Coolville LoopTransmission Improvements Project

The Coolville Loop Transmission Line Improvements Project involves:

• Building Guysville Substation east of Guysville on Route 329.
• Upgrading Coolville Substation located off Old State Road south of U.S. Route 50 in Coolville.
• Building about 20 miles* of 69-kilovolt (kV) power line.
• Rebuilding about 12 miles* of 69-kV power line.
• Retiring about 8 miles of deteriorating transmission facilities.

*Mileage depends on proposed final line route determination.

These area transmission improvements are critical to providing reliable power to customers in Athens and Meigs counties. In the last five years, area customers have experienced almost four million minutes of power interruptions due to outages along the single power line that serves this area. Building a new power line and rebuilding a section of another nearby power line allows more operational flexibility when outages occur. In case of an outage on the existing line, the new line can continue to serve customers. Without these improvements, over the next several years the area's power demand could exceed the existing local power system's operational capacity, resulting in larger and longer area-wide power outages. The additional power source also allows for the retirement of about 8 miles of deteriorating transmission facilities. A stronger transmission grid benefits the local distribution companies and cooperatives, such as Buckeye Rural, who receive power from the transmission lines.

Company representatives plan to evaluate route options for the new power line and short sections of the existing power line. Route options are multiple alternatives presented to determine a line route. Company representatives do not build all route options. Rather, they select one route to build based on public feedback and feasibility.

Spring 2024: AEP Ohio representatives are working to determine a proposed line route. The project team is currently reviewing input from landowners and expects to select a final line route later this spring.