MidAmerican Energy Completes Construction on Pair of Transmission Lines

In order to address our customers’ growing needs for safe, reliable, affordable and clean energy, MidAmerican Energy Company has completed construction on a pair of transmission lines through Henry, Knox, Mercer and Rock Island counties in Illinois. The new infrastructure enhances the ability to provide low-cost generation to the Quad Cities metro area, and it helps keep customers’ bills some of the lowest in the Midwest.

“By updating the energy grid, we can better serve our customers,” said Steve Ambrose, project manager, high-voltage transmission, for MidAmerican Energy. “The changing energy landscape means an even greater need for electricity to power our customers’ new devices, homes and large metro areas. By building new transmission lines, we can meet these demands and provide lower-cost, increasingly reliable service to our customers.”

In addition to updating the energy grid, Ambrose said the project has created economic benefits for local communities, including the use of locally made goods and services to build the project, landowner easement payments, and an increase in annual property tax payments to local counties.

The project is known as Multi-Value Project 16 and spans 33 miles in western Illinois from the Oak Grove Substation near Rock Island to a substation in Knox County, near Galesburg. MidAmerican Energy expanded the Oak Grove substation, rebuilt and doubled the capacity of a 161-kilovolt transmission line, and constructed a new 345-kilovolt transmission line. Both lines connect to the substation near Galesburg.

Although the project is substantially complete, residents in the area may still see crews working to remove materials and restore land affected by construction.