T ransmission I mprovement For the Red River Valley & West Central Minnesota

Red River Valley Area Fargo-Moorhead.

Red River Valley

Load 2004: 1029 MW 2011: 1223 MW 2016: 1315 MW

Red River Valley

Studies Identified Several Critical Contingencies  Loss of Bulk Lines Center-Jamestown-Maple River Dorsey-Forbes  Local load-serving benefits Alexandria St. Cloud Loss Reduction of approximately 100 MW Real-time Installation of Bemidji – Grand Rapids 230 kV Line shows delay of project need by approximately 4 years Projected need in Fargo area in 2018

Alexandria Area  Loss of Grant County – Elbow Lake Line causes low voltages  Breaker and capacitor addition postpones local-area need until 2013 or 2014  Loss of Elmo – Inman or Verndale – Wing River also causes problems when combined with Grant County line

St. Cloud Area  Loss of Benton County – Granite City 115 kV DCTL causes low voltages and severe overloads  St. Regis load dropped automatically  Cannot reconfigure Granite City without new area source to provide support

The End