North Plains Connector Welcomes Minnkota Power Cooperative as Eighth Member
North Plains Connector welcomes Minnkota Power Cooperative as the eighth member of its utility consortium. Minnkota has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with North Plains Connector, a subsidiary of Grid United, to secure 150 megawatts of capacity on the 3,000-megawatt, high-voltage direct current transmission line once it begins operations, subject to successful negotiation of definitive agreements. Once completed, North Plains Connector will be the first HVDC transmission line in the United States to connect three regional electric energy markets - the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the Western Interconnection, and the Southwest Power Pool - improving the reliability and resiliency of the electrical grid across the region while broadening market connections. Grid United and ALLETE are joint developers of North Plains Connector. Other members of the utility consortium with signed capacity MOUs with the project are: Avista (AVA), BHE U.S. Transmission, MDU Resources (MDU) subsidiary Montana-Dakota Utilities, NorthWestern Energy (NWE), Portland General Electric (POR), and Puget Sound Energy.
