Kansas Utilities to Cooperate on Major High-Voltage Transmission Project

Mid-Kansas Electric Company, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation designate
ITC Great Plains to build Kansas V-Plan

HAYS, Kan., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mid-Kansas Electric Company
(Mid-Kansas) and Sunflower Electric Power Corporation (Sunflower) have reached
an agreement with ITC Great Plains LLC (ITC Great Plains) designating ITC
Great Plains to build two of the three sections that will comprise the
proposed Kansas V-Plan transmission project.
ITC Great Plains will build two sections of the Kansas V-Plan. The first
section is a transmission line from Spearville, Kan., to Comanche County,
Kan., and the second section is a transmission line from Comanche County to
Medicine Lodge, Kan. The V-Plan will be constructed at 765-kV if deemed
appropriate by Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP). Construction of the project
is subject to needed state certificate and siting approvals, the resolution of
cost recovery and cost allocation issues, and obtaining lender consent.
As part of the agreement, Mid-Kansas and Sunflower have offered Westar
Energy (Westar) an opportunity to build the third section of the Kansas
V-Plan, a transmission line that will run from Medicine Lodge to Sedgwick
County, Kan., terminating just outside Wichita, Kan. Westar operates a service
territory that overlaps portions of the third section. In the offer, Westar
would build a segment of the V-Plan outside their service territory. Should
Westar elect not to participate, ITC Great Plains is committed to building any
portion of the third section.
"We are committed to meeting the energy needs of our Members. This
agreement with ITC will assist us as we continue to achieve that goal," said
Earl Watkins, president and CEO of Mid-Kansas and Sunflower. "We are proud to
work with ITC in a project that will enhance the reliability and affordability
of energy to our Members and allow the import and export of energy, while
promoting further development of renewable resources, including wind, in
western Kansas and the entire region. We hope Westar will join in the
endeavor."
"This agreement is a revolutionary approach and a major milestone in the
quest to build a 21st-century transmission grid in Kansas," said Carl Huslig,
ITC Great Plains president. "ITC, Mid-Kansas, and Sunflower believe that
collaboration is an excellent model for building crucial infrastructure. The
winners will be Kansans, who will benefit from a robust transmission grid that
will increase reliability, lower costs, provide equal access to energy and
further wind energy development.
Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, a strong proponent of improving the
transmission system between eastern and western Kansas, and an organizer of
five annual transmission summits in Kansas, said, "I am pleased to see the
development of this essential transmission construction. These projects are
necessary to ensure not only that all Kansans have reliable energy, but also
that Kansas can export energy to meet national needs."
About the Kansas V-Plan
The Kansas V-Plan is a 180-mile high-voltage transmission line that will
run southeast from Spearville, Kan., to Comanche County, Kan., then toward
Medicine Lodge, Kan., and then northeast to terminate in Sedgwick County, just
outside Wichita, Kan. The V-Plan has been included in the Southwest Power
Pool's Transmission Expansion Plan and is the largest electric infrastructure
project to be proposed in Kansas in nearly 25 years.
About ITC Holdings Corp.
ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC) invests in the electricity transmission
grid to improve electric reliability, improve access to markets, and lower the
overall cost of delivered energy. ITC is the largest independent electricity
transmission company in the country. Through its subsidiaries, ITC
Transmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC (METC) and ITC
Midwest LLC, ITC operates regulated, high-voltage transmission systems in
Michigan's Lower Peninsula and portions of Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and
Missouri, serving a combined peak load in excess of 25,000 megawatts. ITC is
also focused on new areas where significant transmission system improvements
are needed such as Kansas and Oklahoma through subsidiaries ITC Grid
Development, ITC Great Plains and ITC Panhandle Transmission. For more
information, please visit: http://www.itc-holdings.com. (itc-ITC)
About ITC Great Plains
ITC Great Plains was formed in July 2006 as a subsidiary of ITC Grid
Development, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp. ITC Great Plains
is a transmission-only utility which seeks to build a more robust electric
transmission system so that every electric customer in SPP will have access to
reliable, non-discriminatory, competitive and low-cost energy. ITC Great
Plains was granted transmission-only utility status in Kansas and has a
utility status application pending in Oklahoma which provides the ability for
ITC Great Plains to own and operate a fully-regulated, high-voltage
transmission system that transmits electricity to local electricity
distribution facilities from generating stations throughout the SPP region.
ITC Great Plains is committed to working with all stakeholders to identify and
solve transmission issues throughout SPP.
About Mid-Kansas Electric Company LLC
Mid-Kansas Electric Company LLC is a coalition of six rural electric
cooperatives serving in 34 western Kansas counties who organized for the
purpose of acquiring the assets of Aquila's Kansas Electric Network. The
cooperatives also own Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, a generation and
transmission service provider, and they own other businesses that provide a
wide range of services including water supplies, satellite TV and Internet
access, wireless broadband Internet access, cellular telephone service,
commercial electrical services and propane delivery services.
About Sunflower Electric Power Corporation
Sunflower Electric Power Corporation is a regional wholesale power
supplier that operates a 1,257 MW system of wind, gas, and coal-based
generating plants and a 2,300-mile transmission system for the needs of its
six member cooperatives that serve more than 400,000 customers living in
central and western Kansas. Visit Sunflower's website at
http://www.sunflower.net.
Sunflower's member cooperatives include Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative,
Dighton; Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Ulysses; Prairie Land Electric
Cooperative, Norton; The Victory Electric Cooperative Association, Dodge City;
Western Cooperative Electric Association, WaKeeney; and Wheatland Electric
Cooperative, Scott City, Kan.
SOURCE ITC Holdings Corp.

Investors-Analysts, Pat Wenzel, +1-248-946-3570, pwenzel@itc-holdings.com; or
Media, Kimberly Gencur Svaty, +1-913-486-4446, kgencur@gencursvaty.com; or
Cheryl Eberwein, +1-248-767-1068, ceberwein@itctransco.com; or Cindy Hertel,
+1-785-623-3341, chertel@sunflower.net