Prairie Wind Transmission, a joint venture between Westar Energy and Electric Transmission America, is inviting landowners to a series of open houses to learn more about the routing of a new, high-capacity transmission line from Wichita to Medicine Lodge to the Kansas-Oklahoma border. The project is better known as the Y-plan.
Under the Y-plan, Oklahoma Gas and Electric will continue the line from the Kansas-Oklahoma border to Woodward, Okla. ITC Great Plains will construct the line from Medicine Lodge to a Clark County substation and then to Spearville.
Prairie Wind will host the open houses to share information and receive comments regarding the company's plans to build the high-capacity transmission line. The open houses are informal and designed for residents to come and go at their convenience. They are scheduled from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 9, Nov. 10, Nov. 15 and Nov. 16.
Landowners will be asked to fill out a questionnaire at the open house. The consulting firm Burns & McDonnell will score the questionnaires and use the data to help determine a preferred route for the transmission line. Prairie Wind anticipates requesting route approval from the Kansas Corporation Commission in early 2011.
This project will help promote further growth of wind energy in western Kansas by providing a transmission super highway for moving energy east, according to Westar Energy.
SOURCE: Westar Energy
