Tipmont – Brookston Transmission Project

The proposed Tipmont-Brookston Transmission project includes a new 69 kV (kilovolt) transmission line to be built in northwest Indiana. The proposed project involves WVPA constructing a new 5-mile transmission line to connect the Tipmont Substation located on Highway 43 about 2.5 miles north of I-65) to the recently constructed Brookston Substation (located about a mile south of Highway 18 and 2 miles east of Highway 43). By linking these two substations the system will benefit from added load capacity by being able to handle more electricity as well as better reliability through redundancy (multiple feeds for each substation).

• Wabash Valley Power Alliance – Project owner
• Carroll White REMC – local electric cooperative and a member-owner of WVPA
• Tipmont REMC – Local electric cooperative and a member-owner of WVPA
• Emerald Energy – Easement acquisition agent

This project is necessary to promote grid reliability, relieve congestion to the energy grid, and meet local energy needs. This transmission line will ultimately energize 2 substations, energy is then served to homes and businesses throughout Tipmont REMC and Carroll White REMC service territories. This new line will create redundancy in the grid, meaning if a transmission line loses power, energy is more able to be rerouted along a different path and restored to the end user.

See the route here.

Connecting the new state-of-art Brookston Substation to the existing Tipmont Substation allows for redundancy, meaning power will get restored much more quickly in the event of an outage.

This project, and Carroll White REMC and Tipmont REMC’s involvement with it, will not result in a noticeable rate increase for cooperative members. This is because it is a part of the MISO grid, a network of transmission connections extending from Alberta to Louisiana through the mid-section of the USA. MISO absorbs the costs of this project in its overall transmission rate all utilities in its network pays. This results in an impact to rates that is measured in fractions of a penny.

Although several different structure types may be used, depending on the presence of existing infrastructure and site-specific conditions, the most common conceptual design employs galvanized steel single-pole structures directly embedded into the ground or bolted onto concrete foundations and supporting a single-circuit 69kV line with intermittent underbuilds of lower voltage distribution lines. Above the circuit will be one optical ground wire (OPGW). The wire will shield the conductors from lightning and provide a path for internal as well as third party communications. Structure heights are anticipated to range between 60 and 90 feet above ground and pole-to-pole spans are anticipated to be 200-300 feet in length, dependent upon terrain and the presence of electric distribution line(s) that may be underneath the transmission line.

The poles you may see along County Road 1100 in White County are part of the initial construction of the Brookston substation and will be used to connect that substation to the Tipmont Substation. However, no further construction will take place until all co-op member-owners agree to the project.