A $7 billion high-voltage power line proposed more than a decade ago to deliver Kansas wind energy to the nation’s largest electricity market hit a roadblock last week when an Illinois appellate court overturned that state’s approval of the project.
The order from the Fifth District Appellate Court of Illinois reversed state regulators’ approval of the 780-mile Grain Belt Express line on grounds that the Chicago-based developer — Invenergy — failed to prove it is capable of financing the project despite being one of the nation’s largest private energy developers.
The 15-page order from three Republican appellate justices in southern Illinois throws the future of the transmission line — or at least the eastern half of it — into limbo. It also will renew calls in Washington for permitting overhauls such as those proposed in a bipartisan bill in Congress to update energy permitting, including transmission projects.
“The bottom line is that all transmission projects are extremely difficult to get through no matter what the rules are,” said Jeff Danielson, vice president of advocacy for the Clean Grid Alliance, a Midwest renewable energy advocacy group whose members include Invenergy.
