Western, Tri-State embark on 600 miles of new transmission line

by Randy Wilkerson

Western and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association agreed in December 2005 to embark on perhaps the largest transmission construction project in the United States in the past five years—the Eastern Plains Transmission Project. The proposed project envisions the construction of more than 600 miles of new high-voltage transmission line and several new or expanded substations in eastern Colorado and Kansas.

Western and Tri-State both serve customers in the eastern plains region, and serving those customers creates unique needs and common challenges for each organization.

Western, Tri-State need more transmission capacity

Western needs additional capacity to continue serving its firm power customers in southeastern Colorado and Kansas. To receive their Federal power allocation, these customers must purchase transmission through other systems. Western needs to provide alternate transmission paths to deliver power to its customers and to provide access to a more diverse purchase-power market.

As a generation and transmission association, Tri-State serves 44 electric cooperatives and public power districts in its service territory, and is headquartered in Westminster, Colo. The member distribution systems, in turn, supply power to more than 500,000 meters, or about 1.2 million people. Tri-State has experienced an annual load growth of about four percent, and long-range forecasts project that trend will continue. Tri-State needs to ensure that load growth is met with an adequate power supply and delivery system.

The needs of Western and Tri-State began to converge in earnest in August 2005 after Tri-State's board of directors approved Tri-State's resource development plan. The long-range plan calls for Tri-State to add up to 1,800 MW of new generation to meet its increasing load and to expand the bulk transmission system in eastern Colorado and Kansas.

Joint participation agreement initiates project

Since both Western and Tri-State clearly identified a need to expand high-voltage transmission in eastern Colorado and Kansas, the two organizations signed a joint participation agreement in December 2005 to pursue a project to meet that need, creating the EPTP. Expressing Western's approach to the proposed project, Rocky Mountain Regional Manager Joel Bladow said, "We are approaching the EPTP as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Our mission is to complete EPTP on time, within budget and at a level of quality that exceeds our customers' expectations." Western's EPTP Project Manager Craig Knoell added, "EPTP will be a total team effort with an emphasis on getting the job done right the first time. Thorough planning, communication and coordination will be the keys to successful teamwork and fulfilling the goals and objectives outlined in Western's joint participation agreement with Tri-State."

Under the joint participation agreement, Western's role in the proposed project will be to acquire the right of way and to design and construct the transmission lines. Western will also design and construct additions to Midway Substation, near Pueblo, Colo. Tri-State will design and construct the other substations associated with the project. For its contribution to the proposed project, Western would receive ownership in a portion of the transmission system capacity, including an interconnection between the proposed project and Western's Midway Substation, capacity rights and use of a portion of the communication system required to operate the system. Tri-State would own the remainder of the proposed project. It is possible for other participants to join the proposed project as planning continues.

Potential corridors defined

The first order of business was to clearly define the joint construction project. A broad range of potential solutions was evaluated in the preliminary corridor study (PDF). The selection of the proposed alternative should be finalized in mid May. The new transmission will generally run from southeastern Colorado northward across the eastern plains to termination points at substations in Wray and Brush, Colo. The project also includes a short line running east to connect to facilities in Holcomb, Kan.

After proposed corridors are selected, Western will prepare an environmental impact statement to evaluate Federal participation in the proposed project. The EIS process will begin this summer and take about 20 months to complete. The process will include extensive public outreach, including public meetings, to ensure affected or interested parties have a chance to share their issues or concerns about the proposed project. The EIS will evaluate and document the impacts of the proposed project. When the EIS is completed, Western will issue a record of decision, documenting Western's final decision concerning project participation.

Completion scheduled for 2011

Initial public meetings to introduce local leaders to the EPTP have already been held in Lamar, Colo., and Garden City, Kan. Preliminary land status research is already underway. Once a final decision is reached, Western would begin acquiring rights of way for the project. Engineering design work would continue through 2007. A three-year construction period is scheduled to begin in 2008. The proposed facilities would be in place and operational in 2011.

Sound project management will be essential to keep a project of this magnitude on track. The global EPTP team includes 53 Western employees from the Rocky Mountain Region and the Corporate Services Office and 17 Tri-State employees. Each global team member will serve on smaller functional teams that will include other Western and Tri-State employees. Knoell described the approach to the challenge, saying, "We have developed a solid foundation of management systems to assure communication and coordination of the various teams so that everyone is kept abreast of the primary issues and that our efforts are action oriented with an emphasis on positive results."