138 kV transmission project located in Kingman, Harper and Sumner counties
Mid-Kansas Electric Co. Inc. (Mid-Kansas) celebrated the energization of its high voltage transmission project with a luncheon and remarks at the Westview Lodge Conference Center in Harper on Thursday. Company officials, member-owners met to applaud the efforts of many in bringing its 138 kV Harper-to-Milan Transmission Project to fruition. The project, which was placed in service on May 25 is located in Kingman, Harper and Sumner counties.
Local leaders, including county commissioners, Kansas legislators, and city and business leaders were invited to participate in the celebration.
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.
“This project was identified by the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the regional transmission organization to which Mid-Kansas belongs, to support growing demands on the transmission grid,” said Bruce W. Mueller, CEO of Wheatland. “We strongly supported the project as the existing infrastructure was not adequate to serve Wheatland’s cooperative members at the level of reliability that we aim to deliver and they should expect.”
The three-year project 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. This infrastructure not only improves electric service in area and region, but it is also large enough to handle electric growth in Wheatland’s south central service territory.
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.