Projects
Our Project Philosophy
In developing system expansion, ITC has a number of goals:
- Maintaining safety
- Improving reliability
- Relieving congestion
- Reducing system losses
Our first focus is on replacing aging transmission facilities and equipment across our service territory in Michigan and other Midwestern states. Since the company’s inception in 2003, ITC has invested nearly $3.2 billion in system upgrades and maintenance. This investment has resulted in increased reliability, a reduction in energy losses and has helped pave the way for the entrance of renewable resources.
At ITC, seeking the innovative solution to reliable, responsible, low-cost electricity is utmost priority.
ITC Midwest is working to complete the last segment of line that will complete a loop of 161,000 volt (161 kV) lines through the core of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The approximately 2.5-mile Downtown Industrial-River Run line will complete the loop begun with the already-completed Beverly-Sixth Street and Prairie Creek Industrial-River Run lines. When the Downtown Industrial – River Run line is complete, the loop will consist of more than 12 miles of 161 kV lines to enhance electric reliability in the city’s core, as well as provide a stronger electric transmission connection to benefit the commercial and industrial customers located along the city’s Highway 30 corridor.
ITC Midwest is proposing to build the Hazleton-Black Hawk 345 kV line from ITC’s Hazleton substation Buchanan County, Iowa, to an interconnection with a MidAmerican Energy line in Black Hawk County. ITC is proposing that the line be located on the same route with an existing 161 kV line already in place. The Hazleton-Blackhawk line is a portion of one of 17 transmission projects that MISO studied and designated as a “Multi-Value Project.” The Hazleton-Blackhawk line will bring four major types of benefits to the region: expanded access to generation sources, increased system efficiency, improved reliability, and economic investment.
ITC Midwest is working to rebuild an existing 161 kV transmission line in southwest Minnesota. The project consists of replacing existing wood “H” frame structures with single steel pole structures. To minimize impact on local landowners, ITC Midwest is proposing to use the existing line route as much as possible. Approximately 11 miles of the project is single circuit 161 kV line, with another approximately six miles of line double-circuited with an existing 69 kV line in the area.
To improve reliability and meet the region’s growing energy demands, ITC Midwest is working to build a new electric transmission line and substation in northern Linn County, Iowa.
The Hiawatha-Coffey line will connect ITC Midwest’s existing Hiawatha electric substation (located in the south part of Robins) to a new substation, called Coffey substation, to be located one-half mile west of Highway 13. The new line will connect the two substations, which are approximately 10 miles apart, and carry electricity at 161 kV.
ITC Midwest is working to refurbish an existing 161 kV transmission line in northeast Iowa and southeast Minnesota. Crews are replacing approximately 120 existing wood “H” frame structures with steel “H” frame structures along the 50-mile route through hilly terrain and rolling hills.
ITC Midwest is working to upgrade its existing 115 kilovolt (kV) line between the company’s Nuthatch substation north of Iowa Falls, Iowa, and its substation located adjacent to the Marshalltown Generating Station. The existing line is approximately 60 years old and is reaching the end of its useful life.
To reduce electric transmission system congestion, enable more electric generating sources to connect to customers, improve electric reliability, and meet the region’s growing energy demands, ITC Midwest is preparing to build a new high-voltage electric transmission line in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. The Minnesota-Iowa 345 kV Transmission Project is part of a regional network of new Multi-Value Projects to serve the MISO region. This new line will run from ITC Midwest’s facilities in Jackson County, Minnesota, to a new ITC Midwest substation located near Winnebago, before turning south to connect to a new substation in Kossuth County, Iowa. Approximately 75 miles of the line would be located in Minnesota and approximately 25 miles will be located in Iowa.
The Salem-Hazleton project was identified early on as a priority once ITC Midwest acquired the region’s high-voltage electric transmission lines in December 2007. As energy demand has grown over the years, the area to be served by this line in eastern Iowa has experienced energy bottlenecks caused by lack of electric transmission capacity. These bottlenecks hurt electric reliability and add costs to energy consumed in the region. ITC Midwest has been working for several months to construct the more than 80 miles of line, which extends from ITC Midwest’s Salem substation south of Dubuque, Iowa, to its Hazleton substation in Buchanan County.