Project between Jamestown and Ellendale in early planning stages

JAMESTOWN — A new regional electric transmission line between Jamestown and Ellendale is in the early planning stages, according to Rebecca Michael, communications manager for Otter Tail Power Co.

“We’re working on the line to continue to provide cost-effective energy not only in that area but around the region,” she said.

Otter Tail Power is working with Montana-Dakota Utilities at the request of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator. MISO manages the power grid for a 15-state area and parts of the province of Manitoba. The project is part of MISO’s Longe-Range Transmission Planning initiative to improve the power grid.

Plans call for constructing about 95 miles of transmission line connecting the Otter Tail substation north of Jamestown along North Dakota Highway 20 to the Montana-Dakota substation near Ellendale. The line will have a 345-kilovolt capacity and will be capable of moving electricity in either direction as needed. Michael said.

The project is in the early planning stages with only a proposed corridor defined. Meetings are planned for 4 p.m. July 24 at Hakuna Matata Bar and Grill in Edgeley and 4 p.m. July 25 at CBS of Ellendale to communicate with landowners.

“We want to talk to farmers about what would be a good pathway,” Michael said. “We don’t know exactly where in the corridor the line will be built.”

The project calls for steel monopole towers rather than two- or four-legged towers.

“It is not the old style with four legs,” she said. “These have ll8- to 10-feet around the base that the farmers can get right up to.”

Projected completion of the project is in 2028, Michael said.

“First is the study and open meetings,” she said. “Then develop the routing and back to another series of meetings before we finalize the route.”

The finalized route requires the approval of the North Dakota Public Service Commission which will hold its own open meetings.

The hope is for construction to begin in 2025.

“At this stage of the project, the public is showing a lot of interest,” Michael said. “We just don’t have a lot of answers yet.”