7.0  Transmission-Owning Utilities

 

7.2   American Transmission Company, LLC

Background information. American Transmission Company (ATC) began operations on January 1, 2001, the first multi-state electric transmission-only utility in the country.  The company is head-quartered in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, with more than 600 employees working in Wisconsin and Michigan.

At least 28 utilities, municipalities, municipal electric companies, and electric cooperatives from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois have invested transmission assets or money for an ownership stake in the company.  ATC is responsible for operating and maintaining the transmission lines of its equity owners.  It owns more than 9,890 circuit miles of transmission lines and 568 substations in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota. ATC has $3.5 billion in total assets.

ATC is a transmission-owning member of the MISO, and its transmission system is located in both the Midwest Reliability Organization and ReliabilityFirst Corporation.

More information about the company is available on its website at:  

http://www.atcllc.com

Contact Person:
Joel Berry
Transmission Planning Engineer
American Transmission Co.
P.O. Box 47
Waukesha, WI 53187-0047
Phone: (262) 506-6700
e-mail: jberry@atcllc.com

Transmission lines. ATC owns more than 9,890 miles of transmission lines, including 12 miles in Minnesota. The transmission line segment in Minnesota extends from the Arrowhead Substation in the Duluth area to the St. Louis River and is part of the 220-mile 345-kV Arrowhead-Weston line that extends from the Arrowhead Substation to the Gardner Park Substation in Wausau, Wisconsin.  The Arrowhead-Weston line, which cost $439 million to construct, was energized in January 2008.  Arrowhead-Weston provides such benefits as improving reliability, enhancing transfer capability between Minnesota and Wisconsin, and providing ATC and other utilities greater opportunities to perform maintenance on other parts of the electric system, which reduces operating costs.

American Transmission Company Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
0	0	0	12	0

7.3   Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency

Background information. Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (CMMPA) is a municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Minnesota, headquartered in Blue Earth, Minnesota.  CMMPA was created in 1987, and has twelve municipally owned utilities as members, located predominantly in south-central Minnesota. Central Municipal Power Agency/Services (CMPAS) serves as the utility services agent for CMMPA and provides energy management and consulting services to public power members and affiliates in MN and IA.  CMMPA transmission assets are part of MISO.  

More information about the company is available on its website at:  

http://www.cmpas.org

Contact Person:    
Sayan Roy 
Transmission Planning Engineer 
Central Municipal Power Agency/Services  
459 S Grove Street 
Blue Earth, MN 56013 
Phone: (763) 710-3954 
e-mail: sayanr@cmpas.org 

Transmission lines. CMMPA is one of the eleven members of the CapX group, and one of the five investors in the Brookings-Hampton 345 kV line.  In addition, CMMPA is the transmission owner in MISO for the following transmission assets owned by its members.    

Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
18	14	0	0	0

7.4   Dairyland Power Cooperative

Background Information. Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC), a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, was formed in December 1941. A generation and transmission cooperative, Dairyland provides the wholesale electrical requirements to 24 member distribution cooperatives and 17 municipal utilities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Today, the cooperative's generating resources include coal, hydro, solar, wind, natural gas, landfill gas and animal waste. Dairyland Power Cooperative joined MISO in 2010.

More information about Dairyland Power Cooperative is available at:

http://www.dairylandpower.com

Contact Person:
Steve Porter
Planning Engineer III Dairyland Power Cooperative 3200 East Avenue South
La Crosse, WI 54601 Phone: (608) 787-1229
Fax: (608) 787-1475
e-mail: steve.porter@dairylandpower.com

Transmission Lines. Dairyland delivers electricity via more than 3,100 miles of transmission lines and nearly 300 substations located throughout the system's 44,500 square mile service area. Dairyland has the following transmission facilities in Minnesota:

Dairyland Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
423.80	152.75	0	8.88	0

7.5   East River Electric Power Cooperative

Background Information. East River Electric Power Cooperative (East River), headquartered in Madison, South Dakota, is a wholesale electric power supply and transmission cooperative serving 24 rural distribution electric cooperatives and one municipally-owned electric system, which in turn serve more than 250,000 member-owners. East River's 40,000 square mile service area covers the rural areas of 41 counties in eastern South Dakota and twenty-two counties in western Minnesota.

Six of East River's member systems have service areas entirely in western Minnesota and one member system has service areas in both eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota, The remaining eighteen member systems have service areas entirely in eastern South Dakota.

East River is a part of the Southwest Power Pool and has transmission facilities in MISO.

More information about East River Electric Power Cooperative is available at:

http://www.eastriver.coop

Contact Person:    
John Knofczynski
System Planning Manager
East River Electric Power Cooperative
P.O. Box 227
211 South Harth Avenue Madison, SD  57042
Phone: (605) 256-4536
Fax: (605) 256-8058
e-mail: jknofczynski@eastriver.coop

Transmission Lines. East River delivers electricity via approximately 3,000 miles of transmission lines and 240 substations located throughout the system's 40,000 square mile service area in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. East River has the following transmission facilities in Minnesota:

East River Electric Power Cooperative Transmission Lines
<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
164	46	0	0	0

7.8   L&O Power Cooperative

Background Information. L&O Power Cooperative (L&O), headquartered in Rock Rapids, Iowa, is a wholesale electric power supply and transmission cooperative serving three rural distribution electric cooperatives.  These member cooperatives in turn serve more than 5,600 homes and businesses across Rock and Pipestone counties in southwest Minnesota, and Lyon and Osceola counties in northwest Iowa.  Approximately 2,700 of the total 5,600 total consumers served are located in Minnesota.

Additional information about L&O is available at:  

http://www.landopowercoop.com

Contact Person:    
Curt Dieren
Manager
L&O Power Cooperative
P.O. Box 511
1302 S. Union Street Rock Rapids, IA 51246 Phone: (712) 472-2556
Fax: (712) 472-2710
e-mail: CDieren@dgrnet.com

Transmission Lines.  L&O delivers wholesale electricity via approximately 193 miles of transmission lines and 16 substations located throughout the system's four county service area in southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa.  L&O has the following transmission facilities in Minnesota:

L&O Power Cooperative Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
44.52	8.32	0	0	0

7.9   Minnesota Power

Background Information. Minnesota Power (MP), a division of ALLETE, Inc., is an investor-owned utility headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. Minnesota Power provides electricity in a 26,000 square-mile electric service area located in northeastern Minnesota. Minnesota Power serves about 145,000 residential and commercial customers, 16 municipalities, and some of the nation's largest industrial customers. Minnesota Power's transmission and distribution components include 8,742 miles of lines and 164 substations.  Minnesota Power's transmission network is interconnected with the transmission grid to promote reliability and is part of MISO.

More information is available on the company's web page at:  

http://www.mnpower.com

Contact Person:    
Christian Winter
Minnesota Power
30 West Superior Street Duluth, MN  55802
Phone: (218) 355-2908
e-mail: cwinter@mnpower.com

Transmission Lines.  The number of miles of transmission in Minnesota owned by Minnesota Power is shown in the following table.

Minnesota Power Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
0.22	1,326.72	617.01	43.34	231.56

7.10   Minnkota Power Cooperative

Background Information. Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. (Minnkota, or MPC) is a regional generation and transmission cooperative serving 11 member-owner distribution cooperatives in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Minnkota's service area is approximately 34,500 square miles over the two states.  Minnkota is also the operating agent for the Northern Municipal Power Agency (NMPA), an association of 12 municipal utilities in the same service region. Together Minnkota and the NMPA comprise the Joint System and serve more than 151,000 consumers.

Additional information about Minnkota is available at:  

http://www.minnkota.com

Contact Person:    
Brenden Kennelly
Senior Manager Power Delivery Engineering
Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc.
5301 32nd Avenue South
Grand Forks, ND 58208-3201 Phone: (701) 795-4442
Fax: (701) 795-4333
e-mail: bkennelly@minnkota.com

Transmission Lines. The Joint System owns 1,420.02 miles of transmission line in Minnesota and 1930.06 miles in North Dakota. The miles of Minnesota transmission lines are shown in the following table:

Joint System Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
998.67	153.2	268.09	0	0

7.11   Missouri River Energy Services

Background Information. Missouri River Energy Services (MRES) began in the early 1960s as an informal association of northwest Iowa municipalities with their own electric systems that decided to coordinate their efforts in negotiating the purchase of power and energy from the United States Bureau of Reclamation of the United States Department of the Interior (USBR).  MRES was established as a body corporate and politic organized in 1965 under Chapter 28E of the Iowa Code and existing under the intergovernmental cooperation laws of the states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Municipalities in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota subsequently joined MRES pursuant to compatible enabling legislation in each state.

MRES is comprised of 60 municipally owned electric utilities in the States of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.  The MRES member cities' service territories roughly coincide with the boundaries of the respective incorporated cities. MRES has no retail load, and all of its firm sales are made to municipal or other wholesale utilities.  MRES acts as an agent for the Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (WMMPA), which itself was incorporated as a municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Minnesota.  WMMPA provides a means for its members to secure, by individual or joint action among themselves or by contract with other public or private entities within or outside the State of Minnesota, an adequate, economical and reliable supply of electric energy. Current membership in WMMPA consists of 23 municipalities located in Minnesota, each of which owns and operates a utility for the local distribution of electricity.  In addition, MRES is part of MISO and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).

More information about Minnesota River Energy can be found at:  

http://www.mrenergy.com

Contact Person:    
Brian Zavesky
Missouri River Energy Services 3724 West Avera Drive
P.O. Box 88920
Sioux Falls, SD  57108-8920 Phone: (605) 330-6986
Fax: (605) 978-9396
e-mail: brianz@mrenergy.com

Transmission Lines.  The number of miles of transmission in Minnesota owned by Missouri River Energy Services is shown in the following table.

Missouri River Energy Services Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
32.61	239.32	24.02	47	0

7.12   Northern States Power Company

Background Information. Northern States Power Company, a Minnesota corporation (NSP), is a public utility organized under the laws of the State of Minnesota, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc., a publicly-traded company listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. NSP is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Xcel Energy Inc.'s other utility subsidiaries are Northern States Power Company, a Wisconsin corporation (NSPW), headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Public Service Company of Colorado, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and Southwestern Public Service Company, headquartered in Amarillo, Texas.  NSP provides electricity and natural gas to customers in a service territory that encompasses the Twin Cities, many mid-size and small towns throughout Minnesota, and also to portions of South Dakota and North Dakota.  NSP and NSPW operate an integrated generation and transmission system (the NSP System).  In addition, Northern States Power Company is part of MISO.

More information can be found on Xcel Energy's web page at:  

http://www.xcelenergy.com

Contact Person:    
Jason Standing
Principal Engineer
414 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone: (612) 330-7768
Fax: (612) 330-6357
e-mail: jason.t.standing@xcelenergy.com

Transmission Lines.  Northern States Power Company owns about 5,700 miles of transmission lines in Minnesota. The miles of Minnesota transmission lines are shown in the following table.

NSP Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
1,675.49	1,726.12	461.59	1,839.29	0

7.13   Otter Tail Power Company

Background Information. Otter Tail Power Company (OTP) is an investor-owned electric utility headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and a subsidiary of Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select Market: OTTR). It provides electricity and energy services to more than 130,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in a service territory of 70,000 square miles that cover over 400 communities throughout Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota, with approximately 61,100 customers in Minnesota. The company was originally incorporated in 1907, and first delivered electricity in 1909 from the Dayton Hollow Dam on the Otter Tail River. In addition, Otter Tail Power Company is part of MISO.

To learn more about Otter Tail Power Company visit www.otpco.com.

To learn more about Otter Tail Corporation visit www.ottertail.com.

Contact Person:    
Jesse Tomford
Supervisor, Delivery Studies Otter Tail Power Company
P.O. Box 496
Fergus Falls, MN  56538-0496 Phone: (218) 739-8200
Fax: (218) 739-8442
e-mail: JTomford@otpco.com

Transmission Lines.  OTP has the following transmission lines in Minnesota:

OTP Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
1,300.99	540.9	181.18	619.02	0

7.14   Rochester Public Utilities

Background Information. Rochester Public Utilities (RPU), a department of the City of Rochester, Minnesota, is the largest municipal utility in the state of Minnesota.  RPU serves roughly 48,219 electric customers. In 1978, Rochester joined the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency (SMMPA) with City Council approval.  Initially, RPU was a full-requirements member with SMMPA controlling all of Rochester's electric power.  Today, RPU is a partial requirements member of SMMPA and retains control over its own generating units. All of RPU's load and generation are serviced by MISO through its market function.

More information about Rochester Public Utilities is available at:  

http://www.rpu.org/about

Contact Person:    
Scott Nickels
Manager of System Operations/Reliability Rochester Public Utilities
4000 East River Road NE Rochester, MN  55906
Phone: (507) 280-1585
Fax: (507) 280-1542
e-mail: snickels@rpu.org

Transmission Lines. Rochester Public Utilities owns 42.42 miles of 161 kV transmission line in Minnesota. Rochester Public Utilities is one of the eleven members of the CapX group, and is one of the five investors in the Hampton-Rochester-La Crosse CapX project.  Beyond this CapX project, Rochester Public Utilities has no immediate plans for future transmission expansion.

Rochester Public Utilities Transmission Lines

<100 kV	100-199 kV	200-299 kV	>300 kV	DC
0	42.42	0	0	0