Minnesota Power Completes New Transmission Line to Energize Essar Steel Minnesota Facility in Nashwauk
April 02 2013 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Minnesota Power, a division of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE: ALE), has
completed the installation of several related electric
infrastructure projects including substations and new transmission
lines near Nashwauk, Minn., that will energize the Essar Steel
Minnesota taconite mine and processing facility.
Minnesota Power and its contractors worked for two years to
construct and install the $35 million in transmission assets needed
to satisfy the large power demands of Essar, which is constructing
a mine, concentrator and taconite production facility capable of
producing 7 million metric tons of taconite pellets.
"Building and operating the electric system to meet the energy
needs of our large natural resource based industrial customers on
the Iron Range is what we have been doing for decades,” said
Minnesota Power Chief Operating Officer Brad Oachs. “We are pleased
that the completion of this project provides the electric
infrastructure backbone for Essar's planned current operations and
potential future growth in support of broader regional economic
benefits.”
Essar is an electric customer of the City of Nashwauk, which
receives all its electricity through a municipal contract with
Minnesota Power. When it reaches full production, the Essar
facility will require about 110 megawatts of electricity. Essar
continues to evaluate options and develop plans for future growth
including direct reduced iron, steelmaking and potentially other
product lines, which could ultimately result in a doubling, or
more, of electric power requirements as well as construction of an
additional 230-kV transmission line.
Minnesota Power signed an agreement in February 2012 to meet all
of Nashwauk’s electric requirements through June 30, 2024. Nashwauk
subsequently agreed to provide Essar with all the electric service
needed for the company’s proposed taconite facility and any
additional future growth.
"We're proud to have completed the first major transmission
build on the Iron Range in many years, and we’re excited to begin
the next stage of providing electric service to Nashwauk and Essar
Steel," said Vice President-Transmission and Distribution Chris
Fleege. "This new infrastructure not only energizes Nashwauk and
Essar Steel, it also enhances electric reliability for the
region.”
The project included construction of three new 230-kilovolt (kV)
transmission lines, one of which has a five-mile segment of double
circuit 230 kV and 115 kV line. A 230-kV line was removed, and a
115-kV line was re-routed around the Essar property, tying a Great
River Energy circuit to the Minnesota Power 115 -kV system, and
providing fiber communications to two new substations. In total, 28
miles of lines were built and 21 miles were re-routed or
removed.
One of the new substations, the McCarthy Lake facility, was
built to serve the taconite plant and the new Calumet substation
will serve the mine area. Ownership of these facilities and the
costs to build them will be split between Nashwauk and Minnesota
Power. Substation construction began in August 2011 and was
finished earlier this month.
It took about 45 contract workers to complete the clearing and
construction needed for the new transmission lines. Work on the
230-kV project was completed March 8. Remaining work on the 115-kV
line will be completed in about two weeks.
Minnesota Power provides retail electric service within a
26,000-square-mile area in northeastern Minnesota to 144,000
customers and wholesale electric service to 16 municipalities. More
information can be found at www.mnpower.com.
The statements contained in this release and statements that
ALLETE may make orally in connection with this release that are not
historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Actual results
may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking
statements. These forward looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties and investors are directed to the risks discussed in
documents filed by ALLETE with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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