How to Import Data Into Heavy Excel File - vb.net

Question

Goal
Import about 100+ lines of data into a worksheet. Quickly.
Current Problem
The Excel file isn't very large (not even 1MB). Although, we use this Excel file to communicate with SolidEdge which makes it very heavy.
At the moment, it takes about 60 seconds to populate the 100 lines of data. Don't get me wrong, that isn't very long. Whereas I tested it with a new and empty Excel file and it took less than 1 second to populate the data.
Code
Here's my code incase I did something stupid in there:
Private Sub PopulateExcel()
Dim xlApp As Excel.Application = Nothing
Dim xlWorkBooks As Excel.Workbooks = Nothing
Dim xlWorkBook As Excel.Workbook = Nothing
Dim xlWorkSheet As Excel.Worksheet = Nothing
Dim xlWorkSheets As Excel.Sheets = Nothing
Dim Proceed As Boolean = False
Dim RowIndex As Integer = 2
Dim counter As Integer = 0
xlApp = CType(Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application"), Excel.Application)
xlWorkBooks = xlApp.Workbooks
For Each wb As Excel.Workbook In xlWorkBooks
If wb.Name.Contains("301-AAAA-00X") Then
xlWorkBook = wb
xlWorkSheets = xlWorkBook.Sheets
Exit For
End If
Next
If xlWorkSheets IsNot Nothing Then
For x As Integer = 1 To xlWorkSheets.Count
xlWorkSheet = CType(xlWorkSheets(x), Excel.Worksheet)
If xlWorkSheet.Name = "ImportSheet" Then
Proceed = True
Exit For
End If
Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(xlWorkSheet)
xlWorkSheet = Nothing
Next
End If
If Proceed Then
tspbProgress.Value = 0
tspbProgress.Maximum = dic_Vars.Count
tspbProgress.Visible = True
For Each key As KeyValuePair(Of String, String) In dic_Vars 'Contains all my the data
tsslStatus.Text = "Populating Excel: " & key.Key & " | " & key.Value
xlWorkSheet.Cells(RowIndex, 2).value = key.Key
xlWorkSheet.Cells(RowIndex, 3).value = key.Value
RowIndex += 1
IncProg()
Next
tspbProgress.Visible = False
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkSheets)
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkSheet)
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkBook)
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkBooks)
ReleaseComObject(xlApp)
End If
End Sub
Private Sub ReleaseComObject(ByRef obj As Object)
Try
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj)
obj = Nothing
Catch ex As Exception
obj = Nothing
End Try
End Sub
Conclusion
I was thinking about creating a new Excel file, importing the data there, and just doing a copy / paste to the real Excel file that we use.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Good thank you to Byron Wall who helped me find the answer. I now input my data using an array instead of iterating through each cell.
I create my array and populate it depending on how large my dictionary of variables is. I then create a new range using the Resize() method seen below.
Once that's done, everything is populated in an instant!
Dim arrNames(,) As String = New String(AscW(ChrW(dic_Vars.Count)), 1) {}
Dim arrValues(,) As String = New String(AscW(ChrW(dic_Vars.Count)), 1) {}
Dim i As Integer = 0
For Each key As KeyValuePair(Of String, String) In dic_Vars
arrNames(i, 0) = key.Key
arrValues(i, 0) = key.Value
i += 1
Next
If Proceed Then
Dim r As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Range = xlWorkSheet.Range("B2").Resize(arrNames.GetLength(0))
Dim r2 As Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Range = xlWorkSheet.Range("C2").Resize(arrValues.GetLength(0))
r.Value2 = arrNames
r2.Value2 = arrValues
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkSheets)
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkSheet)
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkBook)
ReleaseComObject(xlWorkBooks)
ReleaseComObject(xlApp)
End If