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Big upgrade for ower rid p g State's largest utilities will pay for a $1 billion expansion. By Chris Serres the next 15 years to build new and Minnesota Power in Duluth. and increases the possibility of Star Tribune Sta ff Writer power lines and to upgrade ex- Executives at the companies a major blackout. isting ones.The project,dubbed said in interviews Tuesday that Our power system load has Minnesota's rickety power "Cap X 2020," would increase they can no longer put off in- increased tremendously over grid is about to undergo its the state's transmission capac- vesting in new lines. Demand the past 20 years,and it has put biggest upgrade in more than ity by 5,000 megawatts per hour for electricity in this state is greater stress on the transmis- 20 years, as utility companies — about the same amount of growing faster than supply,and sion infrastructure," said Rod scramble to keep pace with electricity produced by five the power lines carrying elec- Scheel, vice president of asset higher demand and to prevent nuclear power plants the size of tricity into and out of Minnesota management at Otter Tail Power, future blackouts. Prairie Island. are frequently operating at full which serves 127,000 customers The state's four largest The four companies are Xcel capacity.That limits the amount in the Upper Midwest. power companies recently told Energy Inc. of Minneapolis, Ot- of affordable power that Minne- state regulators that they plan ter Tail Power Co.of Fergus Falls, sota utilities can buy from en- POWER continues on D6: to spend at least$1 billion over Great River Energy of Elk River ergy companies in other states —System not made for heavy use. POWER from Di from lower-cost coal-based Consumer demand creates Creek plants in other states. In 1999, Great Ri ver's Coal Creek power plant in Under- bottlenecks in electric lines dur- ing one of the hottest days"Without [his capital ex- tlenecks along key the year. Because many of the penditurel, the probability of a leading to and from Minnesota power esota already were operating blackout or other reliability is- For instance, the 345,000-volt at full capacity, Great River had sues would be elevated,"Scheel transmission line that stretches to buy the electricity at an exor- said. from the Twin Cities to Milwau- bitant price. The reliability of the nation's kee is often operating at full ca- "It's like paying $500 for a electricity grid has come under pacity during hot or cold days, Snickers bar," said Don Jones, i renewed scrutiny since a wide- when electricity usage is high. director of transmission asset spread blackout on the East "We're trying to use the sys- management at Xcel Energy. Coast a year ago left 50 million tern in a way in which it wasn't The four companies will people without power. Many designed to be used," said Bill spend the next several months energy experts blamed deregu- Head,chief operating officer of analyzing the future needs for lation of the nation's wholesale MAPPCOR,a contractor for the power lines in this state and power industry In 1996,federal Mid-Continent Area Power Pool, how to build them. The group regulators allowed energy com- a regional planning agency plans to submit a draft report panies to buy and sell power These bottlenecks are costly to the Minnesota Public Utili- across state lines,which led to to consumers because they can ties Commission and the state Mending theµµ gr d more power being transmitted prevent utility companies from Department of Commerce in Ce � . long distances over lines that accessing affordable power.On October.A final report will fol- What's going on?Minneso- were never built to serve that hot days in July, for instance, low in March. purpose. power companies are some- ta's four ill sPe power least At the same time,consumer times forced to rely on expen- Chris Sevres is at panies 1 ll n ve the at next demand for electricity has in- sive, natural-gas fired plants, cserres @smrtn'bune.com. years rs to over tee nest to creased,which has created bot- rather than importing power agarg power uegradt the state's aging power system. Why is it necessary? Power lines carrying electric- ity into and out of Minnesota are operating near capacity, increasing the risk of pos- sible blackouts. What's next?The group of power companies will assess the state's future needs for power lines and submit a report to state regulators in October.