Tag Archives: xcel

Xcel Hiawatha DEIS released, public meeting scheduled

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Rendering from Midtown Community Works Partnership of potential overhead lines

The Office of Energy Security has released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Hiawatha Transmission Line Project, Xcel’s plan to run high-voltage lines along the Midtown Greenway (careful, the PDF is huge and will bog down even newer computers).  They have also announced a public meeting to take comments on the document on February 10th.

The DEIS does identify above-ground lines as having negative impacts on visual quality, being inconsistent with local urban design standards and potentially discouraging additional residential and commercial development nearby.

As I understand it, although the EIS has to identify mitigation strategies for the impacts of the project, it does not require that these mitigation measures be implemented if the project is approved.  From this TC Daily Planet article, it sounds as though the PUC may have the final say about mitigation, but I assume that the Department of Commerce is the responsible LGU, and would also have to approve a route and mitigation measures.

Either way, the public meeting is a chance for anyone to comment on potential additional impacts, whether the scale of impacts has been adequately measured, and the effectiveness of mitigation measures identified.  This is a good time to get involved.

How to replace the Xcel Hiawatha project, without spending $15 million

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Let's just change our bulbs instead...

This post has been updated to account for my bad math.  Always make sure to check your Excel formulas!  Thanks Scott!

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According to Xcel, energy conservation alone cannot meet their forecasted demand for power in Southwest Minneapolis and they must build a new power line over the Midtown Greenway.  Quoted in a Southwest Journal article, and in their Project Need documents submitted to the Minnesota PUC, Xcel claims that they forecast an increased demand of 50 megawatts by 2018 in the “focused study area” (see map on page D2 – 7 of the link above).  I think I can save them about $14.5 $12.5 million dollars and a lot of public meetings.

I did some quick figuring using GIS and the 2000 census figures, and the “focused study area” contains roughly 94,000 housing units.  This seems to make sense given that this area encompasses some of the most dense parts of the city.  If Xcel were to take a proactive approach to conservation, perhaps going door to door and volunteering to install new light bulbs for example, could they make a dent?  YES!  They could effectively eliminate the need for the Hiawatha project!  In fact, if they installed ten new CFL bulbs in one tenth 70 percent of the housing units in the study area, they would more than offset the forecasted growth in demand.  And it would only cost about $360,000 $2.5 million.  Even if they hired five full-time installers to do the job, it would still only cost around $600,000 $2.75 million.  Xcel could save about $14.5 $12.25 million, and the neighbors could go back to worrying about the future of NRP.  Check my math.  Is it really that easy? Apparently not since I flubbed it the first time.

Perhaps they’ve already factored in some type of conservation efforts, but the forecasted growth chart in the above document doesn’t seem to support that.  And even if they have, if you can get this much effect by simply replacing light bulbs, imagine what you could do if you spent the rest of the $15 milion on conservation.  Hopefully the EIS will include an independent estimate of just that.

Public meeting on Xcel’s proposed Hiawatha transmission project – get your comments in!

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This Thursday, June 18th, the Minnesota Office of Energy Security is hosting a scoping meeting for Xcel Energy’s proposed transmission project.  The meeting will be held at the Midtown Global Market at 6 pm.  If you care about this project, you should attend, or submit your comments online.  All comments submitted must be responded to in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and may even be able to shape the alternatives that are studied during the process.

This project would run a new overhead line along a 1.25 mile stretch of the Midtown Greenway between Midtown and Hiawatha Avenue.  Xcel says that increased electrical demand in the southwest portion of the city requires new infrastructure and conservation measures are not up the task.  The need is in the realm of 50 megawatts, according to an Xcel spokesperson.  An above ground line would cost $3 million while a buried line would cost $15 million, according to Xcel.

The Midtown Greenway Coalition, among others are asking that the power line be buried, or perhaps not built at all if conservation measures could be used to address the need.  Their concerns include aesthetics, health impacts, reduced development potential, and the removal of greenspace near the Sabo Bridge for installation of a substation.

If you go to this meeting, drop a comment here and tell me about your experience or your views on the project.