Invenergy to expand available wind power in Missouri, Kansas

Source: By MICHAEL BROWN, AP • Posted: Wednesday, August 26, 2020

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A company planning a high-voltage power line carrying wind energy across the Midwest says it will distribute more of the electricity in Missouri and Kansas after running into regulatory delays in Illinois.

Invenergy Transmission said Tuesday that it plans to increase its delivery capacity in Missouri and Kansas to as much as 2,500 megawatts, which is nearly two-thirds of its planned total capacity of 4,000 megawatts. The company had previously announced only that 500 megawatts of power would go to Missouri.

The planned Grain Belt Express transmission line would stretch 780 miles (1,255 kilometers) from the wind-whipped plains of Kansas across Missouri and Illinois before hooking into an electric grid in Indiana that serves the eastern U.S. After previously being rejected in Missouri, the project won regulatory approval in both Missouri and Kansas in 2019.

The transmission line still needs regulatory approval in Illinois, where a court overturned the state’s previous approval.

Invenergy said Tuesday that it will seek whatever regulatory approvals are necessary to expand its delivery in Missouri and Kansas and to begin construction in those two states prior to gaining approval in Illinois.