PRECorp prepares to construct new substation

Powder River Energy (PRECorp) is gearing up to construct a new substation and replace a power line in the Inyan Kara area.

The work, along with a second project that’s in the beginning stages right now, is intended to support Oneok Pipelines as they increase capacity on the two pipelines that run through the county.

Inyan Kara Substation

The upcoming project, known as the Inyan Kara Substation, is with the Wyoming Public Service Commission (PSC) for a decision on issuing a certificate of public convenience and necessity, which will allow construction to begin.

“We’ve had the public engagement, chosen the routing and acquired all the land rights along the corridor,” says Joe Roth, Vice President of Member Service.

“This will be the last permitting hurdle for us to move forward. That includes all of the environmental studies that were required. Since it’s a project that’s 69 kV or higher and greater than three miles, it goes through the PSC for their approval.”

The new 8.8 mile line and the substation will accommodate the new electric load of the Elk Creek Pipeline.

“This particular project is driven by Oneok and their need for power to their pumping station over there south of Sundance,” Roth says.

The market has rebounded, he says, “To where they need the additional pumping capacity.”

“Our understanding is that this is all to support their activities in the Bakken,” he says.

“It sounds like things are going good from producing oil in the Bakken, that seems to be strong and continues to grow from what we’re seeing, and this is a byproduct of that success.”

The origin for the new line will be the Bill Durfee Substation south of town.

“We will be rebuilding a lot of the infrastructure as we head down. It will be an existing distribution corridor, that distribution line follows Hwy 116 south to the Banks Road and then it will traverse Banks Road over to Hwy 585 and continue going south until you get to the pumping station,” Roth says.

The existing pumping station at the end of the route will then be expanded.

“It will be a transmission line built in an existing corridor, so we’re not expanding encumbrance upon the land,” he says.

As well as supporting the pipeline, Roth says the work will be beneficial for service in that area.

“The Banks Road distribution line has been a trouble spot for us for galloping and icing. We’re going to be able to have a chance to rebuild that chunk of line and hopefully create additional spacing between the phases and eliminate some of the outages that we’ve had seasonally with that stretch of road,” he says.

“We’ll be able to enhance some of that infrastructure there.”

If all goes well, passersby may start to see activity in the area by midsummer.

“Once we have [PSC] approval, we’re able to move forward with construction on this project. We’re hopeful that we’re able to start construction this summer, we’ve received a lot of materials for this project, and we’re hopeful to have it finished by June, 2025,” Roth says.

Members on the line are unlikely to see any impact aside from short outages when PRECorp is tying things over and cutting members over to the new line.

The project cost is estimated at $11.36 million, which will be funded by Oneok through a project development agreement.

Oak Creek Substation

A second project recently added to the books will be located near Aladdin.

“It’s much newer. It is [also] for Oneok,” Roth says.

“We have a 69 kV line that was built around when we put the substation in south of town. We built a line of about 33 miles that went to a location about three to five miles north of Aladdin. Oneok has a pumping station there. That project will be an expansion of a substation for Oneok for their pumping station there.”

The project will take place on Oneok-owned land and will have little impact on members, he says.

“We’ve still got to go through the design components,” he says. “We’ve received notification that they want to move forward with it and it will be very similar to the new sub that goes in at Inyan Kara…We’re hopeful that we can move it quickly,”

The project will be simpler, he adds, and will have a smaller impact.

“It’s very localized. We’ve got an existing substation we call our Oak Creek Substation up there and it’s really an expansion of that facility.”

Future Work

Although no additional projects are on the horizon, Roth mentions that PRECorp may in the near future be called upon to support the rare earth mine in the Bearlodge. Rare Element Resources may have additional power needs, he says if the pilot plant is successful and the mining aspect of the project moves ahead.