Major projects update

Arcadian Substation – Asset Renewal

The Arcadian Substation Rebuild Project consists of 138-kV and 345-kV asset renewals of early 1970s vintage equipment and the re-configuration of the 345-kV bus from a straight bus to a breaker-and-a-half. The project is designed to: (1) address asset renewal needs by replacing equipment approaching the end of its useful life; (2) improve reliability performance and operational flexibility; (3) conform to industry best practices; and (4) efficiently provide for future transmission needs.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $45 million and includes:

Control house
2 power transformers
26 relay panels
5 circuit breakers
13 disconnect switches
345-kV bus reconfiguration from straight bus to breaker-and-a-half

An application will be filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in November 2020. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2022 and the project is scheduled to be in service by June 2024.

Badger Hollow Network Upgrade

This project is driven by the proposed 300-megawatt Badger Hollow solar plant in Grant and Iowa Counties, Wisconsin. It is required to address steady-state generator outlet thermal overloads and generator transient stability issues under a NERC Category P1.2 Planning Event (i.e. a single line outage condition). The cost of the project is estimated to be $15.6 million and includes:

Uprate X-17 Highland -Wyoming Valley – Spring Green 138-kV line to achieve 1008 Amps (241 MVA) Normal Rating and 1293 Amps (309 MVA) 2-hour Emergency Rating for all seasons.
Expand Highland Substation 138-kV three-position ring bus with a fourth position to add a 100 MVA 138/69 kV transformer. Construct Highland 69-kV segmented straight bus with space reserved for a future bus-tie breaker. Loop the existing Y-138 Eden -Dodgeville 69 kV line in and out of Highland Substation with new double-circuit structures on new right-of-way.

The targeted in-service date of the project is December 2021. A Certificate of Authority application was filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in September 2020.

Barneveld and Military Ridge Distribution Interconnection Project

The Barneveld and Military Ridge Interconnection Project is a new transmission to distribution interconnection project needed to reliably serve Alliant and Mount Horeb Muni System’s electric needs into the future.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $12.3 million and includes:

A new Barneveld 69/12.47-kV substation
A new Military Ridge 69/12.47-kV substation
A new 12.75 mile 69-kV line from Hooterville to Mount Horeb substations on the PSCW ordered route and vacant tower position of the Cardinal-Hickory Creek 345-kV line to the new substations.

An application will be filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in early 2021.

Bayport – Pioneer and Pioneer – Crivitz

The rebuild of a 69‑kV transmission line in northeastern Wisconsin, along with associated substation work, was approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in spring 2020 at a cost of $51.7 million. Approximately 22 miles of line on 1910s‑vintage lattice towers running between Bayport Substation and Pioneer Substation will be rebuilt. The line will serve three distribution substations in Brown County and Oconto County.

The Bayport‑Pioneer asset renewal project consists of the following:

Rebuild the line between Bayport and Pioneer substations with double‑circuit structures
String both Bayport‑Pioneer lines, combine, and operate as one line at 138‑kV
Convert Suamico and Sobieski substations to 138‑kV operation
De‑energize the Pulliam‑Bayport 69‑kV section of line

The project is scheduled to be in service in August 2022.

As part of ATC’s analysis of the area, it was determined that the area north of the Bayport-Pioneer corridor, the Pioneer-Crivitz 69-kV lines, were due for asset renewal. ATC performed a thorough analysis and determined that these two 69-kV lines can be retired and the load served moved to the 138-kV system, saving ratepayers more than $20 million. This project will be completed in late 2022.

Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project

ATC, ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative filed an application in April 2018 with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line Project — an approximately 102-mile long, 345‑kV transmission line connecting Dubuque County, Iowa, to Dane County, Wis. The PSCW approved the project in August 2019 and one month later issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, selecting the route for the Wisconsin portion of the project. The United States Rural Utilities Service issued a Record of Decision for the project in January 2020 and in May 2020, the Iowa Utilities Board issued a franchise for the Iowa portion of the project. Federal permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Mississippi River crossing were received in September 2020.

The Cardinal-Hickory Creek project is one of 17 multi-value projects approved by MISO in 2011. Studies conducted initially and since that time indicate that the project will deliver benefits to local communities and the Midwest region by:

Connecting the electric transmission system in the Upper Midwest and enabling up to 30 gigawatts of cost‑effective, renewable energy to be delivered across the region
Providing $23 million to $350 million in net economic benefits to Wisconsin customers
Improving local and regional electric system reliability.

Construction begins in 2021 and the project is expected to be in service by the end of 2023.

Granville Substation – Asset Renewal

The Granville Substation rebuild project consists of 138-kV and 345-kV asset renewals of 1970s vintage equipment and the re-configuration of the 345-kV bus from a straight bus to a ring bus. The project is designed to: (1) address asset renewal needs by replacing equipment nearing the end of its useful life; (2) improve reliability performance and operational flexibility; (3) conform to industry best practices; and (4) efficiently provide for future transmission system needs.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $29 million and includes:

Asset Renewals
- Control house
- 20 relay panels
- 11 circuit breakers
- 7 disconnect switches
345-kV bus reconfiguration from straight bus to ring bus
Replacement of two 138-kV high-pressure fluid-filled underground substation circuit exits with overhead, retirement of the pump house and retirement of the East Granville Terminal

An application will be filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in 2021. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2023, and the project is scheduled to be in service in 2024.

Howards Grove – Erdman Project

The construction of a new 138-kV transmission line in the eastern Wisconsin along with associated substation work, will be submitted to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in the coming months at a cost of $25 million. The new line will address reliability concerns in Sheboygan County and the surrounding area.

The Howards Grove-Erdman 138-kV line project consists of the following:

Construct a new 6.6-mile 138-kV line from Howards Grove to Erdman
Expand Howards Grove Substation to a 4-position ring bus
Reconfiguration of the Erdman 138-kV Substation to accommodate the new line

The project is scheduled to be in service in November 2023.

Juneautown Distribution Interconnection Project

The Juneautown Interconnection Project is a 138‑kV transmission to distribution interconnection needed to meet We Energies’ growing reliability and economic needs in downtown Milwaukee.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $33.8 million and includes:

A new Juneautown 138 / 13.2‑kV gas‑insulated substation
Looping the 138‑kV line between Haymarket and Harbor substations to feed the new substation
Routing the new line segments through new underground corridors

A Certificate of Authority application was filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in January 2018 and was approved in August. Construction was started in the summer of 2019, and the project is scheduled to be in service in December 2020.

Mackinac – McGulpin 138-kV – Straits Cable Replacement Project

ATC is replacing the two 4‑mile, 138‑kV submarine transmission lines connecting the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to lower Michigan at an estimated cost of $105 million.

The Mackinac – McGulpin 138‑kV submarine cable replacement project, publicly known as the Straits Cable Replacement Project, was submitted for MISO review and was approved in the MTEP18 planning cycle. The project was developed for the following reasons:

Two 138‑kV submarine circuits were damaged by an anchor strike on April 1, 2018
Three working cables have been reconfigured to form one 138‑kV circuit
The project will restore the eastern UP to the level of reliability that existed before the April 1 event

The project is estimated to be in service in 2021.

Northern Lights Distribution Interconnection Project

The Northern Lights Interconnection Project is a 138‑kV transmission to distribution interconnection project needed to reliably serve Epic System’s electric needs into the future.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $21 million and includes:

A new Northern Lights 138 / 24.9‑kV substation,
Looping the Cross Country to Pleasant View 138-kV line
Constructing 1.3-mile double-circuit 138-kV underground line to the new substation
Installing fiber communication between Verona and the city of Madison

An application was filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in October 2018 and was approved in June 2019. Construction is scheduled to begin in November 2019 and the project is scheduled to be in service in June 2021.

Paris 345-kV Substation Generation Interconnection Project

The Paris 345-kV Substation Project re-routes the existing Arcadian-Zion 345-kV line into and out of a new substation to be connected to the Paris 138-kV bus by a single 345/138-kV transformer. The project is needed to accommodate increased power flows due to solar generation additions near the Paris Substation.

The cost of the project is estimated to be $25.5 million and includes:

A new Paris 345/138-kV substation
Looping the 345‑kV line between Arcadian and Zion into the new substation
Adding a transformer to connect the new and existing Paris busses
Upgrading the grounding at Berryville and Elkhorn to handle the increased fault current due to the new generation

A Certificate of Authority application is scheduled to be filed with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in February 2021 and approval is targeted between August and November 2021. Construction is expected to start between September and December 2021 and the project is scheduled to be in service in December 2022.

Waupaca Battery Storage Project

MISO identified ATC’s Waupaca Area Storage Project in their 2019 MISO Transmission Expansion Planning (MTEP19) report as the preferred solution to address an identified reliability need in the Waupaca, Wis. area. The $8.1 million project includes:

2.5 MW / 5 MWh battery at Harrison North Substation (and associated substation work)
14 MVAr of total capacitance at the Arnott and Harrison North substation
A bus upgrade at the 69-kV Wautoma substation

The project will be installed to help address multiple transmission line outage issues and to provide additional operational flexibility. The MISO Board will consider including the project in the regional plan following FERC acceptance of tariff revisions to treat storage as transmission assets. As proposed, the project is currently estimated to be in service by the end of 2021.

Wautoma – Wild Rose – Harrison Asset Renewal Project

The rebuild of a 1950s vintage 69-kV line in Central Wisconsin, along with associated substation work, was approved by ATC management at a cost of $16.25 and met the CA/CPCN exemption criteria. This project consists of rebuilding approximately 4.1 miles of the existing Y-180 69-kV transmission line from Wautoma to Wild Rose and approximately 14.7 miles of the existing Y-19 69 kV transmission line from Wild Rose to Harrison. The two lines serve seven substations in Waupaca and Waushara County.

The project includes:

Installation of 156 steel structures
Installation of 104 vibratory caissons
Replacement of line conductor and shield wire with new fiber optic shield wire
Replacement of some associated substation equipment

Construction is scheduled to be complete by December 2020.