ATC

American Transmission Co. announces two promotions

PEWAUKEE, Wis. – American Transmission Co.’s Board of Directors last week approved two promotions. Lori Lorenz was named an officer of the company, and Nate DeBaun was named corporate secretary.

Lorenz assumes the newly created position of executive vice president, chief administrative officer. Primarily focused on culture and people, she oversees human resources, safety, facilities and corporate communications. Lorenz joined ATC in 2013 as director of human resources and was promoted to vice president of human capital in 2014. Since joining ATC, she has developed and implemented several strategic initiatives that have contributed to ATC earning local and national recognition for being a great place to work. Lorenz holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She serves as a leader in several community and industry organizations including Edison Electric Institute’s Chief Human Resources Officer Executive Advisory Committee, Society for Human Resource Management, Waukesha County Business Alliance, Tempo Waukesha, Roger’s Memorial Hospital Foundation Board, Women and Girls Fund of Waukesha County Board of Trustees and University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Professional & Executive Development Advisory Board.

DeBaun serves as associate general counsel and corporate secretary for ATC. As corporate secretary, he works with the general counsel and executive team in corporate governance matters, including preparing for and carrying out ATC’s board of directors and board committee meetings. He also provides legal advice and support to ATC’s board of directors. DeBaun joined ATC’s legal department in 2011 and was promoted to lead counsel, corporate affairs and assistant corporate secretary in 2014. DeBaun earned a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and law, psychology and French from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School. He is licensed to practice law in Wisconsin and Illinois.

American Transmission Co. energizes Spring Valley-North Lake Geneva Electric Reliability Project

Project addresses electric system needs, supports the community and environment

PEWAUKEE, Wis. – The Spring Valley-North Lake Geneva Electric Reliability Project, which electrically connects Kenosha County with the Lake Geneva area, is energized and now part of an integrated electric system serving customers in the region. This 23-mile, 138,000-volt transmission line was approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in March 2016 and construction initiated in 2017.

Components of the $71 million project include: construction of a new 138,000-volt transmission line stretching from the North Lake Geneva Substation in southern Walworth County to the Spring Valley Substation in western Kenosha County, construction of the new Balsam Substation along Wisconsin State Trunk Highway 50 in the town of Wheatland and construction of a new 69,000-volt transmission line to connect the new substation to the Twin Lakes Substation in Twin Lakes.

“There were several unique challenges in the planning of this project,” said ATC Senior Project Manager Doug Berton. “In addition to addressing transmission reliability for the region, we also needed to consider the reconfiguration needs of the lower-voltage system. The Spring Valley-North Lake Geneva project now provides system redundancy and allows for maintenance outages when repairs are needed.”

ATC also worked with its environmental contractor, Stantec, to re-vegetate areas along the route in addition to the perimeter of the substation with a pollinator-friendly seed mix. To date, the substation site has reached 70% re-vegetation, a scoring well-suited for pollinator habitat. ATC also funded the transplant of several dozen trees from the substation site to a local school as part of the Trees for Threes program with the Milwaukee Bucks.

“We appreciate the cooperation of area residents as we worked on this project, beginning with public involvement in 2013 to completing construction,” said ATC Director of Environmental and Local Relations Gregory Levesque. “We will continue restoration on portions of the project in the coming months and continue monitoring pollinator habitats over the next several years.”

Visit www.atc-projects.com for more information. A map of the project can be found here.

American Transmission Co. issues annual 10-Year Transmission System Assessment

Asset renewal projects, green energy interconnection requests on the rise

PEWAUKEE, Wis. – In a review of market conditions and transmission needs, American Transmission Co.’s annual 10-year plan for electric grid improvements highlights the need for asset renewal projects to ensure reliability, efficiency and safety, and increased interconnection requests from resource developers.

“The combination of aging infrastructure and extreme weather can compromise the reliable, efficient operation of the existing transmission system,” said Jim Vespalec, director of Asset Planning and Engineering. “That’s why approximately 54% of the projects in our 10-Year Plan are dedicated to maintaining and reinforcing the system and improving its resiliency. Our focus on asset renewal — strengthening the performance of our existing transmission facilities — helps to keep the lights on in the communities we serve.”

Andy Dolan, vice president of System Planning, said the rapid expansion of green sources of electric generation is being driven by a combination of consumer preference, reduced costs and political influences. “The generation mix is evolving from traditional fuels like nuclear, coal and natural gas to a growing reliance on sources of green energy including wind and solar,” Dolan said. “In fact, we have seen over 1,500 megawatts of coal generation retire in our footprint since the beginning of 2018; and we are studying proposals to connect over 5,800 MW of solar generation and almost 1,000 MW of wind generation.”

Specifically, ATC’s 10-year plan calls for expenditures of $1.7 billion in asset maintenance, $0.4 billion in network projects, $0.2 billion in regional Multi-Value Projects, and between $0.6 billion and $1.3 billion in other capital expenditures. The full plan can be viewed at atc10yearplan.com.

Crews to use helicopters for transmission line construction

Work slated to begin next week near Avoca

PEWAUKEE, Wis. – A heavy-duty helicopter will be used next week to assist in the construction of a 69,000-volt transmission line replacement project along the Wisconsin River, from Avoca, Wis. to Lone Rock, Wis. The helicopter from Erickson Inc. will arrive in Avoca the weekend of Oct. 19. Transmission line construction, including lifts of the poles and cross arms, will begin Monday, Oct. 21 and is expected to finish by Friday, Oct. 25. Beginning the week of Nov. 4, a light-duty helicopter from Haverfield Aviation will assist with the construction of the poles and wires and install bird flight diverters along certain sections of the line.

Local officials, along with local law enforcement, have been notified of the work. Short term road closures can be expected on State Trunk Highway 60 when the new transmission wires are strung across the highway. Security will be on site around the clock while the helicopters are within the region.

Note to editors: View a map of the work area by clicking here. Information about ATC’s avian protection program can be found here. Flight schedules may vary and are subject to change, based on weather. In the interest of safety, please refrain from stopping, viewing and photographing the work from roadways.

ATC provides update on Madison substation fires

Cause traced to mechanical failure of a voltage regulating component; DNR directing environmental cleanup; new transformer to be operational this month

PEWAUKEE, Wis. – American Transmission Co. is working on activities relating to the recent fires at Blount and East Campus substations in Madison and providing information regarding the cause, status of the environmental cleanup and efforts to restore the electrical equipment. As background, an ATC transformer caught fire at Madison Gas & Electric’s Blount Street Substation in Madison, Wisconsin, at 7:39 a.m. on Friday, July 19, 2019. A few minutes later a second fire occurred at the East Campus Substation. The two substations are electrically connected by underground cables. Both fires were extinguished by approximately 9 a.m.

“We are grateful that no one was hurt during this incident, and we are thankful to the city of Madison, the fire department and the police for helping to keep everyone safe,” said Paul Roehr, ATC vice president of Operations. “We apologize for the inconvenience the community experienced for not having power on a hot summer day. We are thankful to Madison Gas & Electric for working with us to restore power safely and quickly that same day.”

Cause investigation complete
ATC investigated the cause of the transformer fire with assistance from an expert from the Electric Power Research Institute. EPRI is an independent, nonprofit organization that conducts research in the electricity sector.

Together, ATC and EPRI performed a visual inspection of the damaged transformer at Blount Substation a few days after the fire and then conducted a controlled teardown of the transformer to disassemble and inspect the condition of various components to better understand the cause.

As previously shared, prior to the fire ATC had been closely monitoring a component on the Blount transformer because of observed anomalies. ATC consulted with the component manufacturer, conducted additional inspections July 15, 16 and 17, and made plans to take the transformer out of service for a detailed internal inspection on Monday, July 22.

“Based on our experience and consultation with the manufacturer, we took prudent action in scheduling the outage,” said Jim Vespalec, ATC director of Asset Planning and Engineering. “While the transformer suffered considerable damage in the fire, the inspection and teardown showed that the failure originated in the voltage regulating component due to mechanical failure, generating combustible gases and resulting in a fire.”

Failures like this are extremely rare, and ATC is conducting internal reviews and consulting industry peers to identify if any changes in work practices are necessary.

Environmental cleanup continuing
ATC continues to work in coordination with and under the direction of the Department of Natural Resources to contain, collect and properly dispose of the transformer’s insulating fluid and the water used to extinguish the fire.

There were approximately 18,000 gallons of insulating fluid in the transformer to insulate and cool the electrical components. A significant portion of the insulating fluid was recovered and collected into tanks for recycling under the direction of the DNR.

The DNR also asked ATC to contain and collect water from the stormwater system that the fire department used to extinguish the fire. With high lake levels at the time of the fire, there is no reason to believe any water was discharged into the waterways. The DNR also asked ATC to test for concentration levels of PFAS, which is a chemical in firefighting foam used to contain the fire. ATC is working with the city of Madison and the DNR to treat approximately 180,000 gallons of recovered water to remove PFAS.

Additional monitoring and coordination with the DNR will continue to determine if further action may be needed.

New transformer in place
ATC has been working to get the transmission equipment at Blount Substation back to working order. A new transformer sits on a new concrete pad in the substation, and the necessary electrical connections and tests are being completed with the goal of putting the new transformer in service by mid-October.

Within a week of the fire, ATC made immediate transmission repairs at the East Campus Substation to make it operational. More permanent repairs are planned for 2020.