The U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $50 million grant to Minnesota Power to modernize its high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system so it is ready to expand to meet future energy needs while increasing the reliability and resilience of the regional grid. Minnesota Power, an operating division of ALLETE, was selected in a competitive process from among hundreds of applicants nationwide to receive the grant for its HVDC Terminal Expansion Capability Project from the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program, part of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Minnesota Power will use the funding to prepare its HVDC system for future expansion by including certain additional design features in its current plan for replacing aging infrastructure and modernizing the terminal stations of its 465-mile transmission line that runs from Center, North Dakota, to Hermantown, Minnesota.

Minnesota Power?s HVDC transmission line is one of only a handful of existing long-distance HVDC lines in the country. HVDC lines transmit electricity more efficiently over long distances than alternating current (AC) lines and more strongly link together disparate parts of the electrical grid. Specialized stations, like the ones proposed for this project, convert the HVDC power to AC so it can flow on the existing electric grid.

On June 1, Minnesota Power filed a Certificate of Need and Route Permit with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to replace converter facilities at the Arrowhead Substation in Hermantown with new buildings and electrical infrastructure near the existing terminal. Similar upgrades are planned for the converter facilities at the Square Butte East Substation in Center, North Dakota. Minnesota Power is actively seeking other federal and state funding to help keep impacts on rates as affordable as possible, both for this project and other projects that will support the clean-energy transition.

In May, $15 million in state funding was secured as part of the energy and climate budget bill passed by the Minnesota Legislature.