By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
(Writer's note: The original story included figures that would be paid to area counties at $30 million to Pawnee and $33 million to Barton and Russell counties. That has been clarified as Invenergy's projections for near and long-term revenue supporting public services in those counties).
Kansas residents potentially impacted by a proposed National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor were not happy last year when the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it was considering several Kansas counties in its Midwest-Plains Corridor last year. Neither were representatives of Invenergy, the Chicago-based firm behind the Grain Belt Express (GBX). Patrick Whitty, Invenergy's senior vice president of public affairs, spoke before a Kansas senate committee last Thursday.
"All of the facts I will address do not change the reality that this federal program has created significant and justifiable confusion, concern, and anger among Kansans," Whitty said. "We have heard extensive feedback from Kansans on this issue, including frustrations, especially around incomplete or no notice provided by DOE to landowners, as well as limited public comment timelines, not to mention the specter of federal eminent domain authority."
Whitty confirmed to senators that Invenergy plans on using an already-approved route for its line that will travel some 800 miles from Dodge City to Indiana. The Grain Belt Express will not require federal eminent domain and the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line will directly benefit Kansas.
"In normal operating conditions, the line will move power from west to east, but a unique benefit of HVDC technology is the ability to precisely control power flows in both directions over a line," Whitty said. "As more severe weather emergencies impact regional power availability, Great Belt Express will have the ability to import power to Kansas from other regions in times of grid strain."
Since its inception in 2001, Invenergy has developed 207 projects and generated 33 gigawatts, or enough electricity to power 12 million homes. Invenergy's first project in Kansas was the Buckeye Wind Energy Center along I-70 which went online in 2015. The company has now completed three projects in Kansas, is currently building two more, and has others in development. The Grain Belt Express would be the longest transmission line built in the United States in 50 years, and will be the only grid to connect four regions.
"No infrastructure project will do more for the Kansas economy or do more to address the growing U.S. electric grid crisis than the Grain Belt Express," Whitty said. "This is the highest-capacity transmission line in the U.S. at five gigawatts, roughly equivalent to four nuclear power plants in capacity."
Invenergy plans to use local employees for the construction of the line. Two-thirds of technicians on the Buckeye project were graduates of the Cloud County program. More than 19,000 full-time construction jobs are planned for a 2-3 year period during the construction of Grain Belt. From years 11-50, the Express is expected to generate $500 million a year in economic benefit to the state. That would generate $178 million in property taxes for schools.
Invenergy would pay $4 million in Construction Work in Progress payments to counties, and $7,500 per mile in construction impact mitigation payments. Invenergy projects near and long-term revenue supporting public services of $30 million for Pawnee County, and $33 million each Barton and Russell counties.
More highlights from Whitty's presentation:
- Towers will have a base of 40 x 40 feet. Ninety-nine percent of land in an easement will still be farmable.
- The towers will be 130 to 160 feet high.
- HVDC lines require less infrastructure. An AC system moving the same amount of power at GBX would require three times as many lines and four times the number of towers.
- Ninety-six percent of landowners on the GBX path have already signed a contract with Invenergy. Of the remaining four percent of landowners, 1.8 have court-ordered agreements, and 1.9 percent have not signed a contract.
- Invenergy offers payment of $18,000 per-typical-structure on property.
- Landowners are compensated 300 percent of annual crop value in year one of construction.