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Xcel Energy begins construction of transmission lines through Kiowa County.

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Xcel Energy began setting transmission line poles March 5 in northern Kiowa County in Segment 3 construction. Kiowa County Commissioners Mike Lening, Howard “Butch” Robertson, and administrator Tina Adamson were on hand to watch the first pole to be erected.

The construction project is part of a $1.7 billion investment by Xcel to improve the state’s electric grid and enable future renewable energy development. 

Group of construction workers and a crane setting a power pole in a field.

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Photo courtesy Tina Adamson.

The transmission lines in Kiowa County will connect the Goose Creek Substation in Cheyenne County to May Valley Substation, and are projected to be in service in 2025.

Segment 4, set for construction beginning in 2025, will construct a transmission line from May Valley Substation to Sandstone Substation in Crowley County and, in 2027, to the Tundra Substation in Pueblo County.

In January, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission did not approve the construction of the May Valley-Longhorn extension and Longhorn Substation located in Baca County. That project for now has been put on pause.

Kiowa County energy