APCO's Transmission Project Nearing Completion

Appalachian Power is nearing completion of a major electric transmission interconnection project in southern West Virginia. Workers have finished putting up the 333 towers for the utility's 90-mile power transmission line running between West Virginia and Virginia. The 765-kilovolt line starts in Oceana in Wyoming County and travels south through McDowell County to Jackson’s Ferry in Wythe County, Va. The $289 million line spans 33 miles in West Virginia.

The first phase of the new 765-kilovolt line was built in Culloden to Oceana in 1981. Appalachian Power proposed building the rest of it in 1990 as a way to address the growing customer demand in its West Virginia and Virginia service area. Peak customer demands have more than doubled since the last major transmission line to serve the area was put into service in 1973, according to the company. By the time the new line is energized, company officials predict peak demand will be nearly triple the 1973 load. The company’s transmission lines have evolved from 88-kilovolt lines built in the 1930s and 1940s, through the 345-kilovolt lines and then one 765-kilovolt line that was completed in a half-circle through Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia in 1973. The Wyoming-Jackson’s Ferry station line completes the 765-kilovolt circle.