TOPEKA – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that ten proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor projects have been scaled down to three, none of which will run through Kansas. In the meantime, the Grain Belt Express transmission line, approved by the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) in 2011, will continue through the state regulatory process.
While the route of the Grain Belt Express project fell within the borders of one of the proposed DOE corridors, its status as a previously approved project has not changed and is moving forward. In addition, without a Federal Corridor designation, State jurisdiction and approval processes remain intact for the Grain Belt Express and the KCC will continue to review any potential future projects. Federal “backstop” siting authority or the use of federal eminent domain are not an option. The DOE’s decision does not reverse the previously announced $4.9 billion conditional loan guarantee awarded to the Grain Belt Express project on November 25, 2024.[1]
To date, the KCC has taken the following actions in respect to the Grain Belt Express project:
- 2011 – The Grain Belt Express project, designed to transport energy from Kansas wind and solar farms, was approved based on benefits to the State and granted a Certificate of Convenience and necessity to build the line.
- 2013 – The route of the Kansas portion of the line was approved, beginning at a converter station in Ford County continuing on to Missouri.
- 2019 – The Commission approved the acquisition of the project by Invenergy Transmission LLC from Grain Belt Express Clean Line LLC.
- 2023 – The KCC approved a request to allow the line to be built in two phases. Phase 1, which includes Kansas and Missouri, can begin once all regulatory and financing requirements have been obtained for that portion of the project. The order issued did not remove or alter any of the protections for landowners that were required by the Commission when it approved the acquisition of the project by Invenergy in 2019.
- 2024 – The KCC gave conditional approval to a siting plan for two 345 kV transmission lines, known as the AC Collector System, designed to connect wind and solar farms to the Grain Belt Express.
A final order on the siting of the AC Collector lines is expected to be issued in 2025.
