Basin Electric hosts open houses for transmission line project

Basin Electric hosted open houses in northwest North Dakota for a planned high-voltage transmission line project that will strengthen the local and regional electric system. The Tande-to-Saskatchewan and Wheelock-to-Saskatchewan 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission line project is needed to enhance the electricity export and import capabilities between the United States and Canada, up to 650 megawatts.

Basin Electric project team members met with landowners and other interested parties on June 5 in Crosby, North Dakota, and June 6 in Tioga, North Dakota, to share information about the transmission line and to gather feedback. About 24 stakeholders attended in Crosby, and another 14 stakeholders attended in Tioga.

Bobby Nasset, Basin Electric supervisor of Civil Engineering and the project's manager, said, “It’s important to get landowner feedback to help inform our routing activities to develop a transmission alignment that is safe and reliable for operation while minimizing local impacts.”

The project includes approximately 110 miles of new 230-kV high-voltage transmission lines from existing Basin Electric substations to the Canadian border. One circuit will be routed from the Wheelock substation near Ray, North Dakota, and the second circuit from the Tande substation near Tioga.

Nasset said the Southwest Power Pool has designated Basin Electric as the transmission owner for the upgrade in the United States, and SaskPower will complete the circuit within Canada. Transmission lines that cross an international border require a Presidential permit from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Mike Murray, Basin Electric director of Property and Right of Way, said right-of-way agents are actively seeking right-of-entry permission from landowners within a broad proposed corridor to identify potential routes for evaluation and surveys. Information gathered from subsequent surveys will help with the goal of identifying the least impactful and most cost-effective route options to further pursue.

Pending permit and easement acquisition, construction is scheduled to begin in 2026. It is anticipated that construction will take approximately 12 to 18 months.