After years of working to win approval in Missouri, developers of the 800-mile Grain Belt Express,the power line that will carry wind energy from southwest Kansas across Missouri and Illinois and eventually to Indiana, have received it.
The Missouri Public Service Commission, on a 4-1 vote, approved the plan in which the Grain Belt Express will bring nearly 2,500 megawatts of power to the state. That’s the equivalent of four nuclear power plants worth of energy, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The developer is Invenergy Transmission and for the past year, the Chicago-based company has been in a fight with Missouri farmers who felt their property rights would be trampled.
“The approval of this transmission line and the ability to bring five times as much power to Missouri as originally planned will not only help us tap a significant source of domestic energy, but it will also help improve reliability and affordability for the Missouri business community,” said Ray McCarty, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri, in a statement.
