The region’s largest transmission project just cleared a regulatory gate. On July 9 the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission advanced environmental review scoping for PowerOn Midwest, the 765- and 345-kV backbone Great River Energy, ITC Midwest, Xcel Energy and partners have proposed across southern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. The commission tightened the scope, moving the alternatives analysis from optional to required, and pushed the project toward contested case and environmental review. The Minnesota segments carry MISO long-range planning designations and target a 2032 to 2034 in-service window. For firms, this is a multi-year pipeline of routing, siting, environmental, and design work now entering its formative stage, and the scope the commission just set will shape the studies that follow.
Source: Daily Energy Insider, July 14, 2026
BIZ Wholesale prices eased in June even as steel and asphalt rose. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported final demand producer prices down 0.3% for the month and up 5.5% over the year, with a 6.4% drop in energy driving the decline. Core goods prices rose 0.2%. Inside intermediate demand, hot-rolled steel and asphalt moved higher, the inputs that sit under steel-framed buildings and paving work. The headline offers some near-term relief on escalation, and the metals line says the tariff pressure has not left. Firms pricing steel-heavy or paving bids should hold their escalation assumptions rather than relax them.
ENG A 150-megawatt solar and storage build in Martin County has its state permits. At the same July 9 meeting, the commission approved site permits for Lake Charlotte, pairing 150 MW of solar with a 150-MW, 600-MWh battery in Rutland Township. The developers expect roughly 18 months of construction and are targeting commercial operation in 2028 to capture the federal investment tax credit. That deadline is the schedule driver, and it puts near-term civil and electrical work, plus interconnection, on the board for firms working the south-central counties.
POLICY Minnesota’s draft impaired waters list is open for comment through July 22. The Pollution Control Agency’s 2026 draft proposes 46 new impairments and removes 45, the most removals in a two-year cycle since the program began in 1992. New listings drive TMDL studies and stormwater permit obligations, and they tighten the design constraints on water and site work, so the additions matter to any firm with projects in the affected watersheds. Comments close at 11:59 p.m. on July 22, after which the agency sends the list to EPA for final approval.
BIZ Nonresidential planning cooled in June but stayed well above last year. The Dodge Momentum Index slipped 1.9% to 271.7 as data center planning came off its recent peak. Commercial planning fell 6.8% while institutional work rose 10.9%. The index still sits 21.8% above June 2025, though stripping out data centers leaves commercial growth at 7.6%. The read for firm principals is a pipeline that remains strong and is leaning more on institutional demand as the data center surge normalizes.
Certificate of Need. In Minnesota, a large energy facility needs this Public Utilities Commission finding that the project is genuinely needed and appropriately sized before it can be built. It runs alongside a separate route or site permit that fixes where the line or plant goes. PowerOn Midwest is working through both, which is why the commission is setting its environmental review scope now.
Build your bench: ACEC Minnesota’s Leadership Development Series for mid-career professionals runs September 2026 through April 2027 in a 24-person cohort, and the four-session Emerging Leaders program for early-career staff runs this October and November.
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