Randy Fordice of Xcel Energy, at left, took questions from Lyon County Commissioners during Tuesday's county board meeting.

MARSHALL — One part of a major transmission line project Xcel Energy plans to build in southwest Minnesota will be a new substation near Garvin. This week, Lyon County Commissioners learned that construction of the planned substation and a generating station could begin next year.

On Tuesday, representatives from Xcel Energy gave an update on the Minnesota Energy Connection transmission line project, and answered questions from commissioners.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has approved a certificate of need and a route permit for the Minnesota Energy Connection project. The 345-kilovolt electric transmission line will run from Sherburne County to a planned new substation near Garvin.

The transmission line will connect energy produced in southwest Minnesota to the existing power grid at the Sherco power plant in Sherburne County, said Xcel representative Randy Fordice. The coal-fired Sherco plant will retire by 2030, Fordice said.

“We had proposed two individual routes, the blue and purple (routes),” Fordice said. “The purple (route) kind of went up toward Granite Falls and crossed the Minnesota River near Granite Falls, and the blue route crossed the river near Redwood Falls, kind of heading east from the Garvin substation.”

“In addition to the routes that we had proposed in our initial application, there were 68 individual route segment alternatives suggested during the state’s process, that were also reviewed. We adopted several of those that we thought were good and appropriate routes to determine the overall least impactful route,” Fordice said. He said some of those alternatives were in areas around Amiret Township in Lyon County.

Fordice said Xcel is starting to work on contacting landowners to negotiate easements for the transmission line. He said they will be working with local governments on things like road use agreements.

“We would expect construction to begin in early 2026, likely around the Redwood Falls area,” Fordice said. “And then, in we think May of 2026, we’ll start working on the actual substation site outside of Garvin, and begin construction work there.”

Fordice said construction of the substation would probably take about a year. “Overall, the transmission line work should take about two years before it is placed in service and energized,” he said.

Jared Graham, the plant director for the Lyon County facility, said the site Xcel was looking at for the Garvin substation and generating station had access to a natural gas pipeline, and was near an area that was “very rich in wind resources.”

The site would be located near U.S. Highway 59 and 120th Street, Graham said.

Graham said the generating facility would not run all the time, but would help keep a reliable flow of energy.

“The facility will operate primarily when renewables aren’t available, so when the wind’s not blowing and the sun’s not shining,” Graham said.

Construction of the station was planned to begin in July 2026, with a proposed commercial operation date in December 2028, Graham said.

Xcel will need to have a supply of water for fire protection and evaporative cooling at the generating station, Graham said. “We’re going to have to drill some wells on the property,” he said, but the process of that so far is “very preliminary.”

Commissioner Rick Anderson said there will also be a public informational meeting on the project at 7 p.m. on April 22, at Bitton’s Roadhouse in Garvin.