit, including through Floyd County

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Iowa Utilities Board on Wednesday granted a permit request for a high capacity underground electric transmission line that would cross Floyd County from east to west, including through Charles City.

The SOO Green project proposes to build about 175 miles of underground high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line in Iowa, delivering wind, solar and possibly other energy from a converter station east of Mason City to the Iowa-Illinois border, then continuing to the Plano, Illinois, area.

The total transmission line would be about 349 miles long, although the company has identified possible expansions into northwestern Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri if market conditions justify it.

The franchise permit requires that the line operates as a merchant line, meaning the costs of the project will be paid by financial investors, who will earn a return on their investment through fees charged to transport energy. No public utilities will seek rate increases to pay for any part of it, the company said.

The 525-kilovolt line would cross through Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Chickasaw, Winneshiek, Allamakee, Clayton, Dubuque and Jackson counties in Iowa.

The primary route would run along Canadian Pacific Railroad right-of-way from Mason City through Charles City, through New Hampton over to Marquette, down along the Iowa side of the Mississippi River to Sabula, under the Mississippi River and then to Byron, Illinois, finally ending in Plano, Illinois.

Almost all of the project in Iowa will be located on private railroad rights-of-way owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (Canadian Pacific Railroad) and on 18 miles of public road rights-of-way along Highway 18 in Clayton County.

The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) did grant SOO Green HVDC Link ProjectCo the right to use eminent domain to force access to four parcels of property in Clayton County and two parcels in Dubuque County along the railroad right of way.

“Today’s order finds that the proposed line is necessary to serve a public use and represents a reasonable relationship to an overall plan of transmitting electricity in the public interest,” the IUB said in a statement released Wednesday.

“The order also found that vesting SOO Green with the right of eminent domain is necessary for public use,” it said.

“By burying the transmission cables on property already owned or controlled by railroads, instead of stringing them on high-rise towers, the project would limit environmental impact and hopes to avoid landowner and neighbor resistance that has thwarted some other high voltage overhead power transmission projects,” the company said when the project was announced in January 2020.

The line would also be more secure from weather-related power disruptions such as those caused by ice storms or high winds, the company said. In addition to delivering power to the east, electricity could flow the other way if it was needed because of emergencies with Midwest power supplies including in Iowa.

The IUB held a hearing July 11-12 in Elkader on SOO Green’s request for a franchise permit to construct, operate and maintain the proposed pipeline.

The hearing was an opportunity for parties to cross-examine witnesses and ask questions. The witnesses had previously filed written testimony on the project and objections to the project in advance of the hearings, and no new testimony was presented during the hearing.

SOO Green is intended to 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.

In its report and order granting the franchise, the IUB said that SOO Green witness David Loomis conducted an economic impact analysis for the state of Iowa.

The analysis concludes that the expected earnings benefit to Iowa during the project will include $726 million during construction, between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion from additional wind and solar manufacturing and generation facilities in Iowa, $340 million in long-term earnings during the 30-year operating period of the project, and $2.1 billion in earnings to support the operations and maintenance of future wind and solar construction.

“The board finds that current and future economic development in Iowa would be supported by the construction and operation of the project,” the IUB order states.

The franchise permit gives the company two years to complete the project, as required by state law, but the company can apply to the IUB for an extension if needed.

Anthony Alvarez with the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate (OCA) said, “The proposed project will alleviate grid congestion and provide a path for renewable energy generated in Iowa to reach new markets. It also modernizes the grid and encourages renewable electric power development in Iowa.”

The IUB ruling says, “The proposed route is less intrusive than a standard above-ground transmission line and follows statutorily-encouraged transmission routes along railroads and existing public road rights-of-way. OCA concluded that SOO Green has minimized the impact of the line on Iowa landowners, farmers and communities by routing the line primarily underground and in road and railroad ROW.”

Project developer DC DevCo said it has more than 150 years of experience in the power and transmission sectors, now specializing in renewable energy projects “that focus on de-carbonization, supplying customers with affordable energy and providing a good return for investors.”

“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.