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Mankato-Mississippi River Transmission Project

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Meeting Southern
Minnesota’s Energy Demand

The Mankato-Mississippi River Transmission Project will increase reliability, resiliency during extreme weather and access to more low-cost renewable energy for customers.

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Powering the Way

The Mankato-Mississippi River Transmission Project includes about 120 miles of new and upgraded 345 kilovolt (kV) transmission lines between the existing Wilmarth Substation located in Mankato, Minnesota, and a connection point at the Mississippi River near Kellogg. It also includes building about 20 miles of new 161 kV transmission lines between the existing North Rochester Substation near Pine Island, Minnesota, and an existing transmission line northeast of Rochester, which must be added to install the new 345 kV infrastructure. The project is organized into four segments that includes either new or upgraded infrastructure.

Map showing the four segments of the project.
Click to enlarge View our Interactive Map

Need for New Infrastructure

The Mankato-Mississippi River Transmission Line Project will improve reliability, deliver low-cost renewable energy and provide other regional benefits by building new and more resilient 'backbone' electric transmission infrastructure to serve customers.

This project is part of a portfolio of long-range electric transmission projects identified by the regional grid operator, MISO, to strengthen the overall grid, ensuring customers receive the electricity they need as aging generation plants are retired and new wind and solar energy plants are built.

  • Increased Reliability

    Creating new network connections across the grid means a more reliable energy system.

  • Reduced Congestion

    Just like a highway, the electric grid gets congested too. New transmission means increased capacity for delivering more energy.

  • Increased Resiliency

    Additional transmission capacity increases the ability to withstand extreme weather conditions.

  • Low-cost Energy

    New transmission lines means access to more low-cost renewable energy.

How Transmission Works

Watch this short video to learn how transmission infrastructure supports our electric grid.

Schedule

We will work closely with landowners, members of the public, local government officials, Tribes and resources agencies as the route development and regulatory processes move forward.

2022

  • Project identified by MISO

2023

  • Planning
  • Route development process begin
  • Public and stakeholder engagement
  • Preliminary engineering
  • Submit Certificate of Need and Route Permit Application

2024-2026

  • Minnesota permitting review (including public input)
  • Final engineering
  • Negotiate with landowners to purchase easements
  • Obtain other required permits
  • Continued public and stakeholder engagement

2026-2028

  • Construction

2028

  • In-service and restoration

*Schedules are subject to change.

Upcoming Events

The project team held public open house meetings in May 2023. The materials presented at those meetings are posted on our Events page.

Visit the Events Page

Project Segments

Learn more about each of the four project segments, explore the interactive map and drop a pin to leave a comment.

View our Interactive Map

Library & FAQs

Download a project fact sheet and review frequently asked questions.

View Library & FAQs

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Comments? Questions?

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