Transmission project located in Kingman, Harper and Sumner counties
Mid-Kansas Electric Company Inc. placed the Harper-to-Milan Transmission Project in service on May 25. The project, located in Kingman, Harper and Sumner counties, enhances electric reliability and will support economic development in the area.
Mid-Kansas provides wholesale generation and transmission services to its six member-owners, one of which is Wheatland Electric Cooperative Inc., the electric distribution cooperative that serves the area. Operated on the cooperative business model, the mission of Mid-Kansas is to provide reliable service to its member-owners at the lowest possible cost.
“When Wheatland acquired this service territory in 2007, we quickly learned that additional infrastructure was needed to better serve our members,” said Bruce W. Mueller, CEO of Wheatland. “This large project not only improves electric service to our current members, but it is also robust enough to handle considerable future growth of industry in our south central service territory.”
The 138 kV line includes 58.9 miles of new line from Harper to Milan, 12.6 miles of new line from Harper to Rago, 5.8 miles of rebuilt line between Milan and the Viola tie, and the new connection to Westar’s Viola Substation. The $65 million project also includes the new Bluff Creek Substation and modifications to the Harper and Milan substations. Public meetings to determine the route were held in 2015 with the final route determined in early 2016. POWER Engineers Inc. provided technical services, including routing, siting and permitting support and engineering for the transmission lines and substations. POWER also provided material procurement, construction contracting, and construction management of the project. As part of POWER’s team, Land Services Inc. performed the right-of-way acquisition for the project.
“Mid-Kansas is proud to have partnered with POWER and Land Services on the Harper-to-Milan Project, one of our largest transmission projects to date,” said Stuart Lowry, president and CEO of Mid-Kansas. “The new line provides a large conductor, looped transmission configuration to the region that provides greater capability and improved reliability to this part of the service territory.”
The Southwest Power Pool, the regional transmission organization to which Mid-Kansas belongs, identified a need for the project to support growing demands on the transmission grid, both locally and regionally.
“While this project has far-reaching benefits, it’s Wheatland’s local members and other area residents who can take great pride in their cooperation and efforts in seeing this project to fruition,” Mueller said. “It’s an effort that will benefit many generations.”
About Mid-Kansas Electric Company, Inc.—Mid-Kansas Electric Company Inc. is a coalition of five rural electric cooperatives and one wholly owned subsidiary that serve approximately 200,000 Kansans throughout 33 counties. Mid-Kansas’ members include Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative Inc., Dighton; Prairie Land Electric Cooperative Inc., Norton; Southern Pioneer Electric Company, Ulysses; The Victory Electric Cooperative Association Inc., Dodge City; Western Cooperative Electric Association Inc., WaKeeney; and Wheatland Electric Cooperative Inc., Scott City, Kansas. For more information, please visit the Mid-Kansas website at www.midkansaselectric.net.
— Submitted