Waukesha, Wis.-based American Transmission Co. (ATC) has identified an estimated $2.7 billion in work needed over the next 10 years to ensure that the transmission grid can reliably meet the electricity needs of people and businesses in communities throughout most of Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, according to its 2008 10-Year Transmission System Assessment report. This is in addition to the $1.9 billion that ATC has invested in the transmission system over the past seven years.
‘We also have to address the infrastructure needs of adding more wind power onto the grid,’ says Flora Flygt, director of ATC transmission planning. ‘Building new interstate high-voltage transmission lines with the strategic location and capacity to deliver large volumes of renewable power from remote areas where it's located into population centers will be a central challenge for years to come.’
Of the $2.7 billion investment that ATC identified, approximately $1.3 billion would be for the following new equipment:
– adding 210 miles of new transmission lines,
– upgrading more than 540 miles of existing lines, and
– installing more than 23 new transformers and 39 capacitor banks.
The remaining $1.4 billion would be for the following improvements:
– maintenance on aging equipment
– connections to power plants
– infrastructure replacements and relocations, and
– distribution interconnections.
The $2.7 billion investment is a slight decline from the $2.8 billion estimate ATC made in its 2007 10-Year Transmission Assessment update, and it is the third consecutive year of decline.
For more information, visit atc10yearplan.com.
SOURCE: American Transmission Co.
