The City of Waterville, Kansas, in cooperation with KPP Energy, announced the completion of a significant infrastructure project at the Waterville Substation, KPP Energy reported in the latest issue of its Lightning Round newsletter.
“This infrastructure investment represents the City’s commitment to enhancing service reliability and operational efficiency for the City of Waterville and its citizens,” the newsletter article noted.
In the spring of 2020, following routine testing, Evergy identified a need to replace the 40-year-old 34.5/4 kV transformer in the Evergy Waterville substation.
Evergy decided that, given the age of the transformer and substation, that it would need to rebuild the entire substation.
The cost of this project, as proposed by Evergy was estimated to be around $700,000 (in 2020 dollars) and was estimated to increase the monthly wholesale distribution charge for Waterville from $310 to around $8,000.
KPP Energy staff worked with contractor Electricomm to develop an alternative solution that would be owned and operated by the City of Waterville.
In October 2020, Electricomm and KPP Energy entered into an agreement to construct a new substation for the City of Waterville at an estimated cost of $520,000.
The new substation design consists of pad mounted construction. Unlike the 40-year-old substation it replaces, the pad mounted construction provides less exposure to the elements and wildlife.
The cost of the substation takes advantage of a tax-free KPP bond issue on behalf of Waterville. As expected, with inflation since that time and delays from material procurement issues, the final cost is greater than the original estimate.
However, the overall Waterville monthly payments are expected to be around $3,500 a month, significantly less than the 2020 Evergy cost estimate, and certainly less that the final cost and charges that would have been expected with the Evergy built and owned project.
On June 13, the substation was energized. Estimating the expected inflation of the Evergy proposal and their current Evergy wholesale distribution service charge structure, the advantageous financing and lower cost project will allow Waterville to save at least $5,000/month.
KPP’s long-term agreement with the City of Waterville, as one of its 24 member cities, enables the agency to make long-term investments in generation and transmission assets that benefit the community.
“This project is a great example of the opportunities that small communities have to make significant reliability improvements and save money through local leadership and vision in partnership with KPP,” said Larry Holloway, KPP Assistant General Manager- Operations.
