The Nebraska Public Power District is looking to construct a 115 kilovolt transmission line to connect existing substations that serve the City of Scottsbluff.
Utility officials made presentations on the plan during Tuesday meetings of both the Scottsbluff County Board and Scottsbluff City Council.
NPPD Project Engineer Paul Brune explained the reasoning behind the new project that would connect substations near the NPPD Scottsbluff office and on Victory Hill. “Between those two, there’s only one path of flow. So, what we want to do, is build another path, kind of form a ring around the city so we have an additional path,” said Brune. “We have heavy flows from that system at times, and so we want to provide some more reliability and resiliency in our system, so that’s the reason we’re going to build it.”
Brune said transmission lines are envisioned to be similar to those constructed in 2015 that was routed from the Scottsbluff substation to the east of Gering before turning west near Sandberg Road. Those structures were primarily single steel poles, and Brune said while those would be more likely to be used in and near the community, double-pole wooden structures could be used on the selected route in the open countryside.
The process for a second line going on the south and west side of the city will start with open houses presenting all possible route options, to be held Sept. 27th at the Gering Civic Center, with a follow-up open house in November with a pared-down routing list.
Following public hearings and a final route announcement in early 2023, the easement acquisition would begin that summer, followed by construction and completion approximately two years later.
