PSC approves $13 million OG&E line upgrade

The Arkansas Public Service Commission has approved a more than $13 million plan to build a 161KV electric transmission line and upgrade certain power facilities between Ozark and Clarksville.

Oklahoma City-based OG&E is working on an overall plan to boost the electric load and improve reliability in its Western Arkansas region. The PSC approved in 2009 an OG&E plan to upgrade the transmission line from 69 kV to 161 kV along a 10.7 mile stretch that begins near Charleston and runs to the Short Mountain substation near Paris. That project was estimated to cost $12.67 million.

The new $13.334 million project — including $827,538 in right-of-way costs — primarily includes the upgrade of an existing 26.3-mile transmission line connecting from Ozark, through Altus, Coal Hill, Hartman and on into the Little Spadra Creek substation near Clarksville (in Johnson County).

“The capacity of the existing transmission system in this area has reached its limit and there is no capacity available for additional growth or additional load without the conversion of this final phase of the area conversion to 161 kV,” OG&E noted in its request to the PSC.

To fully operate the line at 161KV, the right-of-way along the path must increase from 50 feet to 70 feet, according to the OG&E request. The upgrade also will require transformer changes at other substations along the route.

The only hitch in the plan was initial opposition from Arkansas Tech University. The university said a 2,400-foot segment of the expanded route would “negatively impact its Ozark campus” and proposed an alternative route.

Clark Cotten, PSC senior electrical engineer, said the alternative route would work and supported amending the OG&E route for the small segment. The PSC approved the amendment in its Aug. 11 ruling.

Project construction was originally estimated to begin in May with full service on the line expected by February 2011.

Oklahoma City-based OG&E has approximately 776,500 customers, with 64,700 in Arkansas. The company has 11 power plants and also purchases power to feed an electric transmission system that covers 30,000 square miles.