The $550m Badger-Coulee high-voltage line, which will run for 180 miles (290km) between western Wisconsin and the state capital of Madison, is expected to enter a two-year construction period in 2016.

The project has been jointly developed by an affiliate of Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, which is among the largest US utilities, and American Transmission Company, a Wisconsin-based, transmission-only utility that owns about 9,500 worth of lines in the Upper Midwest.

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