The cancellation of the proposed Big Stone II project near Milbank not only eliminates an additional source of electric power, but reduces the likelihood of new transmission facilities to take wind-generated power to the Twin Cities.
The remaining participants (including Heartland Consumers Power District in Madison) decided to cancel the $1.6 billion project when new investors couldn't be found to replace lead partner Otter Tail Power, who pulled out in September (see page 1).
One component of the project was the transmission facilities to transport the electricity to the member utilities and their customers. The most prominent transmission line would have gone to serve the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The line could also have carried electricity from South Dakota's growing wind generation industry to an area that is thirsty for electricity.
Transmission of wind power has been a major concern for wind developers in the state, because making electricity doesn't help anyone unless it can get to the end user.
The cancellation of the Big Stone II project and its transmission component is a setback, but not a death-knell. We're confident other transmission options will be developed, even though they may be longer in the development stage than we would have liked.
We believe the future of wind energy in South Dakota is still bright, and we're eager to see industry leaders figure out a way to get past this setback.
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