Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI) on April 28 filed with the Missouri Public Service Commission an application for a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) to build, install, own, operate, maintain, and otherwise control and manage an approximately 15-mile, 138-kV transmission line and associated facilities in Perry and Cape Girardeau counties in Missouri.
The project involves the line and the new Whipple substation at the southern end of the line in Cape Girardeau County, the company said, noting that the project is part of a larger development — the ATXI-Wabash Development — in cooperation with Citizens Electric Cooperative and the Wabash Valley Power Alliance (Wabash Valley).
ATXI noted that Citizens is the local distribution cooperative in the project area and Wabash Valley is the affiliated generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative that serves Citizens with power and transmission needs.
Citizens and Wabash Valley were going to pursue transmission upgrades in that area of southeastern Missouri — with the cost of such project(s) to be allocated to the Ameren Missouri Transmission Pricing Zone — regardless of ATXI or Ameren Missouri’s involvement.
ATXI added that the sole transmission-voltage source to the southern end of the project area is an existing Ameren Missouri 161-kV line that is radial in nature and terminates into lower-voltage distribution facilities. Providing an additional source of transmission supply would create a new and redundant transmission network in the area, ATXI said, adding that the project would also help support the Citizens load, as well as the interconnected Ameren Missouri load, which is served by Ameren Missouri’s Wedekind substation.
As noted in the direct testimony on behalf of ATXI of James Jontry, a senior project manager in the Transmission Department of Ameren subsidiary Ameren Services Company, the planned in-service date for the project is Dec. 1, 2023. Jontry noted that the Midcontinent ISO (MISO) has approved that date.
Jontry also noted that the total cost of the ATXI-Wabash Development is about $68m, with ATXI’s portion — that is, the project that is the subject of the April 28 application — estimated to cost about $40m, while Wabash Valley’s investment in the ATXI-Wabash Development estimated to cost about $28m.
