How many Direct Current ties are there and does Western operate any?
There are six DC ties connecting the Western Interconnection and the Eastern Interconnection in the United States and one additional DC tie in Canada. Western is associated with four of them. Western owns and operates the Virginia Smith (Sidney, Neb.) DC tie; owns 60 percent of the Miles City DC (Mont.) tie and operates it; and operates the David A. Hamil DC Tie Stegall (Neb.) DC tie (owned by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Cooperative.) Western also operates the back-to-back DC Converter Station project in Rapid City, S.D., owned by Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Black Hills Power and Light. The station can transfer up to 200 MW or power between the Western Electricity Coordinating Council in the Western Interconnection and the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool in the Eastern Interconnection. The other two U.S. ties are Public Service Company of New Mexico ‘s Blackwater N.M., DC tie and the El Paso Electric and Texas-New Mexico Power Company’s Artesia, N.M., DC tie. Xcel Ener
