ITC Great Plains, Mid-Kansas Electric Company Receive Siting Approval For Their Portion Of The Elm Creek-Summit Transmission Line Project

Topeka, KS /PRNewswire/ - ITC Great Plains, LLC and Mid-Kansas Electric Company, LLC (Mid-Kansas) today received siting approval from the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) for their portion of the Elm Creek-to-Summit high-voltage electric transmission line project in north central Kansas.  

"The Elm Creek-to-Summit project will benefit residents and businesses in north 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 to helping Kansas 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."

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

"As a cooperatively operated company, Mid-Kansas continues to seek ways to serve our six member-owners that provide electricity to approximately 200,000 people in central and western Kansas," said Stuart Lowry, president and CEO of Mid-Kansas. "Through our partnership with ITC, the Elm Creek-to-Summit project will benefit our members and the region improving transmission reliability and facilitating the regional energy market."

In December 2012 following a routing study, ITC, Mid-Kansas and Westar presented several route alternatives to potentially affected landowners during community open house events in each county along the route. Input from landowners was analyzed, and certain route adjustments where feasible were made. ITC Great Plains and Mid-Kansas filed a route application with the KCC on May 3, 2013.

Right-of-way acquisition and engineering design are tentatively scheduled for 2013-2015, followed by construction in 2015 and 2016. The line will be energized shortly thereafter.

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 nearly 200 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, Mich., 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

About Mid-Kansas Electric Company, LLC
Mid-Kansas Electric Company LLC is a coalition of five rural electric cooperatives and one wholly owned subsidiary serving approximately 200,000 people through central and western Kansas. Mid-Kansas and ITC have collaborated on transmission projects since 2008, and in early 2012, an agreement was reached to further partnership for the continued growth of the transmission system in Kansas. (www.midkansaselectric.net)