Cherry-Todd Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CTEC)
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office, Award Number DE-GD0000885.
Community Partnership Team (CPT)
As part of this Project, CTEC will form a CPT made up of stakeholders in the local communities that will be affected by their wildfire mitigation project. The CPT will advise CTEC throughout the project, participating in virtual and in-person meetings and providing feedback to ensure that community interests are incorporated into the project. CPT members will also have the opportunity to raise any concerns about the plan's impact and identify other potential grid-related wildfire threats.
Grid Update Plan
(Coming soon)
Kickoff Meeting Agenda
- Time/Date: 6:30 PM, January 14
- Location: Grass Mountain Community Hall, 28981 BIA 5, St. Francis, SD, 57572
- CPT members will be selected in the near future, sometime after the kickoff meeting
- See the proposed meeting agenda in the table below
| Meeting Agenda | Description |
|---|---|
| Welcome/Introduction | Information sharing |
| Purpose of Meeting | Briefly describe the meeting objectives, and Community Benefits Plan overview and objectives |
| Overview of the Proposed Project | WARN Project overview. Co-op-specific project overview |
| Impact on the System Resilience | Describe the improvements in the system and the impact of the outage |
| Year 1 tasks outline and time frame | Describe Year 1 tasks including project plans for Years 2 and 3 |
| Feedback | To be solicited at kickoff meeting |
Consortium Member Information
Cherry-Todd Electric Cooperative (CTEC) provides safe, reliable and affordable energy and services that improve the quality of life for our members and their communities. Founded in 1948, CTEC serves 3,275 members in Southwestern South Dakota, in the counties of Mellette and Todd and Cherry County in Nebraska. CTEC’s peak demand is 38 MW, with 2,399 miles of energized power lines, and 22 employees.
Cherry-Todd Electric Cooperative is a member of a consortium of 38 electric co-ops and other rural utilities selected to receive federal funding through the Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks project or WARN. WARN projects will modernize and strengthen our nation’s electric grid, protecting customers’ access to electricity during wildfires and mitigating the risk of wildfires due to our nation’s aging transmission and distribution infrastructure.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office, Award Number DE-GD0000885.
Project Description
CTEC has proposed to replace overhead powerlines with underground lines in Todd County, near the town of St. Francis. This project will eliminate wildfire risks inherent for overhead power line conductor and overhead recloser operations. The estimated project cost including ditching, labor and materials is around $1.1 million dollars.
Benefits
Undergrounding powerlines makes the electric system safer, stronger, more reliable, and more affordable. This project will prevent wildfires caused by powerlines or equipment. It also significantly hardens the system to protect it from wildfire caused by natural or human factors in this area.
Communities and Consumers Impacted
The project area is located slightly northwest of St. Francis, South Dakota, along BIA Roads 501 and 5. The project would underground 15 miles of line to reduce the risk of wildfire.
Per the 2020 United States Census, St. Francis’s population is 469. The area includes residential homes.
Community Benefits Plan
(Coming soon)
Timeline
The project will take approximately 2 years, with construction broken up into four stages to be completed in the months of April through November in consecutive years.
- Design: 3-6 months
- Permitting: Overhead easements will be replaced with underground easements.
- Construction: April – November 2026-2027. Undergrounding a distribution line along the road will require some level of traffic control, and the operation of large excavation equipment along with maneuvering large reels of primary cable. Some disruption to traffic flow is inevitable.
- Operation: Moving overhead electrical systems to underground includes converting overhead services to underground services requiring utility line workers and operations personnel.
Contact for More Information
Additional questions should be directed to:
Chris Rahn
Member Services Manager
605-856-4416
crahn@cherry-todd.com
Project Map
