Beleaguered by electric reliability problems, Appalachian Power is looking to reduce outages in Fayette County with two new transmission projects.
Appalachian Power’s Kincaid-area transmission line project will include building 15 miles of electric transmission line and two electric substations while upgrading existing substations, improvements the company has pledged will help reduce larger, community-sustained outages.
The utility’s Victor Substation project will result in the construction of 3 miles of electric transmission line, a new substation and the retirement of two substations, giving area customers a new power source and what the company says will be increased reliability.
Substations direct electricity flow and raise or lower voltage levels for transport.
Appalachian Power is hosting virtual open houses for both projects to collect input. Construction on the projects is to start in fall 2022.
Appalachian Power and fellow American Electric Power subsidiary Wheeling Power have failed to meet minimum targets approved by West Virginia utility regulators for the reliability of their electric power systems in recent years.
West Virginia topped the country in total power outages, and the percentage of outages, for most of the week following two rounds of ice storms amid a deep freeze that chilled much of the country in February, according to national outage trackers powered by Data Fusion Solutions and Bluefield Studios LLC, leaving West Virginians struggling to cook food and stay warm.
Reliability reports the West Virginia Public Service Commission requires utilities to file annually indicate that trees or other vegetation outside rights-of-way were the most common cause of outages for all the investor-owned utilities serving the state in 2020.
The Kincaid-area project will let crews retire 10 miles of transmission line, including deteriorating wooden poles and steel towers the company says were installed in 1913.
The existing line has experienced multiple power outages in recent years. Appalachian Power plans for the project to begin at an existing substation off Kingston Road in Kincaid, with upgrades traveling east and connecting to a new substation off Maple Road in Fayetteville. Segments will continue northeast toward an existing substation located near Route 19 in Fayetteville.
Crews will build the new 69-kilovolt transmission line using steel H-frame poles, lattice towers, single-pole structures and three-pole structures ranging from roughly 85 to 110 feet tall, with a right-of-way width of about 100 feet.
The company said the project will be in service by the end of 2024.
The Victor Substation project is planned to begin at a new substation off Route 60 in Victor and travel southwest, crossing Old Mill Creek Road and ending at a connection point with an existing transmission line.
Crews will build the line using single and double steel poles about 90 feet tall, with a right-of-way width of approximately 100 feet.
Appalachian Power predicts that the project will be in service by the end of 2023.
Project teams for Appalachian Power will rely on landowner input and additional field work to determine power-line routes designed to minimize effects on the community and environment, the company said.
The utility encouraged landowners to give their feedback on the projects by July 16.
The company will hold a virtual town hall for landowners near the Kincaid area project June 30.
Landowners within the project areas will receive a packet in the mail that includes project details and a comment card they can return with their feedback, the company said.
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