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Electric Transmission Tie Project in Progress

Transmission tie poles are currently being installed through the City of Volga to tie our two substations.

The project consists of constructing approximately 1.43 miles of a 69kV transmission line to connect to the city’s current west substation and east substation. The project will include placing a combination of steel, wood, and ductile-iron poles in public right-of-ways and existing utility easements from 1st Street, to Hansina Ave, to Highway 14, and then to Caspian Ave. Currently, the City receives electric power from two separate 69kV transmission lines.

One connects to the east substation and the other connects to the west substation. One 69kV line is located along Samara Ave/464th Ave and the other 69kV line is along Caspian Ave/465th Ave. Both lines travel approximately a mile to the north where they connect to another transmission line that connects to our power supplier. The east substation is located near South Dakota Soybean Processors and the west substation is located just northwest of the city’s street shop.

The project will do the following:
• Increase electric reliability and stability by tying together the City’s 2 substations.
• Allow the City to power down and maintain either substation by back feeding from the other substation to not disturb electric service to all users.
• Allow the City to fix current failing poles north of Caspian Ave by powering down the electric current on this line and back feeding from the other substation.
• Give the City an alternate method to back feed if a transmission pole or line were to break or be disturbed in a weather-related incident.

Why is the City of Volga installing overhead lines when all the other electric lines are underground?
What is currently underground are all distribution lines to serve homes and businesses at various (and lower) voltages. The overhead lines that are being installed are 69kV lines which contain much higher voltages of power and are extremely expensive to bury, harder to maintain, and harder to repair over time. The City of Volga has always had 69kV transmission lines serve the two substations and overhead lines are present along Caspian Ave and Samara Ave north of Highway 14.

For an aerial view of the project, please watch this video.