DELAVAN, Wis. — The BECI Project aims to connect electricity across Wisconsin with high-capacity power lines through private land. It has become a hard sell to people in Walworth County.
WATCH: Walworth County residents seek answers on planned high-voltage power line through the area
The developer behind the project, Midcontinent Grid Solutions, hosted an open house about their plans Thursday morning at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan. The line to get in stretched out of the door.
The proposed 765-kilovolt, 190-mile-long power line would connect across states through a substation near Elkhorn. Midcontinent Grid Solutions plans to start construction in 2029 and activate the power lines in 2033.
Andrea Gibbs owns land in Walworth County and in the Driftless Area where the power lines could go. She said the open house was somewhat helpful, but she still has many unanswered questions.
"I have a variety of different concerns from the environmental impact and from the eminent domain impact," Gibbs said. "What concerns me is the long-term effects of putting large towers in peoples' backyards. If that can be answered, I'm certainly willing to listen."
One of the potential routes would cut through Mark Hildebrand's homestead north of Whitewater.
"We got the letter in the mail two weeks ago," Hildebrand said. "It was just immediate, it was just thrown on us."
He attended Midcontinent Grid Solutions' open house in Jefferson the day before their event in Delavan.
"I'm not going to pretend it's not happening because it's not fair to the American people, it's not fair to the state of Wisconsin, and it's not fair to our community," Hildebrand said.
Brian Radday of Midcontinent Grid Solutions said the company has heard from thousands of people during their events this week. He said the company will read through all of the public comments they received and try to adjust the routes in a way that makes sense with the land and community.
"We're happy people are coming out and we're happy they're engaged in the process," Radday said. "We understand it's a major infrastructure project, but it's needed. We understand it's going to have some impact and we want to minimize it however we can."
However, Hildebrand believes any impact is too much if the power lines run through private land without their consent.
"It's troublesome to think that if they don't pick our segment that they're going to pick a neighbor's segment, then you'll have neighbor against neighbor," Hildebrand said. "I don't want to see it come through at all."
Midcontinent Grid Solutions is planning another round of open houses later this fall. If the project is approved by the Public Service Commission, construction could start in 2029 and the power lines could activate in 2033.
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