Illinois Supreme Court Give Key Backing to $11B Grain Belt Express Project

Builders of the Grain Belt Categorical, a proposed $11-billion transmission line that will carry wind-generated electrical energy from western Kansas to Illinois and different Midwest states, notched a authorized victory Jan. 23 when the Illinois Supreme Courtroom rejected a problem led by a state farmers’ group and others to their state allow.

In a 6-0 ruling, the courtroom determined that the undertaking being developed by Chicago-based Invenergy, had met its obligation below the state’s Local weather and Equitable Jobs Act to point out it might finance the undertaking “with out vital antagonistic monetary penalties for the utility or its prospects.”

The Illinois Supreme Courtroom “issued a powerful determination affirming the validity of Grain Belt Categorical’ Certificates of Public Comfort and Necessity in Illinois,” a Grain Belt Categorical spokesperson mentioned associated to the choice.

The ruling comes regardless of a move by the Trump administration in July 2025 to cancel a $4.9 billion federal mortgage assure authorised by the Biden administration in November 2024 to finance the primary part of building of the facility line throughout Kansas and Missouri.

At the moment, Grain Belt mentioned it meant to hold on with the undertaking utilizing non-public funding. 

Invenergy awarded contracts final Might totaling about $1.7 billion to Quanta Providers and Kiewit Vitality Group Inc. for first-phase undertaking building of transmission infrastructure and converter stations in Kansas and Missouri with a 2,500-MW capability, with work set to start out this yr.

The newest determination reverses a 2024 ruling by the federal appeals courtroom in New Orleans, which mentioned the Illinois Commerce Fee erred when it initially granted the undertaking a allow.

Proof of Grain Belt’s “present and current monetary functionality was not a situation precedent to the issuance of the [certificate]. wrote Supreme Courtroom Justice Mary Ok. O’Brien. “As a substitute, proof of the trade’s technique of financing the development of large-scale power initiatives, together with unrefuted proof that such initiatives don’t generate income till regulatory permits are issued and buyer contracts are executed, helps the …determination to subject [a certificate]” to the undertaking.

The undertaking requires an 800‑mile, 600-kV high-voltage direct present
line, designed to hold as much as 5 GW of wind and solar energy from
Kansas via Missouri to Illinois and Indiana. Its first part,
overlaying 530 miles from western Kansas to central Missouri, was anticipated
to price $4.4 billion, together with converter stations and right-of-way
acquisition

In 2018, the state Supreme Courtroom overturned a state determination to grant a allow to construct and function the Illinois portion of the undertaking, saying the corporate didn’t meet the state’s definition of a public utility.

In 2021, state lawmakers authorised the local weather legislation, which was deliberate to incentivize improvement of renewable power in Illinois, with the purpose to transition the state to 100% carbon-free electrical energy by 2045. The legislation contained a provision particularly designed for Grain Belt that allowed the Illinois to subject permits to a “qualifying direct present applicant,” which the legislation defines in a method that describes the proposed undertaking and its builders.

After its passage, Grain Belt reapplied for the allow, which the state authorised in March 2023.

The Illinois Farm Bureau partnered with a number of landowners and opponents of the undertaking to problem the allow on numerous grounds together with the portion of the legislation that particularly eased the best way for the undertaking, contending that it violated the Illinois Structure’s equal safety and separation of powers clauses in addition to its limits on particular laws. 

The Jan. 23 ruling addressed solely the problem to the financing necessities. The remaining challenges had been despatched again to the decrease courtroom for additional consideration.

An legal professional for the Illinois Farm Bureau didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.