The project’s first milestone was the Trail of Tears Expansion Substation, which was energized in October 2023 with a compact three-bay breaker-and-a-half design that doubled system capacity within the existing yard footprint.

Photo by Burns & McDonnell

Five months later, the Wittenberg Substation went online atop a reclaimed hill inside a bat habitat buffer zone—its four-breaker ring bus configuration providing both operational flexibility and room for future expansion.

Connecting the two substations, a new 138-kV line crosses the Mississippi River on concrete monopoles designed to withstand flood conditions, with installation requiring helicopters, U.S. Coast Guard coordination and precise air-chair operations.

Delivering the project on schedule demanded careful coordination. Breaker and conductor lead times exceeded a year, so critical materials were prepurchased and stored off site to maintain momentum. When supply constraints could not be avoided, the team resequenced the schedule, bringing early voltage support from Trail of Tears while waiting for later-arriving Wittenberg equipment.

With portions of the route crossing protected wetlands and bat habitats, the project required an extensive array of federal, state and local permits. Close communication with those agencies meant every permit cleared early and impacts on the environment and natural habitats were mitigated successfully.