Xcel Energy's SPS Unit Starts 345KV Texas-To-Kansas Line

The 230-mile, $70 million line, with the capacity to transmit up to 400 megawatts of power, began commercial service Sunday, SPS said. The line runs from Amarillo, Texas, to Holcomb, Kansas.

"This new line significantly improves SPS's ability to respond to emergency power-supply situations," Gary Gibson, president of SPS, said in a release. "It also allows Southwestern to purchase or sell electricity in wholesale power markets."

The new line boosts opportunities for out-of-state generators to move power to other electricity suppliers in SPS's Texas/New Mexico/Oklahoma/Kansas region, the company said.

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy wants to eventually extend the line 100 miles into Colorado, into the service territory of its utility unit Public Service Co. of Colorado.