City is Exploring a New Electricity Transmission Line

By Gordon HopkinsNate Francis, Electric Distribution Superintendent for the City of Fairbury, provided the city council with a presentation on a transmission study, a process which first began in 2019. The presentation was given at the city council meeting on Tuesday, April 2, 2024.The City of Fairbury currently has two lines (labeled 306 and 308) for electric distribution that feed in from the north and run alongside Highway 15. When the city shut down the local municipal power plant, those two power lines became the sole source of electricity for the city.The city has been exploring the possibility of a new transmission line. Francis told the council, “Back in March 2022, I think it was, the city came in agreements with NPPD for a second delivery point.”ReasonsFrancis noted the age of some of Fairbury’s electrical systems, “The 306 line, which is the west that line comes into town. The age was considered. That's a wishbone structure. Those are pretty outdated. A lot of poles need to be replaced.”In addition to the age of the existing lines and structures, the concern with having two transmission lines running close to each other as they now do is that any event that might interrupt power, such as a storm, would likely impact both lines. An alternative line would feed the city from a different direction, reducing the likelihood that as storm would disrupt power to the city.Fairbury’s power supplier is currently the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN), a member of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which oversees the power grid of an area stretching from Oklahoma to the Canadian border.With the closing of the power plant, Lutz, Daily & Brain, LLC Consulting Engineers, a Kansas City based engineering firm, was retained in 2019 and prepared an electric generation and transmission feasibility study. The purpose of the study was to review and propose a redundancy transmission line feeding from the southeast.In 2021, RVW Inc., an engineering firm headquartered in Columbus, was retained to perform an electric study for the city and, within that study, outlined projects in order of priority for consideration, including an alternative transmission line.CostAccording to Francis, the total cost for the new transmission line would be $10,450,000. That cost includes $5,100 to NPPD, $3,125,000 for the construction cost of 12.5 miles of lines and $2,200,000 for the substation.Francis said, “So, the ultimate estimated cost for the whole project is $10 million, which actually came in low. I was thinking more like $12 or $15 million.”However, Francis indicated there would be ongoing costs after the construction, “The kicker about the whole thing is there's operation and maintenance cost of it of $7,541 a month.”Francis added, “So, that equals about an extra $90,000 a year for just maintenance.”The city is looking at grants to help pay for the project, but Francis pointed out, “Most of the grants right now are all renewable energy stuff. It's, you know, EV (Electric vehicle) chargers and solar and all that stuff.”AlternativesFrancis also explored some alternatives, including the purchase of back up generator pods, “They are self-contained units, the size of a shipping container. They could sit right by the sub.”TimelineFrancis told the council, “I think we have until November to give them a timeline and that's just because when they need it in their queue to order the transformer. This still thing probably wouldn't go into service until probably 2028. There's long lead times on transformers right now.”No action was taken at the meeting.

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