Allete to buy power line, build wind to reduce CO2

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - Allete Inc's (ALE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Minnesota Power subsidiary proposed to buy a power line in North Dakota, phase out a contract to buy coal-based electricity and add hundreds of megawatts of wind to reduce its carbon emissions, the company said in a release Tuesday.

Minnesota Power wants to buy a direct current (DC) transmission line from Square Butte Electric Cooperative for about $80 million in early 2009.

The company noted the proposal does not materially change its previously disclosed five-year capital expenditure forecast.

The DC cable extends from the wind-rich plains of central North Dakota to the Arrowhead Substation in Hermantown, Minnesota. It is now used to transmit electricity form the 705-megawatt Milton R. Young lignite coal-fired power plant in North Dakota 465 miles eastward to Minnesota Power.

"Three decades ago, the DC line was built to move low-cost coal-based electricity from North Dakota to power the growing taconite industry in northeast Minnesota's Iron Range," Allete Chief Executive Don Shippar said in the release. "Back then, it was described as a way to transport 'coal by wire.' Now we will use the line to transmit 'wind by wire.'"

Taconite is a raw material used to make steel.

Minnesota Power shares the power from the Young Station with Minnkota Power Cooperative, an affiliate of the Square Butte Cooperative.

Over the next several years, Minnesota Power plans to phase out its generation rights at the 455-MW Unit 2 at Young.

Minnkota said in the release the deal would delay its need to build new generation.