Traverse City Record-Eagle

Grand Traverse County

December 29, 2008

TCL&P reviews power line options

Substation delays force utility to look elsewhere

By MELISSA DOMSIC

TRAVERSE CITY -- Local electric utility officials have again switched gears in the face of several challenges and are considering a possible alternative to constructing a west side transmission line.

Traverse City Light & Power's board of directors hoped to build an upgraded electrical transmission line down M-72 to Bay Street, parallel to Grandview Parkway. It would serve as an additional power source into the city by connecting to Wolverine Power Cooperative's proposed electrical substation at the corner of M-72 and Bugai Road in Elmwood Township.

But substation construction has been delayed in hearings with the Michigan Public Service Commission, and Light & Power customers could be hit with significant rate hikes if the utility decides to install power lines underground along Bay Street.

Light & Power board members this month approved spending $250,000 on design and engineering for the west side power line. On Tuesday they agreed to put that on hold because there may be other options.

International Transmission Company is constructing an upgraded transmission line from Gaylord to Traverse City. Light & Power might be able to tap into that line, in lieu of building its own.

"The only reason we got into doing the whole west side lines was to connect into the Wolverine substation, and with that being so iffy now, we really have to reevaluate how long we're going to wait for that to come online," said Linda Johnson, board chairwoman. "Based on that, we have to look at other options, and it happens that this ITC line is definitely a new option for us. We're going to do an analysis and see what is possible."

Wolverine's substation saw strong opposition from Elmwood Township residents and Wolverine wants the state's permission to bypass the township zoning ordinance.

That process could delay construction until September 2009 or later.

"That's disappointing to me because I've been in constant contact with Wolverine and they indicated it'd be complete by this time next year. There's no way this is going to happen under this schedule," said Ed Rice, Light & Power executive director. "I'd anticipate the earliest construction would be complete would be September or October 2010."

Rice continually has stressed the urgency of an additional power supply to avoid power outages.

Light & Power board members will have a joint meeting with the Traverse City commission on Jan. 12 to discuss the project.

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