While hyperscale data centers have become a big political issue in Wisconsin, there’s another technological project that is generating some attention in Dane County and beyond – a proposed high-powered transmission line called BECI.
On Sept. 10, the Dane County Board passed a resolution calling for movement on the project to be slowed down to allow time for further review and public input. Here’s the backstory on BECI, and why it has residents and lawmakers so charged up. [Midcontinent Grid Solutions, Dane County]
What is BECI?
The BECI project is a 765-kilovolt power line that would stretch roughly 190 miles across southern Wisconsin. The area being considered for the line would include parts of Crawford, Richland, Sauk, Columbia, Dodge, Dane, Jefferson, Walworth and Rock counties.
The Y-shaped towers loom 175 feet tall, each requiring 180 feet of space on the ground. The $1.2 billion project is being spearheaded by the Midcontent Independent System Operator (MISO), which is the grid operator for the region, ranging 15 states and parts of Canada.
The company developing the project, Midcontinent Grid Solutions, says the project is necessary to connect southern Wisconsin to the MISO grid as energy use continues to grow and change, keeping energy service reliable even in the case of equipment failures or when parts of the grid are under strain. Some of that energy use comes from new data centers coming online.
While the route has yet to be determined, the BECI lines will not follow existing power lines routes, meaning that it will require new easements or contracts with property owners. [Cap Times]
What’s the Time Frame?
MGS gathered public input in August and has identified some possible routes in the nine-county region. The company plans to hold additional public hearings through the fall and then submit their application to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission early next year.
From there, the project will undergo a lengthy review process, and it will be up to the commission to decide if and where the transmission line will be built. According to MGS’ timetable, the project could be completed by 2033. [Cap Times, MGS]
What’s the Public Reaction?
Some residents are dead set against it, worried that the giant towers will destroy the view of their rural land and impact the wildlife that live there. As one 91-year-old resident told the Cap Times, “instead of having a view of heaven, you got a view of hell.”
Residents have been attending their local government meetings (such as the Dane County Board) asking them to slow down the process, and both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have come out in support of either slowing down the project or killing it altogether.
“People who received letters just weeks ago are now being asked to absorb the entirety of a 190-mile, 765-kV line, identify the parties involved, understand potential routes through their communities, and provide meaningful feedback, all on a compressed timeline that does not match the scale of the project's impact on their land, their livelihoods, and their communities," Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan wrote in a Sept. 16 letter to MGS.
Pocan’s longtime rival and sparring partner, Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, agreed in a Sept. 17 statement. "You can’t put a mailbox in the ground without going through the (Department of Natural Resources), yet Tony Evers would have Wisconsin believe that nothing can be done to protect the Driftless Region from massive transmission lines being forced through communities that do not want them.” [No765Line, Spectrum News, 🔒MJS]
