Introduction

The changing landscape of the energy industry requires an understanding of all grid functions, not just connecting power plants to communities.

For several years, we have been discussing evolving energy markets, the need for regional planning to provide economic benefits, and the ways technology and public policy are challenging and changing the way we plan and operate the grid. New variables enter into consideration each year. Consequently, industry dynamics require an ever-expanding view and understanding of all the benefits of a strong transmission grid.

We continue to work with stakeholders when considering such traditional planning elements as changes in load, usage and possible generator retirements. Load on our system varies significantly across our service area; while load growth has slowed in recent years, our plans must account for differing needs driven by geography, population, energy-intensive industries, changes in the general economy and other variables.

Such is the case with our Bay Lake Project – a combination of new 138-kV and 345-kV lines in the northern part of our service area. The lines are designed to address a delicate, shifting balance between generation, load and transmission. A large percentage of load in that portion of our system runs nearly continuously, making it difficult to schedule maintenance outages for transmission system components. When maintenance is performed while the system operates at near-capacity, the risk of losing service to customers is higher.

At the southern end of our system, transmission congestion has often prevented our customers from buying and selling the most economic power available in the region. The Pleasant Prairie‑Zion Energy Center line, our first Midcontinent Independent System Operator-approved Multi‑Value Project, was placed into service late last year and began providing benefits immediately. In fact, earlier this year, one of the Wisconsin utilities announced plans to return money to its customers as a result of increased sales to other utilities. We believe that this new MVP line was an important factor that reduced congestion, helping the sales increase.

We continue to be challenged by significant changes in generation. Some generators have retired, others have announced retirements and we have added new generation to the system. The changing mix and location of these generators require us to work closely with the generator owners, MISO and other stakeholders to determine how we will continue to provide reliable service with these changes.

High-profile events such as acts of terrorism and vandalism have placed increasing emphasis on physical and cyber security measures. A new mandatory Critical Infrastructure Protection standard is expected to be issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission soon. We have launched a targeted, 10-year program to enhance security at many of our substations based on a risk methodology that assessed our threats and vulnerabilities. We also are involved in industry discussions to address additional ways to maintain the safety and security of the electrical grid.

The 2014 Assessment covers the years 2014 to 2023 and indicates a need for $3.3 billion to $3.9 billion in transmission system improvements.

The planning zone summaries included in this report detail some of the specific projects identified to improve reliability, access to the market and renewable energy resources. A more comprehensive listing of these projects is available at www.atc10yearplan.com

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Specific Network Projects	$1.0B	$1.0B	$1.9	$1.2B	$1.4B
Regional Multi-Value Projects	$0.7B	$0.7B	$0.8	$0.5B	$0.5B
Asset Maintenance	$0.7B	$1.0B	$1.1	$1.1B	$1.2B
Other Capital Categories	$1.0B	$1.1B/$1.7B	$0.1B/$1.0B	$0.2B/$0.8B	$0.2B/$0.8B
Total 10-Year Capital Cost	$3.4B	$3.8B/$4.4B	$3.9B/$4.8B	$3.0B/$3.6B	$3.3B/$3.9B

The planning zone summaries included in this report detail specific projects identified to improve reliability, access to the market and renewable energy resources.