Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks (WARN)

Midwest Electric applied for infrastructure funding through the United States Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Research division organized a consortium of electric cooperatives to be able to apply for over $99 million in GRIP funding which will support more than $145 million worth of projects at 38 rural, not-for-profit electric cooperatives across the western United States.

NRECA Research’s Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks (WARN) consortium included Midwest’s request for $3 million in funding to rebuild our high-voltage transmission line from our Grant substation to our Red Willow Creek substation. The project aims to strengthen Midwest’s transmission grid using proven methods and advanced technologies, with the aim of reducing wildfires and enhancing wildfire and weather resilience.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office, Award Number DEGD0000885

Project Information

Project Description:

The Midwest Electric Cooperative Corporation will upgrade an existing 69-kV line that was damaged by a wildfire in 2022. Our 69-kV line is the backbone of our system that connects nine distribution substations to the bulk electric grid. It is nearly 50 years old and has begun showing signs of its age and needs to be replaced to maintain reliability and increase the resiliency of our system. Rebuilding the line will increase its resiliency to wind, ice, and other threats from nature. The existing line has long spans between poles that means each pole is supporting a long stretch of conductor that is battered by the wind and picks up ice loading in winter storms. The upgrade will include improved support structures and reconductoring to reduce line sag and resistance to wind and ice loading. These improvements will greatly reduce the likelihood of faults, the possibility of wildfire ignition and outages caused by ice accumulation and wind.

Project location:

Proposed project would rebuild electric transmission line from the 88-6 Grant substation to the 88-23 Red Willow Creek substation, roughly from Grant to Elsie, Nebraska.