News
DNR honors ITC Holdings Corp. with Partners in Conservation Award
The Department of Natural Resources presented ITC Holdings Corp. of Novi, Mich., with a Partners in Conservation Award at last week's regular monthly meeting of the Natural Resources Commission in Saginaw.
The nation's largest independent electricity transmission company, ITC Holdings was recognized for its sponsorship of the restoration of the former Edsel Ford Haven Hill Estate, located within the Highland Recreation Area in Oakland County.
Since 2010, ITC has (through the DNR and Friends of Highland Recreation Area) donated $25,000 toward the restoration effort.
ITC Conducting Aerial Patrols of Transmission Lines in Michigan
NOVI, Mich. Oct. 3, 2012 – ITC is conducting aerial patrols of its high-voltage transmission towers and lines across the Lower Peninsula of Michigan during October and early November. The helicopter patrols are conducted to provide an overall status of the overhead transmission system that is operated by ITC’s Michigan operating entities, ITCTransmission and Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC (METC).
During the period October 4 to October 13, aerial inspections will be conducted in an area including south-central, southwestern and western Michigan, north to the Ludington/M10 area.
These twice-a-year patrols are a NERC (North American Electrical Reliability Corporation) requirement for ITC’s operations, maintenance and vegetation management functions and is in line with ITC’s model for operational excellence. They include inspections of steel towers, wood poles, conductors (wires), insulators and other equipment. Crews are checking for damaged or worn equipment and vegetation hazards.
ITC Crews Assisting With East Coast Storm Restoration
ITC Holdings Corp. operating subsidiaries ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company (METC) and ITC Midwest have sent 63 utility crew members to assist in restoring power to customers affected by the recent storms on the East Coast.
ITCTransmission Celebrates Start of Construction of Thumb Loop High-Voltage Transmission Line
ITCTransmission, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp., the nation’s largest independent electricity transmission company, today celebrated the start of construction of its 140-mile Thumb Loop high-voltage transmission line with an event aimed at recognizing the cooperative efforts of contractors, vendors, local officials and community leaders in Michigan’s Thumb area to advance the project.
ITC hosted the celebration outside its new Bauer substation at the western end of the 345,000-volt line in Tuscola County. Bauer is one of four new substations being built for the project. Construction is just getting underway on the first transmission line segment, a 62-mile segment from Bauer to the new Rapson substation site in Huron County, east of Bad Axe. The Tuscola County section will cover approximately 25 miles.
ITC Supports Dexter Area Fire Department
The Dexter Area Fire Department announced today that ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC) is stepping up to contribute $10,000 to help them purchase a thermal imaging camera.
“We are extremely grateful for ITC’s generous donation,” said Loren Yates, chief of the Dexter Area Fire Department. “A Thermal Imaging Camera is an extraordinary piece of safety equipment and will help us further our efforts to protect our citizens and our personnel responding to their needs. On behalf of the department, I want to extend our sincere thanks to ITC.”
Detroit Regional Chamber Announces Joseph L. Welch as 2013 Mackinac Policy Conference Chair
Today, the Detroit Regional Chamber announced Joseph L. Welch, chairman, president and CEO, ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC) as Chair of the 2013 Mackinac Policy Conference. Welch will succeed 2012 Conference Chair Nancy Schlichting, CEO of Henry Ford Health System, and help lead the Chamber’s efforts in planning and hosting the 2013 Conference.
“Nancy Schlichting did a tremendous job this year; I’m looking forward to building on that momentum and once again bringing one of the nation’s premier public-policy events to Mackinac Island,” Welch said. “The Mackinac Policy Conference continues to evolve into a statewide conversation that helps foster a more globally and fiscally competitive Michigan.”
The DEQ today presented one of its highest environmental stewardship honors – the Clean Corporate Citizen Award – to ITC Holdings Corporation at the company’s Novi headquarters. ITC is the 174th Michigan facility to receive this honor.
The C3 Program is a voluntary environmental program that recognizes environmental stewardship at Michigan facilities. Candidates demonstrate facility-specific environmental management systems, have active pollution prevention initiatives at their facilities, and have a consistent record of compliance with state and federal environmental requirements.
Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC is the nation’s largest fully independent electric transmission company, providing the bulk transfer of electrical energy from generating plants to substations serving communities and businesses across the state. ITC owns and operates high-voltage transmission facilities in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas along approximately 15,000 circuit miles of transmission line.
“We are pleased that our environmental management system enabled us to recover more than 5.7 million pounds of recycled metal and 284,000 gallons of oil across our operations in 2011 alone,” said Gregory Loanidis, president, ITC Michigan. “We are honored to receive this recognition from the State of Michigan, and we will continue to look for ways to reduce our impact on the environment while investing in the transmission grid to improve reliability, expand access to markets, lower the overall cost of delivered energy, and allow new generating resources to connect to our systems.”
The C3 Award joins a number of honors that ITC has received from national and local environmental and ecological organizations.
ITC Holdings Corporation earns DEQ Clean Corporate Citizen Award
New Transmission Lines for Gratiot Wind Farm Now Underway
The spot where trucks and materials are pulling in and out of Begole Road at M-46 is a staging area for the building of a new ITC transmission substation.
It will also include upgrades to its high voltage transmission lines.
ITC’s project was needed so it could “increase the line’s capacity to accommodate the full output of the wind farm,” according to an ITC statement.
The project began in Porter Township in Midland County in June, 2011 and that phase of the project was completed in October.
Work on this end of the project is expected to be finished at the end of this year.
ITC Decorates Transmission Towers with Festive Lighting as part of Holiday Tradition
NOVI, Mich., December 7, 2011 – ITC Holdings Corp., owner and operator of the high-voltage electricity grid in Michigan, has lit up nine of its 150-foot tall transmission towers in Michigan with colorful holiday decorations. The transmission towers are decorated with approximately one quarter mile of rope lights (16,000 bulbs). The decorations include 10- by 15-foot Happy Holidays signs and brightly lit stars at the tower tops. The festive lights will shine every evening until New Year’s Day.
“Our tower decorations have become a holiday tradition in Michigan,” said Gregory Ioanidis, president of ITC Michigan. “We’re happy to join the communities we serve all over the state to help celebrate this festive time of the year.”
The nine ITC transmission towers lighting up the sky during the holidays are in the following locations:
- Brownstown Township (I-75 south of Van Horn Road)
- Livonia (south of Plymouth Road and Hines Drive)
- St. Clair (I-94 north of Fred W. Moore Hwy.)
- Novi (I-96 at Meadowbrook)
- Belleville (I-94 west of Haggerty)
- Sterling Heights (Hall Road east of M-53)
- Gaylord (I-75)
- Grand Rapids (US 131 north of 28th Street SW)
Ferndale-based Eagle Sign Company designed the decorations for ITC, and Utility Lines Construction Services placed them on the towers.
About ITC Holdings Corp.
ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC) is the nation’s largest independent electricity transmission company. Based in Novi, Mich., ITC invests in the electric transmission grid to improve system reliability, expand access to markets, lower the overall cost of delivered energy and allow new generating resources to interconnect to its transmission systems. ITC’s regulated operating subsidiaries include ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and ITC Great Plains. Through these subsidiaries, ITC owns and operates high-voltage transmission facilities in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, serving a combined peak load exceeding 25,000 megawatts along 15,000 circuit miles of transmission line. Through ITC Grid Development and its subsidiaries, the company also focuses on expansion in areas where significant transmission system improvements are needed. For more information, please visit: http://www.itc-holdings.com.
Media contact: Joe Kirik (248.946.3479, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
ITCTransmission Grant Will Help Plan 850 Trees
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson thanked ITCTransmission of Novi, Michigan today for awarding the county a $100,000 matching grant to plant trees on public land in the Rouge Watershed in Farmington Hills, Novi and West Bloomfield. ITC's grant doubles the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative $100,000 grant to Oakland County which together will help plant about 850 trees at 20 separate locations.
The 850 trees, when mature, will have the following impact, according to the USDA:
- They will remove more than 20 tons of carbon dioxide from the air per year
- They will release enough oxygen in a year to sustain 1,700 humans
- They will reduce runoff caused by rainfall by up to 850,000 gallons per year
- And each of these trees will be capable of reducing noise pollution by 10 decibels