DCW staff discusses electric voltage with residents

When the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved NextEra Energy’s Dodge County Wind project last spring commissioners added a requirement that Dodge County Wind “attempt in good faith to meet with the owners of dairy and hog farms adjacent to the route for the purpose of explaining the energy and electrical standard effects addressed and demonstrate compliance with the consultation obligation in its pre-construction filing.”
That meeting took place last Wednesday during two sessions with area farmers at Saker’s Events Center in Kasson.
Dodge County Wind, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, plans to construct a 252-megawatt wind farm with the electricity generated sold to Great River Energy which supplies power to the 27 member-owned cooperatives.
The project includes 72 turbines, most of them located in western Dodge County, with some in Steele County. The electricity will be transported to Great River’s Pleasant Valley substation in Mower County via a 27 mile 161-kilovolt transmission line. Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric is one of the cooperatives that is a part of Great River Energy.
A continuing concern of farmers living in the vicinity of the transmission lines for the project was how stray voltage from the lines could impact their dairy herds and hog operations. Answering those types of questions and concerns were the purpose of last week’s meetings. Much of the meeting involved Dodge County Wind staff and consultants answering questions from the farmers about their individual farms, however there was a period of general questions.
Dr. Chris Ollson, a company consultant, told the group that he understood their concerns, but the transmission lines are designed to avoid those types of voltage issues the farmers are concerned about. The transmission lines, he said, will be well below the limits set by the state when it comes to voltage and stray voltage.
Company officials added that any stray voltage directly under the transmission lines would be no greater than that of an electric fence. It is almost impossible to have stray voltage from the transmission lines. Any stray voltage generally comes from distribution lines, the company said.
One farmer also asked if weather conditions could affect stray voltage. The codes for transmission lines, said DCW’s Tom Koegel, are looking at the worse case scenarios. Conservatism, he said, is built into the codes.
There was also a question regarding how far the lines needed to be from private wells, with Ollson responding there were no requirements regarding distance from wells.
In response to a question about whether the limits to stray voltage in these agricultural situations were designed for human reaction to voltage or animals, Ollson said the guidelines were based on animal response, not people.
There were also additional general questions on the route chosen and right-of-way issues.
Three routes were suggested originally with all of them traveling from western Dodge County to Highway 56. The routes diverged at that point with the Highway 56 route continuing down the highway to south of Waltham where it turns east to the substation. The county road route crossed over Highway 56 following county roads to County Road 9 where it went south to Sargeant and then east to the substation. The hybrid route follows Highway 56 south for a short distance before going east to connect with County Road 9.
The PUC ultimately chose the hybrid route.
While the Environmental Impact Study prepared by the PUC staff recommended the hybrid route, numerous residents favored the route down Highway 56. Dodge County Commissioners also favored the Highway 56 route. Dodge County Wind and Mower County officials both supported the hybrid route going down County Road 9.
Dodge County Wind is still in the process of completing permitting with local officials with work on the project scheduled to begin in the spring. It is anticipated that the project will be able to go online at the end of 2025.