Columbia public hearing set for transmission line project

The Columbia City Council is preparing to hear from concerned residents about options for a future electric substation and transmission line route. This comes after blowback from many residents who are unhappy with the current route running through their neighborhood.

Columbia Water and Light has been planning the project since 2007. In November, the City Council put a stop to it, asking the Water and Light Department to look at different options.

On Tuesday, the council will consider those options in what’s expected to be a controversial and packed public hearing.

“Transmission lines are not popular. We knew that going into that — that’s why we’ve held so many interested parties meetings beyond what city requires through their public improvement process,” said Connie Kacprowicz with the Columbia Water and Light department.

The city has already spent around $7 million on option “A.” The transmission lines would run along Scott Boulevard, Vawter School Road and Nifong Boulevard among others.

“What option ‘A’ allows us to do is add more 161 kilovolt lines. That means that with doing that we will unload some of the the load on our existing substations that are past the capacity that we like them to be,” said Kacprowicz.

Council members will also consider a “B” option that would move the lines around much of the city, but Columbia Water and Light wants to move ahead with option “A.”

Engineers said it satisfies federal reliability mandates by lowering the chance of a cascading power outage. Option “A” is also a longer term solution and more capable of supporting electric load growth.

“Option ‘A’ will last until around 2045, where option “B” will not last that long. We’re looking at more like 2020 before we have to start making improvements again,” said Kacprowicz.

Officials said the city will lose around $3 million if they switch from option “A” to option “B” because they’ve already invested in the planning of the project. Switching options would also push the completion date back two to three years.

The City Council will hold the special public hearing next Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.