Grid United, an independent transmission company, is developing North Plains Connector. Grid United’s mission is to modernize our power grid to create a more resilient and efficient electric system that takes advantage of the nation’s abundant and geographically dispersed natural resources to the benefit of all consumers. The Grid United team is comprised of energy professionals with extensive experience in developing, designing, permitting, and constructing large-scale linear infrastructure across North America.
North Plains Connector will be an approximately 420-mile-long transmission line, extending from an existing substation in Colstrip, Montana to two separate end points in North Dakota – one near the town of Center and the other near St. Anthony.
The project gathered stakeholder feedback and survey data before submitting a proposed route for regulatory approval in the third quarter of 2024. The route will remain “proposed” until it receives approval from state and federal regulatory bodies.
Yes, as well as private lands.
By utilizing direct current (DC) technology, electricity can be sent in either direction, east or west. North Plains Connector will transport electricity when and where it is needed. It can serve to balance the electricity needs in the Western and Eastern Interconnect grids.
Construction and maintenance of the towers and converter sites require a combination of temporary and permanent access roads. These roads will be identified during the landowner consultation phase, and landowners with access roads on their property will be compensated accordingly.
Construction crews will make an effort to access the right-of-way from public roads that intersect or are adjacent to the right-of-way. Once an access road is established, construction will follow the right-of-way to the next access road location, which will preferably be located at the next public road crossing. In some instances, depending on topography or other environmental conditions, off-right-of-way access may be needed to facilitate the construction or maintenance of the line.
North Plains Connector will be open to all sources of electrical power generation. Regulations governing the grid require the project to carry electricity without preference for any technology.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that electricity consumption in the U.S. will increase by 15 percent by 2050, or an average of 2.6% growth every five years (EIA, 2023). Other forecasts based on changes in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) filings in 2023 suggest load growth as high as 4.7% over the next five years (FERC 714 data, 2023). In addition to increasing demand, at least three primary factors affect the ability of the United States’ electrical grid to reliably deliver energy to consumers and are hastening the need for significant transmission infrastructure investment. Changes in public policy are reducing reliable baseload generation, rapid changes in the generation resource portfolio mix are affecting reliability, and increasing frequency of extreme weather events are impacting system reliability.
This high-capacity, bidirectional connection into regional generation and transmission hubs is intended to improve reliability and resiliency across both Interconnections by increasing transfer capacity and access to additional generation in new markets, and by providing the ability to shift power quickly and efficiently to address peak demand or extreme weather events.
North Plains Connector partnered with the Montana Community Foundation and North Dakota Community Foundation to help address community needs in the counties through which North Plains Connector is being developed.
Funding for the Community Investment Program (CIP) is distributed through two grant cycles per year, with submission deadlines set for May 1 and November 1, and grant dollars are allocated based on the length of line sited in each county. 501(c)(3) nonprofits and government entities are eligible to apply. If there are non-profits that support North Dakota or Montana communities in our project area that you would like to see us support, please encourage them to submit a grant application here: https://northplainsconnector.com/communityinvestment-program/.
North Plains Connector is expected to be owned, operated, and maintained by local utilities.
While the design life of a DC converter station is typically 40 years, the operational existence of existing DC lines reveals that they are operated safely and reliably well beyond this standard time frame.
For example, the Pacific DC Intertie has been functioning successfully (with the appropriate upgrades and maintenance) since 1970 and is still in operation.
We anticipate three to six structures per mile, with 900 to 1,600 feet between each structure. Structure height will typically range from 110 to 160 feet. The exact height depends on variables such as engineering requirements and topography. Structures could exceed 160 feet—but not 195 feet—in rare instances that require longer spans, such as river crossings, existing transmission line crossings, or very complex terrain.
Construction typically involves the following:
Construction for North Plains Connector will take approximately three years. Certain land use practices will be restricted while construction is taking place on your land such as excavations or topographic changes. When construction is complete, we will restore the easement area to its original condition and appearance, at which point landowners can resume normal use with a few exceptions, laid out in the executed Easement Agreement.
The North Plains Connector team has developed a construction, mitigation, and reclamation plan that includes weed control procedures. The methods for weed control will be reviewed during the permitting process and will be approved by the state regulatory agencies in coordination with the county officials and landowners.
Yes. All topsoil, up to 12 inches or the depth of cultivation, whichever is greater, will be stripped and segregated.
Reseeding will occur in compliance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Landowners will have the option to provide a specified seed mix.
We continue to prepare applications for several upcoming regulatory filings, outlined below. Each regulatory process will include a public hearing, and interested parties may receive advance notice about the hearings. The project expects to have the required permits by the end of 2026.
The state and federal permitting processes will identify the social, economic, and environmental impacts attributable to the construction and operation of the project. North Plains Connector seeks to minimize impacts to the natural, cultural, and human environment through agency, local and tribal consultation, resource surveys, and expert planning.
North Plains Connector involves Tribal Nations early during the development process and takes an inclusive view of Tribal Nations’ rights, including working to understand the spectrum of place-based interests of Tribal Nations.
We respect the Tribal Nations as a sovereign whole, and as such recognize the contemporary and historical boundaries of the many Tribal Nations in the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountains area, regardless of territory. Tribal Nations understand that North Plains Connector knows there is more than one community and that it respects the sovereignty and self-determination of Tribal Nations over their land, people, and resources.
North Plains Connector is actively working with 21 Tribal Nations in cultural survey and other pre-application design phases of the transmission line. Additionally, North Plains Connector has engaged Tribal Nations beyond the project area region, inviting their involvement in project development and respecting sovereign decisions to withhold from project participation.
North Plains Connector is working with potential construction and operation partners to ensure the continued involvement of Tribal Nations.
North Plains Connector is working in the pre-National Environmental Policy Act (i.e., federal permitting) application design phase of the development process with Tribal Nation colleges to address operations and maintenance needs for the project after construction is complete.
North Plains Connector has been sited to avoid and minimize waterbody crossings to the extent practicable. The project will cross both flowing waters, such as streams and rivers, and non-flowing waters, including lakes and ponds, in both North Dakota and Montana. The majority of waterbodies crossed are intermittent streams. Some waterbodies crossed include the Tongue and Powder Rivers in Montana and the Heart, Cannonball, and Little Missouri Rivers in North Dakota.
North Plains Connector proposes to install best management practices to prevent impacts to stream flow, wetland fill, and water quality impacts. Best management practices include waterbody crossing avoidance, properly sized culverts, low water body crossings, and construction matting, among others.
Information collected by North Plains Connector is subject to the data sovereignty and digital jurisdiction of Tribal Nations.
North Plains Connector currently engages with the Youth Treaty Council and is open to opportunities as they arise to partner with Tribal Nations. Through the North Plains Connector Community Investment Program, non-profits and community organizations that are part of Tribal Nations near the project area are eligible to apply for grants up to $50,000 per award cycle. Click here for more information.
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