While plans for a national electric transmission line have been scaled down and none of them will run through Kansas, the proposed Grain Belt Express line will continue through the regulatory process, according to the Kansas Corporation Commission.

The Grain Belt Express was approved by the KCC in 2011.  It is designed to transport energy from Kansas wind and solar farms, and it will begin at a converter station in Ford County.   The line will run to the northwest through northeastern Kansas and on into Missouri.

The KCC issued a statement saying while the route of the Grain Belt Express project fell within the borders of one of the proposed Department of Energy corridors, its status as a previously approved project has not changed and is moving forward.  In addition, without a Federal Corridor designation, State jurisdiction and approval processes remain intact for the Grain Belt Express and the KCC will continue to review any potential future projects.  Federal “backstop” siting authority or the use of federal eminent domain are not an option.  The DOE’s decision does not reverse the previously announced $4.9 billion conditional loan guarantee awarded to the Grain Belt Express project on November 25, 2024.

In 2023, the KCC approved a request to allow the line to be built in two phases. Phase 1, which includes Kansas and Missouri, can begin once all regulatory and financing requirements have been obtained for that portion of the project. The order issued did not remove or alter any of the protections for landowners that were required by the Commission when it approved the acquisition of the project by Invenergy in 2019.

The KCC gave conditional approval this year to a siting plan for two 345 kV transmission lines, known as the AC Collector System, designed to connect wind and solar farms to the Grain Belt Express.  A final order on the siting of the AC Collector lines is expected to be issued in 2025.