American Transmission Co. projects

Project website for a Wisconsin-based company that owns and operates the high-voltage electric transmission system that powers communities in portions of the Upper Midwest.

Transmission project interconnecting 300-megawatt solar facility earns regulatory approval from PSCW

As ATC integrates more renewable energy generation within our service area, the electric transmission system continues to provide a vital connection between renewable energy producers and electric consumers. We recently earned state regulatory approval from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to construct electric transmission facilities that will interconnect with Wisconsin’s largest renewable energy generation facility to date within our service area – the 300 megawatt (MW) Badger Hollow Solar Park in Iowa County, Wis.

“ATC’s Badger Hollow Network Upgrades Project will provide the necessary high-voltage electric interconnection to transport the forthcoming clean energy from the Badger Hollow Solar Park onto the grid,” said Nick Hanold, ATC senior project manager.

Components of ATC’s project include expanding the Highland Substation in the town of Eden, Wis., constructing a new double-circuit 69,000-volt transmission and modifying existing transmission line structures in the region for required uprating. At an estimated cost of $15.6 million, construction will begin in August 2021 and is anticipated to be complete by the end of the year.

The Badger Hollow Solar Park is projected to come online in two phases: Badger Hollow I at 150MW with an anticipated Commercial Operation Date in 2021, and Badger Hollow II for the remaining 150MW with a COD by the end of 2022. Generation from Badger Hollow I will interconnect to the transmission system to the Highland Substation through buildouts ATC completed in August 2020.

Among the Midwest’s largest solar facilities, the Badger Hollow Solar Park is jointly owned by WEC Energy Group utilities We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS), as well as Madison Gas and Electric (MGE). Each utility will own 100 MW of the energy produced. The facility is being developed by Chicago-based Invenergy.