Kan. Gov. Announces Deal On Transmission Lines

The KCC, whose staff help broker the deal, will have hearings in July to consider the proposal, which it could accept, reject or modify. KCC spokeswoman Abbie Hodgson said it probably will be late summer or early fall before a decision is made.

There's also the question of who pays for it. The Southwest Power Pool, based in Little Rock, Ark., the regional transmission organization for Kansas and surrounding states, will decide how the costs are recovered.

"In order for this line to be built or any transmission line that moves power to other states, we need others states who also are beneficiaries of that power to pay for part of that transmission," Parkinson said.

Last month, Parkinson signed a renewable energy bill that he had demanded from legislators as part of an agreement allowing construction of a coal-fired power plant near Holcomb in southwest Kansas.

That legislation requires that wind farms and other renewable sources must provide 20 percent of public utilities' electricity by 2020. It also has provisions to encourage conservation and consumers' use of small wind or solar generators for their household power needs.