Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project

Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project

On May 27, 2020, ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative received approval for the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project from the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB). In a written decision, the three IUB members unanimously approved the franchise for the 14-mile Iowa transmission line segment, which will be constructed from the Hickory Creek substation near New Vienna in Dubuque County northward to Clayton County, and then cross the Mississippi River near Cassville, Wisconsin.

In September 2019, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and selected the route for the Wisconsin portion of the project. Additional regulatory approvals have been obtained from federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for permission for the line to cross the Mississippi River. Final permitting from these federal agencies has been received or is in process.

The entire project is approximately 100-miles of 345-kilovolt transmission line designed to electrically connect the Dubuque County, Iowa, region to the Dane County, Wisconsin, region. In Wisconsin, ITC Midwest will be responsible for the segment of line from the Mississippi River to a new substation near Montfort, Wisconsin, to be built by American Transmission Co. (ATC), the third utility involved in the project. ATC will also be responsible for the remainder of the line to Dane County. Construction began in 2021 to meet an in-service date of 2023.

As a portion of one of 17 Multi-Value Projects approved by the region’s Midcontinent Independent System Operator in 2011, the cost and benefits of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek project are distributed throughout the multi-state northern MISO region.