MISO picks Iowa 765 kV builders; Texas and Illinois approve new lines

On October 21 and 22, 2026, MISO named the builders of the last two competitive projects in its 765 kV Tranche 2.1 portfolio, Texas approved a 32-mile Oncor line in Deaf Smith County, ComEd said Illinois regulators had approved its underground GRIT project near O'Hare, and the North Plains Connector consortium said its federal grid grant is final.

MISO picks the builders of its last two Tranche 2.1 competitive projects

MISO on October 21, 2026 selected a team of Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI), GridLiance Heartland and Dairyland Power Cooperative to develop the East Adair – MN/IA State Line – Arbor Hill – York Avenue project (EASL) in Iowa, and ITC Midcontinent Development to develop the Marshalltown – Lehigh – Sub T – Montezuma – East Adair project (MARS). MISO says the two are the last of the seven competitive projects in the Long Range Transmission Planning Tranche 2.1 portfolio its board approved in December 2024, and that together they will add more than 300 miles of new 765 kV lines, one new 765 kV substation and more than 100 miles of new 345 kV lines.

The Ameren team beat seven other bidders. Per MISO's EASL announcement, it was one of eight developers to answer the request for proposals MISO issued on December 11, 2025, and it will build and own the new East Adair 765 kV substation, a single-circuit 765 kV line from there to the Minnesota/Iowa state line, and two double-circuit 345 kV lines. MISO expects the 345 kV facilities in service by June 1, 2032 and the 765 kV facilities by June 1, 2034. Its selection report is due on or before November 20, 2026.

The price comes from the winners. The consortium's release puts the total MISO estimated cost at approximately $1.23 billion, the 765 kV line at approximately 187 miles, and the ownership split at 42.5% each for ATXI and GridLiance and 15% for Dairyland. MISO's own release carries no project cost. The developers sign agreements with MISO within 60 days, and MISO says construction begins only after regulatory approvals and permitting.

Texas approves a 32-mile Oncor line for 1,107 MW of solar and wind

The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved Oncor's new double-circuit 345 kV line in Deaf Smith County on October 21, 2026, in a notice of approval in docket 59980 signed by an administrative law judge. The line runs about 32 miles from a rebuilt Deaf Smith Switch to a new Theory Switch, and the notice says it will connect the Aurelius Solar and Aurelius Wind facilities, with a combined capacity of approximately 1,107 MW, to the ERCOT grid. No party requested a hearing.

The headline cost shrinks once the interconnecting customer pays. The total estimated cost is approximately $316,573,000: $224,584,000 for the line and the Aurelius point of interconnection, $52,132,000 for the Deaf Smith rebuild and $39,857,000 for the Theory Switch. The interconnecting customer is paying a $94,782,000 contribution in aid of construction, about 30% of the total by our arithmetic, which leaves approximately $221,791,000. Oncor estimates it will energize the line in December 2027; its project page says completion is planned for 2028.

A data center is in the local reporting and absent from the approval. KFDA reported that a data center Google and its subsidiary Intersect Power are planning northwest of Hereford will benefit from the transmission and from proposed wind, solar and natural gas generation. The notice of approval mentions none; it describes a line built to carry solar and wind power onto the ERCOT grid. For how generators get that far, see What is an interconnection queue?.

ComEd says Illinois approved its underground ring near O'Hare

ComEd said on October 22, 2026 that the Illinois Commerce Commission had approved its Grid Reliability Infrastructure Transformation (GRIT) project and granted it a certificate of public convenience and necessity. GRIT is four underground 138 kV lines and one new substation forming a ring that connects three substations in the Elk Grove Village, Wood Dale and Bensenville areas. The petition, docket 26-0156, appeared on the commission's October 8 open-meeting agenda for an order granting the certificate.

The load is the reason and the airport is the constraint. ComEd says the project is needed to serve existing customers and new load, including multiple large-load customers that have moved into the Wood Dale and Elk Grove Village areas, and that the lines go underground because Federal Aviation Administration height restrictions near O'Hare limit overhead structures. Grading for the new Dierking substation begins in fall 2026, underground work starts in January 2027, and ComEd expects the project in service in the second quarter of 2029. The release gives no cost. Who pays for grid built around big new loads is a running thread on our interconnection reference page.

North Plains Connector's federal grant is final at about $695 million

The North Plains Connector Utility Consortium said on October 22, 2026 that the Department of Energy's Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) award to the Montana Department of Commerce for the North Plains Connector Interregional Innovation project has been finalized, an occasion it marked at a forum in Helena. The award is approximately $695 million and also supports upgrades to the existing Colstrip Transmission System; the line itself receives approximately $620 million as a subrecipient, mainly for the engineering and construction of its towers. North Plains Connector is an approximately 420-mile, 525 kV high-voltage direct current line connecting the western and eastern grids in Montana and North Dakota.

The final figure lands just under the original ceiling: in October 2024, Montana's governor's office said DOE had awarded the state up to $700 million that August. "This GRIP grant really means that we're getting extensive transmission capability without burdening the electric consumer," Governor Greg Gianforte said at the forum. A later GRIP round, renamed SPARK, selected two more projects on the seam between the Eastern and Western Interconnections on September 24, 2026; see DOE selects 31 SPARK grid projects for $1.9 billion in federal funding.