Grain Belt Express Clean Line Benefits Illinois Consumers, Decreasing Cost of Wholesale Electricity in the State
Public input contributes to development of proposed route

Clean Line Energy (Clean Line) announced the proposed route for the Illinois portion of the Grain Belt Express Clean Line (Grain Belt Express), an approximately 780-mile overhead, direct current transmission line that will deliver low-cost, renewable energy to Illinois from wind farms in western Kansas. Clean Line included the proposed route for the Illinois portion of the Grain Belt Express with its application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in a filing with the Illinois Commerce Commission. Filing this application positions the project one step closer to creating new jobs, paying revenues to local communities, and providing Illinois access to low-cost, clean energy.

The Grain Belt Express will decrease wholesale electricity prices in Illinois by an estimated $750 million in its first five years of operation alone, according to an independent analysis commissioned by Clean Line. If the project receives the go-ahead from the ICC, local utilities and electric coops in Illinois will be able to purchase power delivered by the Grain Belt Express at a low-cost and stable rate.

Randy Nehrt, Vice President of Legislative Relations for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, said, "This transmission project will provide greater diversity of electricity supply in Illinois and growth in renewable energy that creates more options for consumers."

"As our nation moves toward a cleaner energy mix, we need to take practical steps to get to some of the new sources of clean energy," said David Kolata, Executive Director, Citizens Utility Board. "Innovative projects like the Grain Belt Express will dramatically expand the low-cost, clean energy supply for Illinois, benefiting consumers."

The proposed route includes nine Illinois counties: Pike, Scott, Greene, Macoupin, Montgomery, Christian, Shelby, Cumberland and Clark. Clean Line began gathering stakeholder input to develop the route by holding community roundtable meetings across Illinois in 2012. Landowners were invited to provide feedback at 27 public meetings across the project area. More than 3,100 people attended the public meetings.

Don Gourley, who owns property along the Grain Belt Express proposed route in Scott County, said, "The Grain Belt Express project will be good for our community. The county will receive yearly payments, it boosts our local economy, and landowners like myself are fairly compensated. While some people may not like change, I see it as progress."

The proposed route is the result of an extensive public involvement and routing process, during which Clean Line met with landowners, tenants, conservation and agricultural organizations, elected officials, community leaders, government agencies, and others.

The Illinois Chapter of The Nature Conservancy's Director of Science Jeff Walk said, "Transmission line siting is complex and requires sensitivity to many competing interests. I commend Clean Line reaching out to many stakeholders early in the process and integrating conservation and natural resource considerations to identify the best route for the Grain Belt Express. A thorough routing process, like the one that Clean Line has recently completed, strikes the right balance in meeting the needs for energy infrastructure while protecting nature."

The project will have a delivery converter station located in Clark County, Illinois. Fourteen wind generation companies recently submitted requests for more than 20,000 megawatts of transmission service to deliver power to the markets that serve Illinois, four and a half times the available capacity of the transmission line.

"We are very pleased to see the Grain Belt Express Clean Line making progress, as this will facilitate the delivery of additional low-cost wind power to the Midwest," said Bryan Schueler, Senior Vice President of Project Development of Illinois-based wind developer, owner and operator, Invenergy. "As we look at the future power supply requirements of the region, we are supportive of innovative ways that will cost-effectively accelerate the transition to a clean energy supply portfolio. As a clean and renewable energy leader, Invenergy welcomes the opportunity to play a role in that transition."

The Grain Belt Express will provide substantial economic benefits to communities across Illinois, including investing approximately $700 million in the state, creating hundreds of jobs for the construction of the transmission line, and providing a voluntary payment of $1.4 million in revenues annually for twenty years to counties hosting the line, directly benefitting schools and local community services.

There are two primary components to Clean Line's landowner compensation package for transmission line easements, a payment for the easement area and a payment for each of the transmission structures. The easement payment is equivalent to 100% of fair market value of land within the easement area, and the structure payment is based on the type of structure, the number of structures, and if the landowner chooses a one-time or annual payments. Annual payments range from $500 to $1,500 per structure and will be made as long as a structure is on the property. The annual payments include a two percent annual escalator applied to each annual payment per structure, after the first payment has been made. One time payments range from $6,000 to $18,000 per structure, based on the structure type.

"We appreciate the input and participation from landowners and others throughout the route identification process and look forward to continue working to minimize impacts to communities," said Michael Skelly, Clean Line President. "We are committed to compensating landowners fairly and that's why we are offering landowners annual payments that escalate each year for each the transmission structure on their property."

For more information about the Grain Belt Express project, including the maps of the proposed route, please visit www.grainbeltexpresscleanline.com.

About Clean Line Energy Partners:

Clean Line's mission is to connect abundant, renewable energy resources to areas that have a high demand for clean, reliable energy. Clean Line is developing a series of high voltage transmission projects to move renewable energy to market. For more information please visit www.CleanLineEnergy.com.