City Is Exploring A New Electricity Transmission Line

By Gordon HopkinsThe 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.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. The cost of the project, depending upon where the line was built, ranged from $12,176,000 to $15,347,000. This information was presented to the Fairbury City Council in late 2019 but no action was taken. 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.The risk 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. This alternative line would feed the city from a different direction, reducing the likelihood that a storm would disrupt power to the city. At a meeting of the Fairbury City Council on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, Fairbury Mayor Spencer Brown said, “I like the idea of redundancy. I do. And this has been, you know, this was a hot topic a year ago or so. And, you know, we’re getting back into storm season and all this other kind of stuff, and it’s probably going to start popping up again. I like the idea of redundancy. Do I think another transmission line is the answer? I don’t know.” Representatives of MEAN gave a presentation to the City Council at that meeting. MEAN has advised the City of Fairbury that several steps will need to be taken should the project of a second transmission line be approved by Council.Refrain from making improvements to the 306 line if the second transmission line is approved. This line would be abandoned upon completion of the project should it move forward.Rate study should occur every 3 to 5 years. The last rate study was performed in 2018 and will need to occur in the next year. Enrollment to the Sub T Group. This is a subscription that collects load information from a geographical area where the City of Fairbury will become a planning partner. As a planning partner, the City of Fairbury’s project could be escalated as a priority. Estimated cost of the subscription is $300 a month or $3,600 a year. NPPD (Norris Public Power District) Load Connection Study with an estimated cost of $25,000.SPP Delivery Point Network Study with an estimated cost of $25,000. A portion of this cost may be able to be recovered (up to 50 percent) from SPP.Enrollment is the Sub T Group study would be the first step. According to a memorandum written by City Administrator Robert Messbarger and presented at the meeting, “If not approved to move forward with the required studies, the next opportunity to do so will be in the Fall of 2023.”Messbarger also noted that delivery for a transformer for the second line is currently 3.5 years (42 months) from date of order. If the city chooses to go forward with the new transmission line, the 308 line would be kept and the 306 line would be abandoned.Project Manager Mary Renn said construction of this new transmission would cost less than the estimate from 2019, “And this is also less costly because the department, the line department, is going to assist in the build, Lutz, Daily & Brain’s quote was to have it fully contracted.Mayor Brown said, “Our transmission lines up to the north are old, and they’re going to eventually need to be replaced. So, we’re going to have, you know, we’re going to be bearing that cost. You know, does it make sense for us to start generating our own power again?”Councilperson Brian Schmidt said, “Much as I’d like to see generation two, I think this is the way to go.”Councilperson Bradley Kuzelka said, “When we shut down the power plant this was supposed to happen. And it never did. So, we gotta get started on it.”The City Council voted to enroll in the Sub T Group load collection study.

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