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ITC Midwest Community Engagement

In the Community

Community Engagement

Find timely updates, announcements and resources that reflect ITC Midwest’s latest community engagement.

Dusky Terry Discusses Transmission at CBJ Energy Symposium

ITC Midwest President Dusky Terry provided an overview of ITC Midwest and the need for continued electric transmission buildout during the Corridor Business Journal Energy Symposium, held in Cedar Rapids. The inaugural event also included leaders from Alliant Energy, MidAmerican Energy and NextEra Energy, who focused on various aspects of the energy sector. 

Dusky emphasized that Iowa’s electric grid is reliable and resilient, but noted changing demands are driving the need for investment. Some of the key points Dusky made during his presentation included:

  • ITC Midwest took over a system that was not meeting reliability expectations, requiring an infusion of investment to rebuild the system. The company’s investments have led to a 79% reduction in transmission outages since 2007.
  • Although the expenditures were necessary to improve reliability, ITC Midwest is mindful of the rate impact to customers.
  • To facilitate the transition to renewable energy, ITC Midwest built nearly 300 miles of new 345 kV projects as part of the regionally cost-shared MISO MVP portfolio introduced in 2011.
  • Today, wind energy accounts for 58% of the generating capacity interconnected to the ITC Midwest system. Over the past 17 years, ITC Midwest has connected 45 new generators representing nearly 5,000 MW of renewable energy to the grid.
  • Iowa is projected to have the first significant electricity demand growth in decades, which requires additional investment in the transmission grid.
  • ITC Midwest is currently developing the next round of major MISO Long-Range Transmission Plan (LRTP) projects to improve system reliability and resilience, increase system capacity and enable lower-cost energy resources to power economic development in Iowa.
  • The LRTP portfolio is critical to support the new data centers planned for the Cedar Rapids area, and general growth in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City corridor.

Dusky closed by noting that the electric grid is one of the largest, most dynamic and most complex systems in the world, and it is critically important for our daily lives. The ITC Midwest team remains focused on operating a safe, reliable and secure grid for the benefit of electricity consumers.

ITC Midwest Welcomes New Local Government and Community Affairs (LGCA) Team Members

Two new personnel have recently joined the ITC Midwest Local Government and Community Affairs (LGCA) team, including:

Jamie Toledo is the new LGCA Area Manager for the greater Cedar Rapids area and surrounding counties, and she is based at the Cedar Rapids office.

Jamie comes to ITC Midwest from the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, where she served as the Economic Development Relationship Manager for the past eight years. At the Economic Alliance, Jamie’s responsibilities included leading a regional developer team of public, private and economic development professionals from seven counties. Her wide-ranging work has included collaboration with developers, site selectors, commercial real estate brokers, industry leaders and cities on business attraction and expansion efforts.

Prior to joining the Economic Alliance, Jamie had 17 years of experience at Alliant Energy in a variety of roles with progressively increasing responsibility, including serving as manager of areas including supplier diversity, Lean Six Sigma programs, sourcing and supply chain, corporate diversity and inclusion, and fleet administration. Her experience with these many roles at Alliant Energy, coupled with her economic development experience, will serve Jamie well in her new role as an LGCA Area Manager.

Jesse Crank has joined the LGCA team Permitting Specialist. Jeese will take over permitting responsibilities for our northern Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin service territories, and he will be based at the Dubuque warehouse. (See attached contact card for more details.)

Jesse comes to ITC Midwest from Utility Lines Construction Services (ULCS), where for more than seven years he was Regional Forester overseeing vegetation crews. Jesse was responsible for inspecting and assessing vegetation on ITC Midwest transmission line rights-of-way for vegetation compliance. During his time at ULCS, Jesse worked under the parameters of multiple county, state and federal permits. He understands the importance of fostering strong relationships with the government bodies issuing permits, which provided him strong background and tools that ITC Midwest needs to operate successfully.

Prior to joining ULCS, Jesse gained experience as a distribution utility arborist and later a general foreman for Shade Tree Service Company, an ITC Midwest contractor that does vegetation management work. He also gained experience as a lineman apprentice through the Missouri Valley Line Constructors Apprenticeship and Training Program.

Get in touch with ITC Midwest

Do you have a question about ITC Midwest community support or any of our projects? Our team is happy to provide you with answers. See below or download our contact sheet to identify your local representative and view their contact information.

Download the ITC Midwest Contact Sheet