Tri-State G&T and Western Area Power Administration to develop joint transmission facilities

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and the Western Area Power Administration announced Dec. 21 a joint construction project, called the Eastern Plains Transmission Project, in which the two power suppliers will work together to construct new high-voltage transmission lines and a number of new or expanded substations in eastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas.

The development of these new facilities will assist both Tri-State and Western in meeting their respective contractual obligations while also enhancing power delivery system reliability in the region, relieving existing constraints and providing opportunities for additional interconnections to other parties in the area.

Design and routing work is in the very early stages, but the new transmission lines will generally run from southeastern Colorado northward through eastern Colorado with a line spur running eastward connecting to facilities in southwestern Kansas.

An environmental impact study and related environmental analysis will commence in 2006, along with route selection and preliminary land work, followed by engineering design work in 2007. A three-year construction period is scheduled to start in 2008, with the facilities in place and operational in 2011.