Project Updates

The North Madison-Waunakee 138-kilovolt transmission line was placed in service late last month. The new line provides critical reinforcement to the system serving northern Dane County. Prior to this upgrade, a 90-year-old line in the Waunakee area was frequently overloaded and operating at the limits of its capacity, leaving the area vulnerable to outages.

Construction on the Gardner Park-Central Wisconsin 345-kilovolt transmission line is complete. GPCW is one of a pair of 50-mile lines that will substantially improve reliability and relieve congestion on overloaded facilities in the Green Bay and Fox River Valley areas. Both lines are expected to be energized toward the end of this year.

The Butler Ridge wind farm in southeastern Dodge County began commercial operation recently. Comprised of 36 turbines, the facility has a generating capacity of 54 megawatts, about enough electricity to power 18,000 homes. We built a new, 138-kilovolt substation to connect the wind farm to the transmission grid. Across the United States, new wind projects in 15 states delivered 2,836 megawatts in the first quarter of 2009 – twice the amount that was installed in the first quarter of last year.

The calendar said April, but snowy conditions greeted an MJ Electric crew one morning as they continued working to dismantle the Cedar Substation near Marquette, Mich. The Cedar Substation is being replaced by the North Lake Substation, which is scheduled to go into service in June.
	Cedar Substation

Did you know?

In a previous issue, we discussed our efforts to replace Portland cement in foundations for transmission structures with fly ash – a by-product of burning coal. This replacement practice provides economic and environmental benefits, and also produces a more structurally sound foundation. Since last October, we have used more than 680 tons of fly ash in concrete foundations on the Gardner Park-Central Wisconsin and Morgan-Werner West projects. For every ton of fly ash used as a replacement, we conserve landfill space equivalent to that needed for 455 days of solid waste generated by the average American! Because production of Portland cement generates carbon dioxide, the replacement also avoids greenhouse gas emissions and saves energy.

Customer Connections

• We know that communication is a key component in providing good customer service. Starting with this issue, we will regularly incorporate news for and about our customers. If you have topics you’d like addressed, please e-mail info@atcllc.com and put “transmission e*dition” in the subject line.
  
• Our Generator Interconnection Guide is now available at our web site. The document describes the interconnection process and the specific design, construction and operational aspects of connecting new generation to our system.
  
• Mark your calendars for these upcoming events --  an Upper Peninsula Transmission Business Briefing is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 16 in Marquette. Network customer meetings are scheduled for Aug. 20 in our Madison office, and Nov. 19 in our Pewaukee office.

ATC in the Community

	More than 600 middle school students took part in a career fair in Clintonville last month. ATC’s booth was a popular stop, as most of the students had questions about our construction project in the area. About 50 participants described career opportunities on a dairy farm operation and cheese factory, in broadcasting, a beauty salon, photography, the ministry and health care.
Michelle Stokes and David Hovde from our De Pere office chat with young students from Menomonee Tribal School at a career fair in Clintonville.

About a dozen employees in our Madison office spent a few hours on Earth Day cleaning up the property around the building, including the adjacent fen. A fen is low land that is covered wholly or partly with water unless artificially drained and has peaty, alkaline soil. Typical flora includes sedges and reeds.
Madison employees picked up litter and old construction debris from the property adjacent to our Fen Oak office. Several old tires had been dumped in the fen before the area was developed. The unearthed tires were taken to a recycling center for proper disposal.

Invite an ATC representative to speak to your group

Let us tell you and your service group or professional organization more about ATC. Simply e-mail us at localrelations@atcllc.com and indicate a topic area you're interested in, such as new projects, environmental commitment, vegetation management, or electric transmission.  We'll work with you to schedule a speaker for an upcoming meeting.