Wauwatosa transmission line route finalized
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Wisconsin state energy regulators have finalized their action on a pair of Milwaukee County transmission lines that will cost $33.5 million.
The state Public Service Commission decided to permit a small stretch of the American Transmission Co. line to be built underground along and north of Watertown Plank Road, east of U.S. 45.
The commission earlier this month rejected calls to bury most of the two 138,000-volt lines that came from a diverse group that included We Energies, one of the parent companies of American Transmission, as well as municipal leaders in Wauwatosa and Milwaukee, St. Therese Church and Milwaukee Montessori School.
Though they had argued that burying the line made sense in such a congested urban area, the PSC decided that underground lines should be reserved for cases in which an above-ground line can’t be built for engineering reasons.
Selecting another route would shift millions of dollars of extra costs for underground lines to ratepayers in the ATC footprint far removed from the Milwaukee area, who would not benefit from a more aesthetically pleasing project area," the commission's decision says.
However, a small stretch of the line can be built underground to accommodate the reliability needs of the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, which is classified as a "Level 1" trauma center, the PSC decided.
Below is a map showing in dotted lines the stretch that will be allowed to be built underground. (This map has been updated to a mistake in the earlier version.)
Once the PSC’s final decision, voted on Wednesday, is published, Wauwatosa and others who sought to bury the lines must decide whether to pursue a legal challenge that they have said they were considering.
Alan Kesner, Wauwatosa's city attorney, said he will review the decision and the potential cost and success of a legal challenge, and that he would discuss the issue with a city Common Council committee on April 9.
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EnSync, Chinese partner team up on utility-scale energy storage
EnSync Energy Systems has shipped a utility-scale energy storage system to South Korea, the Menomonee Falls company said.
The 500-kilowatt-hour system incorporates enough battery power for four or more hours of discharge, using EnSync’s zinc bromide flow batteries as well as power electronics and converters.
Formerly known as ZBB Energy, EnSync is focused on smaller energy storage systems for commercial buildings such as projects it's built in Hawaii in recent years. But it's also been working on larger energy storage systems.
