by Evelyn Pyburn-Originally published in the print edition in the Yellowstone County News on 11/18/16.
LOCKWOOD — Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative (YVEC) is beginning construction of a new transmission line between Five Corners and Lockwood which, when completed, “will give us some amazing flexibility,” according Brandon Wittman, YVEC CEO/general manager.
The $2 million project involves building a 4.5 mile, 69 kilovolt transmission line that will allow the electric utility to continue service to Lockwood and other areas during outages.
“We will have some switching capabilities and operation capabilities between the two transmission substations on the system, that we don’t have now,” said Wittman. It will tie together areas south of Huntley and at Alkali Creek.
The line terminates at Pacific Steel, and will provide another feed to serve their power needs, but the increased capacity isn’t just for Pacific Steel, said Wittman.
Construction will involve installation of six or seven large poles in concrete foundations, and will be on-going throughout the winter and spring.