WARN Project - West Central Electric Cooperative | Rushmore Electric Power Cooperative

Our WARN Project

West Central Electric Cooperative joined a consortium of 37 electric co-ops and other rural utilities selected to receive federal funding through the Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks project, or “WARN.”

WCEC has proposed replacing overhead powerlines with underground lines in Haakon County, north of Philip. This project will eliminate wildfire risks inherent in overhead power line conductors and overhead recloser operations. The estimated project cost, including ditching, labor, and materials, is $1,320,000.

WCEC has also proposed to replace overhead powerlines with underground lines in Haakon and Jackson Counties, south of Philip. This project will eliminate wildfire risks inherent for overhead power line conductor and overhead recloser operations. The estimated project cost including ditching, labor and materials is $1,449,055.

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West Central Electric Cooperative provides safe, reliable and affordable energy and services that improve the quality of life for our members and their communities. Founded in 1949, WCEC serves more than 3,700 members in Central South Dakota, in the counties of Haakon, Jackson, Jones, Lyman and Stanley. WCEC’s peak demand is 40 MW, with 4,022 miles of energized power lines, and 29 employees.

WCEC is a member of a consortium of 37 electric co-ops and other rural utilities selected to receive federal funding through the Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks project, or “WARN.”

WCEC has proposed to replace overhead powerlines with underground lines in Haakon and Jackson Counties, south of Philip. This project will eliminate wildfire risks inherent for overhead power line conductor and overhead recloser operations. The estimated project cost including ditching, labor and materials is $1,449,055.

WCEC has proposed additional work to replace overhead powerlines with underground lines in Haakon County, north of Philip. This project will eliminate wildfire risks inherent in overhead power line conductors and overhead recloser operations. The estimated project cost, including ditching, labor, and materials, is $1,320,000.

The project area is located near Philip, South Dakota, south of US Highway 14. The project would underground 8 miles of line to reduce the risk of wildfire. Approximately 154 power poles would be removed (8 miles, approximately 275 feet between poles). All overhead fuses in these areas would also be removed.

The project's additional work is located 2.5 miles north of Philip, South Dakota. The project would underground 9 miles of line to reduce the risk of wildfire. Approximately 173 power poles would be removed (9 miles, approximately 275 feet between poles). All overhead fuses in these areas would also be removed.

The conversion will enhance system reliability, safety, and aesthetics. The scope of work includes trench excavation, conduit installation, cable pulling, splicing, and termination at designated transformer and service points. Existing poles, the overhead conductor, and associated overhead equipment will be removed upon completion of the underground installation.

The new underground system will maintain the same voltage class and service area while being designed and constructed in accordance with IEEE, RUS, and NESC standards. Protective equipment such as pad-mounted transformers, switchgear, and junction cabinets will be installed to improve reliability, sectionalizing capability, and operational flexibility.

Construction activities will be performed in compliance with utility specifications, applicable environmental regulations, and best management practices to minimize soil disturbance, erosion, and other environmental impacts.

Undergrounding will reduce visual impacts, minimize vegetation clearance needs, and lower environmental disturbance in sensitive habitats. The underground configuration will improve system resilience against wind, ice, and storm-related outages while reducing long-term vegetation management requirements. By eliminating the overhead conductor and removing reclosers and fuses from overhead power lines, the project will significantly reduce the potential for utility-caused wildfire ignition and enhance public safety.

The project will be coordinated with local jurisdictions, agencies, and property owners to minimize disruptions during construction. Upon completion, the underground facilities will undergo inspection, testing, and commissioning to verify compliance with all applicable standards and ensure long-term operational performance.

Per the 2020 United States Census, Philip’s population is 759.

Cloudfire Inc. performed an independent wildfire risk analysis for the entire service area of West Central Electric Cooperative. This risk analysis first identifies the risk of igniting a fire along the utility’s lines. This is determined by considering historic weather conditions, vegetation and wildfire fuels, geological features, and various other factors. For each possible ignition, several thousand potential fires are simulated. These simulations are used to compute the cost of damage to structures from the resulting wildfires, and potential damage to utility infrastructure that might exacerbate conditions. The final wildfire risk determination models a combination of the probability of igniting a wildfire, and the extent of damage that could potentially be caused by the wildfire. The risk areas are provided as a color mapping over the utility’s service area. This can be used to determine the critical areas for wildfire hardening that will serve the best returns on investment.

This document highlights the WARN subproject of WCEC in relation to the wildfire risk map described above, and how the Grid Upgrade Plan addresses these risks.

After Cloudfire Inc. provided the risk map data, we identified the highest areas of importance within our service territory:

The south-central region of our service area near Interstate 90
The area north of Philip, South Dakota

This proposed Grid Upgrade Plan includes the following area identified by Cloudfire’s model:

Our distribution power line located 2.5 miles north of Philip, South Dakota (~25 percent utility wildfire risk)
Our distribution power line located south of Philip, South Dakota, south of US Highway 14 (~25 percent utility wildfire risk)

In addition to Cloudfire’s assessment, our project addresses the following important considerations that formed the basis for our proposal:

WCEC provides retail electric service to rural homes and businesses in Haakon, Jackson, Jones, Lyman, and Stanley Counties. This includes acres of rural farmland, where farmers rely heavily on our electric service for agricultural production. Currently, FEMA grades our service area’s wildfire risk lower than usual, but that’s somewhat misleading. In the spring and summer of 2025, we received significant rainfall, lowering our FEMA Wildfire Risk Index percentiles compared to past years. Although the precipitation provides a welcome reprieve from recent drought conditions, we expect our wildfire risk to increase sooner rather than later.

Our WARN project involves undergrounding a section of the power line near Philip, South Dakota, south of US Highway 14, which contains grid components between 33 and 74 years old. Undergrounding at this site will reduce significant wildfire risk and electric reliability concerns.

Based on these considerations, we have proposed this Grid Upgrade Plan to best serve our members and secure the most value for our investment.

From the above analysis, it is clear that this project areas present a significant concern for wildfires. Our Grid Upgrade Plan addresses these risks by:

Undergrounding the power lines and removing the existing overhead power lines

The project will take approximately 2 years, with construction broken up into four stages to be completed in the months of April through November in consecutive years.

Design:3-6 months
Permitting: Overhead easements will be replaced with underground easements.
Construction: April – November 2026-2027. Undergrounding a distribution line along the road will require some level of traffic control, and the operation of large excavation equipment along with maneuvering large reels of primary cable. Some disruption to traffic flow is inevitable.
Operation: Moving overhead electrical systems to underground includes converting overhead services to underground services requiring utility line workers and operations personnel.

At 1 PM, on 01/15/25, at 100 S. Larimer Avenue in Philip, South Dakota (the Ambulance Service), WCEC hosted a kickoff meeting to introduce the project to interested community members. WCEC noticed the meeting on its website and in the Pioneer Review. Thirteen people attended the kickoff meeting, reviewing the project’s objectives, its funding (partially federally funded), construction location (large project construction site map), construction timeline, and anticipated benefits. Attendees expressed support for the project and had no negative feedback or requested project changes. One attendee asked about WCEC’s practices about informing consumers about the location of underground power lines.

Our WARN Project

Project Area Maps

North of Philip

South of Philip

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Consortium member information

Project description

Technical specifications and communities & consumers impacted

Wildfire risk analysis

Benefits

Timeline

Consumer feedback

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