ITC Great Plains has revised its route for a proposed transmission line running through Ellis County, but it's not due to the location of a proposed wind project in the area. After the company received public input in December, it opted to change its preferred route to run farther west than originally anticipated. The line would run through the proposed Hays Wind LLC project west of Yocemento Road.
ITC Great Plains has revised its route for a proposed transmission line running through Ellis County, but it's not due to the location of a proposed wind project in the area. After the company received public input in December, it opted to change its preferred route to run farther west than originally anticipated. The line would run through the proposed Hays Wind LLC project west of Yocemento Road.
ITC Great Plains has revised its route for a proposed transmission line running through Ellis County, but it's not due to the location of a proposed wind project in the area.
After the company received public input in December, it opted to change its preferred route to run farther west than originally anticipated.
The line would run through the proposed Hays Wind LLC project west of Yocemento Road.
"We are building this transmission line for the robustness of the grid, not for the wind farms of Ellis County," ITC Great Plains President Carl Huslig said.
Huslig and Alan Myers, vice president for technical services, informed Ellis County Commissioners on Monday of the project and its effects on the county.
The Southwest Power …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]ITC Great Plains has revised its route for a proposed transmission line running through Ellis County, but it's not due to the location of a proposed wind project in the area.
After the company received public input in December, it opted to change its preferred route to run farther west than originally anticipated.
The line would run through the proposed Hays Wind LLC project west of Yocemento Road.
"We are building this transmission line for the robustness of the grid, not for the wind farms of Ellis County," ITC Great Plains President Carl Huslig said.
Huslig and Alan Myers, vice president for technical services, informed Ellis County Commissioners on Monday of the project and its effects on the county.
The Southwest Power Pool has approved a 345- or 765-volt line to run along 87 miles from Spearville to the Knoll Substation northwest of Hays.
"The line has been approved as part of their expansion plan but has not been approved for cost allocation," Huslig said.
The Southwest Power Pool should make a decision on the funding for the project, as well as the voltage of the lines, in April.
ITC Great Plains expects to file its application with the Kansas Corporation Commission in the next 60 days for final approval of the line.
"We have to give them a proposed route, and then they'll look at the reasonableness of the routing process and take more public input," Myers said. "They will actually make the final determination ... as to what route is approved."
If the KCC approves the application, ITC Great Plains expects to begin construction on the project in the spring of 2010 with a service date expected in late 2011.
A standing-room only crowd Monday questioned the relative location of the transmission line to Hays Wind's proposed project.
"The line is not really a link to the wind farms," Myers said.
However, Huslig said the line would benefit any potential wind development in Ellis County because developers would have an outlet for the energy produced.
The transmission line is being built with the idea that energy could be transferred across the state of Kansas, something that is not possible with the current transmission lines.
Huslig said once the routes are approved, negotiations for easements or property acquisition would begin.
The company's preferred route now runs a half-mile west of and parallel to Yocemento Road from Victoria Road to north of Interstate 70. From there, it curves east to follow Feedlot Road to 230th Avenue before turning south to meet the Knoll Substation.
The second phase of ITC's project would be to extend the transmission line from the Knoll Substation to Axtell, Neb., which could be in service in late 2012.