Southwest Power Pool Approves Elm Creek-Summit Transmission Line Project; ITC Great Plains Will Build Northern Portion

NOVI, Mich., March 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ITC Great Plains, LLC announced today that the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has approved the Elm Creek to Summit transmission line project. The project will improve the reliability of the high-voltage grid in central Kansas.

"The Elm Creek to Summit project will benefit residents and businesses in central Kansas and the broader region by reducing congestion across the transmission network and improving the reliability and efficiency of the grid," said Kristine Schmidt, president, ITC Great Plains. "This project reinforces ITC's long-term commitment in supporting Kansas to secure its energy future.  It also demonstrates that our partnership approach to transmission development provides exceptional value to utilities and their members in the regions they serve."

ITC Great Plains will construct approximately one-half of the 60-mile, 345-kilovolt transmission line connecting the ITC Great Plains Elm Creek Substation, approximately four miles northwest of Aurora, to Westar Energy's Summit Substation, about five miles northeast of Assaria.  ITC Great Plains, in partnership with Mid-Kansas Electric Company, LLC (MKEC), will construct the northern portion of the line and co-own and operate this section of the line with MKEC. Westar Energy will build, own and operate the southern half of the line. The project also will involve upgrades at both substations.

Following a routing study last year, ITC and Westar presented several route alternatives to potentially affected landowners during community open house events held in December 2012 in each county along the route. Each company will file route applications for their portions of the line with the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) later this spring for review, with rulings on the routes expected later this year. Right-of-way acquisition and engineering design are scheduled for 2014-2015, followed by construction in 2015 and 2016. The line will be energized shortly thereafter.

ITC's investment in a new high-voltage infrastructure in the Southwest Power Pool region is founded upon open access to the grid and collaboration with key energy stakeholders.  In 2012 ITC Great Plains, MKEC and Sunflower Electric Power Corporation expanded their partnership agreement for the development of additional transmission projects in Kansas.

"The Elm Creek to Summit project is yet another example of the way our co-development agreement with ITC is expanding and strengthening the high-voltage transmission system across the state," said Stuart Lowry, president and CEO of Sunflower and Mid-Kansas. "Kansans, along with others in the region, will benefit from a robust electric grid that relieves energy congestion. It will also allow our members to further capitalize on generation and transmission resources in the market for those they serve."

ITC Great Plains Transmission Projects in Kansas

Elm Creek to Summit is the third project ITC Great Plains has developed under its partnership approach with local Kansas utilities.

• The 174-mile Spearville-Axtell (KETA) project, which entered service in December 2012, was developed in conjunction with Sunflower Electric Power Corp. and Midwest Energy, Inc.
• In November 2012, construction began on the 122-mile V-Plan project in southwestern Kansas in partnership with Sunflower and Mid-Kansas Electric.

In October 2012, ITC Great Plains announced the ITC Great Plains Expansion Project, a proposal for a package of five high-voltage transmission lines designed to provide a framework for relieving constraints in the underlying system for exporting energy from the western part of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) to load centers east of the SPP footprint. The plan offers an inter-regional planning perspective that is generation-neutral and works within the regional planning process to produce optimal grid performance. Two of the proposed lines would originate in Kansas. For more information on ITC Great Plains projects, go to www.itc-holdings.com/itc-great-plains.html.   

About ITC Great Plains

ITC Great Plains, LLC is a transmission-only utility with authority to construct, own, operate and maintain a regulated, high-voltage transmission system in the Southwest Power Pool region.  Based in Topeka, Kansas, ITC Great Plains operates more than 100 circuit miles of transmission lines in Kansas and Oklahoma. ITC Great Plains is a subsidiary of ITC Grid Development, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp., the nation's largest independent electric transmission company.  For more information, please visit www.itctransco.com.

About ITC Holdings Corp.

ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC) is the nation's largest independent electric transmission company. Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC invests in the electric transmission grid to improve reliability, expand access to markets, lower the overall cost of delivered energy and allow new generating resources to interconnect to its transmission systems. ITC's regulated operating subsidiaries include ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and ITC Great Plains. Through these subsidiaries, ITC owns and operates high-voltage transmission facilities in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, serving a combined peak load exceeding 26,000 megawatts along 15,000 circuit miles of transmission line. Through ITC Grid Development and its subsidiaries, the company also focuses on expansion in areas where significant transmission system improvements are needed. For more information, please visit ITC's website at www.itc-holdings.com. (itc-ITC)

SOURCE ITC Holdings Corp.