In September, work began on the first of two projects that Central Wisconsin Electric Cooperative (CWEC) was awarded grant funds for. 

CWEC had originally applied for grant funding in February 2024. It was later informed that it had been awarded almost $1.3 million in grant funds. The funds were available as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, also known as the bi-partisan infrastructure law.

Once CWEC received the green light in late September to start work on the grant projects, CWEC proceeded to begin the project of converting 2.5 miles of overhead lines to a three-phase underground line along Fairview Road in the townships of Bartelme and Almon in Shawano County. This line feeds the Stockbridge-Munsee Community.

By converting this line from overhead to underground, it will make the infrastructure more resilient to natural hazards. This will help prevent long power outages in the Stockbridge-Munsee area like the long outage in 2022 after a tornado hit the area.

The co-op received slightly more than $400,000 in grant funds for this project. 

Once that project is completed, the co-op will begin the second project that it was awarded grant funds for. This project, which the co-op received almost $900,000 in grant funds for, will provide a tie-in between CWEC’s Wittenberg and Groenier substations. The tie-in will give the co-op another tie-in option, as well as the opportunity to back feed electricity. This will mean less time co-op members serviced by those substations will be out of power when there are power outages.  

CWEC is happy to get these projects started and looks forward to completing them for the co-op’s members.