Jul. 5--Behind every graceful wind farm generating power stands the decidedly less-glamorous high-voltage lines transporting it.

The two go hand in hand. Without a more robust electrical grid, wind-driven energy in America won't happen, say experts.

For Kansas and other states of the windy, sparsely populated High Plains, it means utilities will spend billions of dollars to build high-voltage lines.

Last month, Prairie Wind Transmission and ITC Great Plains agreed to split a project to build a 200-mile-long 765-kilovolt line that links western Kansas with Wichita and lines from Nebraska and Oklahoma.

The two competed against each other before agreeing to each take half of the project after the state strongly encouraged them to reach a compromise.

Prairie Wind is a partnership of Westar Energy and Electric Transmission America -- a joint venture of subsidiaries of American Electric Power and MidAmerican Energy Holdings. ITC Great Plains of Topeka is a subsidiary of ITC Holdings, which is based in Michigan.

The lines must first get approval from the Kansas Corporation Commission and the Southwest Power Pool, before they are built. The Southwest Power Pool is a federally sponsored cooperative of more than 50 utilities in nine states that regulates the operation of the grid.

It will take four to 10 years to get the lines into operation, said Carl Huslig, president of ITC Great Plains

The 765-kilovolt lines are the largest capacity lines built in the country. They carry great loads of power a long way with relatively little loss, say the utilities.

Other utilities are seeking to construct such lines in order to reinforce the nation's power grid and facilitate alternative energy.

The western Kansas power lines would also carry energy generated by the proposed 895-megawatt Sunflower Electric coal plant near Holcomb.

The project is necessary to develop the state's wind potential, say the utilities.

"There is not really the capability left in the system to develop much more wind in western Kansas," said Kelly Harrison, president of Prairie Winds and Westar's vice president for transmission operations.

Why new lines>

The key things to know about wind power are these:

* To cut carbon emissions, the amount of wind energy supplied by utilities all over the country is likely to grow dramatically over the next decade.

* The greatest amount of wind is on the High Plains.

* It can't be stored and has to be consumed immediately.