By Allison Courtright, ATC Communication and Member Engagement
ATC operates as a regulated electric grid utility, transporting electricity across parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois. It is a privately held company with customer owners, including Cloverland Electric Cooperative, and focuses on maintaining and renewing transmission infrastructure to ensure safe and reliable service.
One recent asset-renewal project took ATC to the Eastern Upper Peninsula (EUP) to reinsulate two critical lines. These efforts address maintenance needs and ensure our infrastructure continues to provide dependable power to Cloverland’s members. For this project in Sault Ste. Marie, 4.6 miles of a double-circuit 69-kV line between the Magazine and 3 Mile Substations were reinsulated. These lines play a vital role in delivering clean energy from Cloverland’s hydro generation plant to the co-op’s EUP service area.
In addition to reinsulating aging transmission assets impacted by weather and other environmental impacts, we will be installing underground fiber this summer to be shared with Cloverland, enhancing our infrastructure and .
Planning and executing projects to minimize customer impact often takes years. For this effort, planning kicked off in January 2023, with the final design completed and construction underway by 2024. ATC must hire contractors, ensure material availability, evaluate possible and remain flexible with the complex project schedule. ATC also takes environmental concerns into consideration with every project.
This project had additional complexity because of its connection to the hydro plant. Safety is always a priority when ATC and our contractors perform line work. Typically, this requires transmission line outages to reduce risk. However, the hydro plant needed to remain energized throughout construction, so at least one circuit had to stay live at all times. To safely complete the work while keeping power flowing from hydro plant, contractors used a robotic arm to work on the lines.
Every ATC line project requires close collaboration at every milestone. Coordination between construction crews, contractors, city officials, customers and other stakeholders boosted efficiency and kept repair costs down. By working together at each milestone, ATC ensures energy is delivered safely and reliably from its source to where it is needed most.