The Biden administration is looking to speed the permitting of Invenergy LLC's $7 billion Grain Belt Express electric transmission line by giving it a special designation reserved for large, complex infrastructure projects.
With the designation, known as FAST-41, the first phase of the project — capable of delivering up to 2,500 MW of renewable energy from southwest Kansas to northeastern Missouri — will receive a comprehensive and integrated federal permitting timetable.
"FAST-41 designation signifies the national priority importance of Grain Belt Express to improving grid reliability and energy affordability, particularly in the Great Plains and Midwest," an Invenergy project representative said in a Feb. 20 email.
The US Energy Department's Loan Programs Office will now develop a coordinated project plan by April 22 to address federal reviews for the first phase of the Grain Belt Express line.
The first phase includes approximately 542 miles of overhead high-voltage direct-current line that will establish more transfer capacity between the Southwest Power Pool and Midcontinent ISO wholesale power markets.
A national transmission needs study that the DOE released in 2023 estimated that interregional transfer capacity between the Plains and Midwest regions will need to increase 175% by 2035 to meet growing electricity demand as the nation shifts to more weather-dependent sources of renewable energy.
The second phase of the Grain Belt Express project, capable of delivering an additional 2,500 MW of renewable energy from southwest Kansas, will eventually extend into the PJM Interconnection LLC's 13-state power market through an interconnection point near the Illinois-Indiana border.
The project was first proposed in 2009. Invenergy acquired it in 2019.
A spokesperson for the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, which oversees environmental reviews across 13 federal agencies, confirmed the FAST-41 designation Feb. 20.
"The Permitting Council is pleased to welcome the Grain Belt Express project to FAST-41 coverage," Eric Beightel, the council's executive director, said in a statement. "Grain Belt Express exemplifies the type of transformative transmission projects capable of delivering the triple-play of affordability, grid reliability, and more domestic renewable energy production."
Invenergy said in a statement that the permitting council's capabilities "are essential in ensuring a predictable and transparent federal environmental review and authorization process, which is critical for a transmission project of this scale and importance."
FERC approves transmission agreement
Grain Belt Express is also making procedural headway at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
FERC on Feb. 16 approved a transmission connection agreement (ER24-715) for the project's first phase between Invenergy, MISO and Ameren Corp. subsidiary Ameren Missouri, known legally as Union Electric Co. However, FERC declined to direct MISO to add a provision to its tariff that would allow the first phase of the project to meet its target in-service date of December 2027.
At the request of Invenergy, MISO filed the agreement in December 2023 as unexecuted after informing the developer that the in-service date was being delayed until December 2030. MISO said the delay is necessary because Ameren Missouri must first complete network upgrades that include two new 345-kV transmission lines.
Invenergy filed two related complaints (EL24-53, EL24-35) with FERC in response to the delay. Both complaints seek a limited operation provision, similar to those MISO grants to new power generation projects, that would allow the first phase of the Grain Belt Express line to operate at less than full capacity while Ameren Missouri completes the 345-kV projects.
FERC declined to act on those complaints in its Feb. 16 order, explaining that it plans to do so at a later date. The commission noted that MISO has indicated it is open to pursuing a limited operation provision for high-voltage direct-current projects through its stakeholder process and the unexecuted terms of the transmission connection agreement can be modified in the future.