The Michigan Public Service Commission today granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a 138-kilovolt transmission line from the Holmes Substation in Menominee County to the Old Mead Substation in Delta County. This is ATC's first CPCN application and approval in Michigan.
In issuing its order, the MPSC selected ATC’s proposed route. The 58-mile line will make maximum use of co-location opportunities, placing the new facilities on existing transmission line or other rights-of-way. The western half will share a corridor with an existing transmission line; the eastern half will share an abandoned railroad corridor currently owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation and managed by the Department of Natural Resources. In exchange for sharing the corridor, ATC proposes to develop a 10-foot-wide multi-purpose recreational trail.
“The new transmission line is intended to improve electric reliability significantly in the Upper Peninsula,” said MPSC Chairman John D. Quackenbush. “The settlement agreement approved today enabled the MPSC to decide this case nine months in advance of the one-year statutory deadline, enhancing ATC’s ability to bring needed improvements to the Upper Peninsula.”
