CapX2020 is a leading expansion of Minnesota’s electric transmission grid to meet the increased energy needs in portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The new transmission lines will be built in phases and will be the largest development of new transmissions in 30 years. We’ve been involved in all phases of this project including: the Fargo-St. Cloud-Monticello Transmission line, a 238-mile transmission line that will be built between the new Bison Substation west of Fargo, ND, the existing Alexandria Switching Station in Alexandria, MN, the new Quarry Substation west of St. Cloud, MN, and the Monticello Nuclear Generation Plant.
The second phase is the Bemidji-Grand Rapids Transmission Line, the single circuit 230kV transmission line which runs approximately 70 miles between the Wilton Substation near Bemidji, MN, and the Boswell Substation in Grand Rapids, MN. We will perform more than 300 standard penetration test borings and cone penetration test soundings as part of the geotechnical analysis for the design of the tower structure foundations. We also performed several services for the overall transmission alignment including geological evaluation, preliminary geotechnical evaluation, environmental borings and sampling for the superfund site near Cass Lake, and production borings and probes.
Finally, the Bookings County-Hampton Transmission Line, a 240-mile transmission line that will run between the Brookings County, SD, Substation and the new Cedar Mountain Substation in Renville County, MN. We completed the preliminary geological evaluation of this alignment to better evaluate the scope of the exploration phase. After fall, we will begin geotechnical borings and evaluation for the segment between the Cedar Mountain and Helena substations.
