A message from Western Area Power Administration
By Gayle Nansel, Senior Vice President and Upper Great Plains Regional Manager (Acting)
Each year, Western Area Power Administration appreciates the opportunity to update Mor-Gran-Sou Electric Cooperatives’ members on the work underway across WAPA’s Upper Great Plains (UGP) region. As many of you know, this past year marked a transition in leadership with the retirement of our senior vice president and UGP regional manager, Lloyd Linke. Lloyd served in the electric industry for more than three decades, and led UGP with deep technical knowledge, a steady hand and a genuine commitment to public service. His experience across maintenance, operations, marketing and federal hydropower was unparalleled, and UGP is stronger today because of the foundation he built. I am grateful for his guidance and am honored to continue our mission alongside the dedicated teams who keep this region’s power system operating safely and reliably.
This past year has been one of significant progress across the UGP footprint. The largest milestone came on April 1 when WAPA expanded its participation in the Southwest Power Pool Regional (SPP) Transmission Organization. For the first time, SPP now operates in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections. With WAPA’s Colorado River Storage Project, Rocky Mountain region and UGP western-side facilities joining the new SPP West Balancing Authority, WAPA added approximately 5,700 circuit‑miles of transmission to the RTO’s footprint. This builds on our participation in SPP since 2015, when UGP’s east-side facilities joined the RTO.
This expansion strengthens the regional grid and provides greater coordination across utilities spanning 17 states. Integrating UGP further into the SPP marketplace improves reliability, enhances regional planning and expands access to energy markets, all of which directly support the communities we serve. These improvements reflect the strong partnership between WAPA, our customers and fellow utilities who participated in this transition. Together, we are building a more resilient and flexible grid to meet evolving power demands.
Of course, operating and maintaining one of the nation’s largest transmission systems requires continuous investment. Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, the composite rate for energy produced by the eight Missouri River hydropower dams in UGP, known collectively as the Pick‑Sloan Missouri Basin Program—Eastern Division, increased by about six percent, from 30 mills/kilowatt-hour to 31.87 mills/kWh. This adjustment reflects increases in forecasted expenses, rising equipment and labor costs, and the need for capital investments to upgrade aging infrastructure. Like many utilities, WAPA has experienced higher purchase-power costs due to drought, extreme weather and market conditions, which all influence annual rate-setting. Even so, today’s rate remains below levels seen from 2010 through 2017, when hydrological conditions drove costs significantly higher. Our commitment remains the same: to set the lowest possible rates consistent with sound business principles while ensuring the long‑term value and reliability of federal hydropower.
Another major focus for UGP is addressing the growing infrastructure needs across the region. WAPA’s transmission facilities are part of SPP’s Integrated Transmission Planning (ITP) process, which identifies system needs and assigns network upgrades to transmission owners. UGP has accepted multiple Notifications to Construct (NTCs) from both the 2024 and 2025 planning cycles. Among the largest projects is a new 439‑mile, 345‑kilovolt transmission line stretching from Belfield to Maurine to New Underwood and on to Laramie River. This line will address extra‑high‑voltage deficiencies and deliver major economic benefits across the Dakotas and western Nebraska. Another key project is the new 230‑kV Dawson County–Williston line, which will reduce congestion and strengthen reliability across eastern Montana and western North Dakota.
The 2025 ITP study also anticipates upgrades including a new Belfield–Roundup 345‑kV line to address thermal overloads and a new 345/230‑kV transformer at Fort Thompson to support north‑south transfers. These are substantial investments in a system that serves rural and urban communities alike, ensuring resilience for decades to come. UGP will be part of these and other 2024/2025 ITP projects through the acceptance of NTCs where it interconnects to our existing infrastructure. UGP continues to ensure that with the expansion of the grid, WAPA can maintain system reliability and therefore continue to deliver our resources to our customers.
In addition to major transmission upgrades, our maintenance crews continue essential replacement and rebuild work across our six-state region. This includes breaker replacements, substation equipment modernization, line rebuilds and the Crossover Series Reactor Project, which was placed in service on March 25, 2026.
This year also brought significant weather challenges across the region – a reminder that the grid is a living system, constantly tested by the elements. In December, high winds in Montana triggered multiple outages across several transmission paths, darkening communities from Great Falls to Shelby. Our crews and dispatchers worked swiftly to reroute power, restore service to impacted customers and stabilize the system under rapidly changing conditions.
Winter Storm Fern added further stress in January, bringing extreme cold, heavy ice and outages in neighboring distribution utilities. Thanks to strong coordination across SPP, generation and transmission remained stable across the region. While local outages persisted for some customers, the broader grid stayed resilient, and UGP crews continued working through dangerous, subzero conditions to maintain reliability across WAPA’s transmission system.
Across all these challenges and milestones, one theme stands out: partnership. Whether integrating into new markets, navigating rate pressures, building critical transmission or responding to storms, success comes from the close collaboration between WAPA and our customers, including Mor-Gran-Sou Electric. As we look toward the summer months ahead, I remain committed to strengthening these relationships and ensuring that federal hydropower continues delivering reliable, cost‑based value to the communities we serve.