Kansas Utilities to Cooperate on Major High-Voltage
Transmission Project
Sept 02, 2008 - /PRNewswire-FirstCall
Mid-Kansas Electric Company (Mid-Kansas) and Sunflower
Electric Power Corporation (Sunflower) have reached an agreement
with ITC Great Plains LLC (ITC Great Plains) designating
ITC Great Plains to build two of the three sections that
will comprise the proposed Kansas V-Plan transmission project.
ITC Great Plains will build two sections of the Kansas
V-Plan. The first section is a transmission line from Spearville,
Kan., to Comanche County, Kan., and the second section is
a transmission line from Comanche County to Medicine Lodge,
Kan. The V-Plan will be constructed at 765-kV if deemed
appropriate by Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP). Construction
of the project is subject to needed state certificate and
siting approvals, the resolution of cost recovery and cost
allocation issues, and obtaining lender consent.
As part of the agreement, Mid-Kansas and Sunflower have
offered Westar Energy (Westar) an opportunity to build the
third section of the Kansas V-Plan, a transmission line
that will run from Medicine Lodge to Sedgwick County, Kan.,
terminating just outside Wichita, Kan. Westar operates a
service territory that overlaps portions of the third section.
In the offer, Westar would build a segment of the V-Plan
outside their service territory. Should Westar elect not
to participate, ITC Great Plains is committed to building
any portion of the third section.
"We are committed to meeting the energy needs of our Members.
This agreement with ITC will assist us as we continue to
achieve that goal," said Earl Watkins, president and CEO
of Mid-Kansas and Sunflower. "We are proud to work with
ITC in a project that will enhance the reliability and affordability
of energy to our Members and allow the import and export
of energy, while promoting further development of renewable
resources, including wind, in western Kansas and the entire
region. We hope Westar will join in the endeavor."
"This agreement is a revolutionary approach and a major
milestone in the quest to build a 21st-century transmission
grid in Kansas," said Carl Huslig, ITC Great Plains president.
"ITC, Mid-Kansas, and Sunflower believe that collaboration
is an excellent model for building crucial infrastructure.
The winners will be Kansans, who will benefit from a robust
transmission grid that will increase reliability, lower
costs, provide equal access to energy and further wind energy
development.
Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, a strong proponent of improving
the transmission system between eastern and western Kansas,
and an organizer of five annual transmission summits in
Kansas, said, "I am pleased to see the development of this
essential transmission construction. These projects are
necessary to ensure not only that all Kansans have reliable
energy, but also that Kansas can export energy to meet national
needs."
About the Kansas V-Plan
The Kansas V-Plan is a 180-mile high-voltage transmission
line that will run southeast from Spearville, Kan., to Comanche
County, Kan., then toward Medicine Lodge, Kan., and then
northeast to terminate in Sedgwick County, just outside
Wichita, Kan. The V-Plan has been included in the Southwest
Power Pool's Transmission Expansion Plan and is the largest
electric infrastructure project to be proposed in Kansas
in nearly 25 years.
About ITC Holdings Corp.
ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC) invests in the electricity
transmission grid to improve electric reliability, improve
access to markets, and lower the overall cost of delivered
energy. ITC is the largest independent electricity transmission
company in the country. Through its subsidiaries, ITC Transmission,
Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC (METC) and ITC
Midwest LLC, ITC operates regulated, high-voltage transmission
systems in Michigan's Lower Peninsula and portions of Iowa,
Minnesota, Illinois and Missouri, serving a combined peak
load in excess of 25,000 megawatts. ITC is also focused
on new areas where significant transmission system improvements
are needed such as Kansas and Oklahoma through subsidiaries
ITC Grid Development, ITC Great Plains and ITC Panhandle
Transmission. For more information, please visit: http://www.itc-holdings.com.
(itc-ITC)
About ITC Great Plains
ITC Great Plains was formed in July 2006 as a subsidiary
of ITC Grid Development, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC
Holdings Corp. ITC Great Plains is a transmission-only utility
which seeks to build a more robust electric transmission
system so that every electric customer in SPP will have
access to reliable, non-discriminatory, competitive and
low-cost energy. ITC Great Plains was granted transmission-only
utility status in Kansas and has a utility status application
pending in Oklahoma which provides the ability for ITC Great
Plains to own and operate a fully-regulated, high-voltage
transmission system that transmits electricity to local
electricity distribution facilities from generating stations
throughout the SPP region. ITC Great Plains is committed
to working with all stakeholders to identify and solve transmission
issues throughout SPP.
About Mid-Kansas Electric Company LLC
Mid-Kansas Electric Company LLC is a coalition of six rural
electric cooperatives serving in 34 western Kansas counties
who organized for the purpose of acquiring the assets of
Aquila's Kansas Electric Network. The cooperatives also
own Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, a generation and
transmission service provider, and they own other businesses
that provide a wide range of services including water supplies,
satellite TV and Internet access, wireless broadband Internet
access, cellular telephone service, commercial electrical
services and propane delivery services.
About Sunflower Electric Power Corporation
Sunflower Electric Power Corporation is a regional wholesale
power supplier that operates a 1,257 MW system of wind,
gas, and coal-based generating plants and a 2,300-mile transmission
system for the needs of its six member cooperatives that
serve more than 400,000 customers living in central and
western Kansas. Visit Sunflower's website at http://www.sunflower.net.
Sunflower's member cooperatives include Lane-Scott Electric
Cooperative, Dighton; Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Ulysses;
Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Norton; The Victory Electric
Cooperative Association, Dodge City; Western Cooperative
Electric Association, WaKeeney; and Wheatland Electric Cooperative,
Scott City, Kan.
SOURCE ITC Holdings Corp.
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