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Watchdog Group Wants Line Checked for Flaws
Associated Press
Duluth News Tribune, May 17 2006
MADISON - A utility watchdog group asked state regulators Tuesday to investigate what it says are serious flaws in the design of a high-voltage transmission line under construction between Wausau, Wis., and Hermantown.
In a worst-case scenario, a failure with the line could lead to a cascade of outages and possible damage to power plants, said Charlie Higley, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board.
But Mark Williamson, vice president of Pewaukee-based American Transmission Co., said the group's concerns are unfounded and based on a "flawed" analysis that already has been investigated.
American Transmission will own and operate the $420 million line, being built by Wisconsin Public Service Corp., when it is brought into service in 2008.
In a letter delivered to each company, the group said engineering mistakes mean the 345-kilovoltArrowhead-Weston power line is undersized in capacity.
"The Arrowhead line will likely not work when it's most needed," Higley said. "And that's when it's helping support other transmission lines in the region while power is flowing heavily. That's when the line is most vulnerable."
Linda Barth, a spokeswoman for the state Public Service Commission, said the regulatory agency is looking at the issues raised.
"But that said, this line has been approved twice and we're confident in the exhaustive process we used in approving" the line," she said.
The Citizens Utility Board raised its concerns after an in-depth analysis by Larry Thiele, an independent consulting electrical engineer. The board hired Thiele in 2003 to provide expert testimony regarding the line's design.
Thiele's analysis concluded the line would fail if an outage occurred on the King-Eau Claire-Arpin transmission line, the only high-capacity line connecting Wisconsin directly to Minnesota. The failure would cause transmission lines to carry too much power and could damage power plants and lead to blackouts, Thiele said.
Williamson said the purpose of the Arrowhead line was to strengthen the system by providing redundancy and protection for the power grid -- solving the very problems Thiele says would threaten it.