Utilities Celebrate Completion Of CapX2020 Power Line Segment

Utility companies are celebrating the completion of work on a 90-mile segment of high-voltage power lines that will eventually be part of a major transmission line stretching from the Dakotas to Wisconsin.

The newest stretch of the CapX2020 project starts in Pine Island, Minnesota, crosses the Mississippi River in Alma, and then ends at facilities just north of La Crosse.

Xcel Energy and 10 other utility companies involved in the project celebrated the installation of the segment Tuesday at their substation in Holmen. There, Ben Porath, a vice president for the Dairyland Power Cooperative, acknowledged that controversy has long surrounded the project. Many residents in the area remain concerned about the line’s environmental and aesthetic impacts.

However, Porath said that he thinks the project will result in “progress and prosperity” for the area.

“I know what highly reliable, affordable electricity means to a local community and economy,” he said.

Xcel Energy plans to extend another transmission line from Holmen to Madison after receiving approval for the plan in March.