LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan’s electrical grid is headed for a major build-out.

ITC Michigan is preparing a sweeping expansion of the state’s electric backbone, with plans to add more than 350 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines across the Lower Peninsula in the years ahead. 

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The growth is part of a broader effort to move power more efficiently as aging infrastructure, harsh weather, and shifting energy demands—including from large, energy-intensive developments such as data centers—strain the grid. ITC currently manages roughly 9,100 miles of transmission lines statewide.

The first project now moving forward is a 50-mile, 345-kilovolt line in mid-Michigan, stretching from Oneida Township near Grand Ledge to Cohoctah Township north of Fowlerville. ITC recently released several possible routes and has begun public outreach.

The next step comes at the state level. ITC plans to seek approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission, a green light that would trigger easement talks with landowners and the clearing of a roughly 200-foot-wide path for steel transmission poles that, in places, would stand taller than a 12-story building.

Beyond the mid-Michigan segment, ITC’s broader build-out would stretch across much of the Lower Peninsula, with a 159-mile transmission line linking Ludington to Midland County, shorter connections from Midland to both Saginaw and Shiawassee counties, and a 68-mile corridor running south from Monroe County to the Indiana border.

The Michigan projects are part of a larger transmission plan approved in 2024 by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which oversees the electric grid across 15 Midwestern states and Manitoba. That plan includes $21.8 billion in new transmission investments, with lines expected to come online between 2032 and 2034.