Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) has begun a $42.5 million project to upgrade its electric transmission system serving McAlester City and the surrounding area to improve reliability and help meet customers’ growing energy demands.

The work to be performed includes building a new 345-kV/138-kV substation near the Indianola exit on the Indian Nation Turnpike, constructing a 138-kV transmission line from the new substation to the existing McAlester City substation, replacing an existing 138-kV line with two new ones, and more.

When the work is completed PSO will have doubled the number of its 138-kV transmission lines serving McAlester from two to four.  This will allow more power to flow on these lines and give PSO dispatchers greater flexibility in operating the system.

“This is a significant project for our community. It doubles PSO’s power supply to McAlester and the surrounding area to meet our growing demand for electricity now and for the future,” said Frank Phillips, PSO Community Affairs manager. “It also improves the reliability of PSO’s electric system and gives us much greater flexibility in operating the system.”

The most visible part of the project is a rebuilding of the 138-kV line on the north side of heavily traveled Electric Avenue. This line will run between the existing substation at PSO’s McAlester Operating Center and the new substation that will be built to the north of McAlester near the Indianola exit on the Indian Nation Turnpike.  PSO also is expanding its existing substation located at the operating center to accommodate the upgraded transmission system.

The new substation that will be built near the turnpike is currently going through the engineering and procurement phase.

All of the construction related to this transmission system upgrade project is targeted for completion by June 2013.

PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving more than 532,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  With headquarters in Tulsa, PSO has 4,308 megawatts of generating capacity and provides electricity to 232 cities and towns across a service area encompassing 30,000 square miles.  News releases and other information about PSO can be found on the World Wide Web at PSOklahoma.com.