ABOVE: Great River Energy Engineer Steve Malek, left, talks about potential routes and PowerOn’s energy transmission project as State Representative Bjorn Olson listens on Wednesday at the Fox Lake event Center in Sherburn.

SHERBURN – After their initial meetings back in November, PowerOn’s energy projects were brought back for a second look in Sherburn on Wednesday and will be headed to Fairmont’s Knights of Columbus from 10 a.m. to noon on June 9.

This is the second meeting for the cooperative, made up of Great River Energy, ITC Midwest, Xcel Energy and Otter Tail Power Company. Great River Energy Supervising Manager of Communications, Lori Buffington, said it seeks to develop a series of projects in eastern South Dakota, Southern Minnesota and the broader region using 765-kV lines.

“PowerOn Midwest is a series of new high-voltage electric transmission lines anchored by a 765 kilovolt backbone transmission line being developed by Great River Energy, ITC Midwest, [Otter Tail Power Company] and Xcel Energy,” she said. “The project will connect east and South Dakota, southern Minnesota and the broader region, helping us to provide reliable electricity as our energy needs grow and change.”

Previously, PowerOn was letting everyone know the project was in its initial stages, laying the groundwork and providing baseline information for people. Now things have advanced a bit, and they want the public’s input.

“We have filed our certificate of need application with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and now we’re starting to look more closely at where specifically the line will be,” she said. “We’re in the routing phase, so this series of open houses is an opportunity for the public to come out, look at some preliminary routing options that we have been looking at, and give us feedback about what they think about their local area or their personal property.”

Currently, there are three main ways the energy lines could pass through Martin County, with some deviation in where the lines themselves could go within each way.

One would see the lines pass below Fairmont, near or through Dunnell. The second would see lines pass just above Sherburn, Welcome and Fairmont, hugging close to I-90. The third would see it pass above Fairmont, in a nearly straight line between Trimont and Truman.

“When we were here in November, it was just one big study area,” Buffington said. “The only locations that were specific were the substations, which already exist. We’re just starting to narrow it in from a study area to preliminary route options.”

Right now, Buffington said there is no more important voice than the property owners who may host infrastructure from the project on their land.

“We know that property owners know their property and their local communities better than we do,” she said. “We find it very helpful to hear from property owners; tell us what their sensitivities are, what things they want us to consider.”

Previously, PowerOn has been in Lake Benton, Pipestone and Luverne. Today, they are in Worthington and Fulda, and after being in Fairmont on the ninth, they will visit Wells, Albert Lea, Austin, Kasson and Zumbrota.

In those previous meetings, ITC Midwest Strategic Communications Project Manager Charley Bruce said he has heard a variety of feedback.

“I think a lot of people were wondering where the routes are going to go,” he said. “‘Will it impact our home?’ ‘Will it impact our land?’ Those kind of general impacts to their communities. We had a few questions about data centers, like, ‘Is this line just for data centers?’ It’s not specifically for data centers.”

All of the information presented in Sherburn and digital mapping stations, which have all the potential routes for the wires mapped on, will be in Fairmont for people to see.

State Representative Bjorn Olson was also at the event in Sherburn. He said he did not receive any mailers from PowerOn, nor did he receive any communication from any PowerOn lobbyists. At the meeting, Olson had a question at the front of his mind he wanted answers to.

“I said, ‘Hey, shoot straight with me. Is this because Minnesota’s 2040 100 percent clean energy requires, like we’re not generating a lot of power and we need to import it?'” He said. “They keep telling me no, there’s generation all over the place. They keep telling me this is truly a way for them to strengthen the system. I don’t know, the pessimist in me likes to think this is buying Great River Energy from the coal power plants in South Dakota, because we don’t have coal power plants here in Minnesota.”

Olson plans to continue following this project, which could span several terms, as construction is not projected to start until 2030-34.

“There’s another meeting in Fairmont next week,” he said. “I’ll be there, and I’ll be following this throughout the entirety of its creation. Their schedule says eight years. It’s a long, drawn-out process.

For more information, visit poweronmidwest.com.