TransWest express transmission project breaks ground
New interregional power line TransWest Express Project to be constructed in USA's Wyoming and Nevada.
USA, Sinclair: New interregional power line TransWest Express Project to be constructed in USA’s Wyoming and Nevada.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Department of Energy Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm have announced the start of a new interregional power line construction. This high-voltage transmission line, spanning from Wyoming to Nevada, is called TransWest Express Transmission Project and its construction will create over 1,000 jobs. Once finished, it will produce an additional 3,000 MW of transmission capacity.
The project was authorized in April 2023 by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency under the Department of the Interior. The TransWest Express Project will transmit electricity generated by the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project which is the largest onshore wind project in North America. This wind project consists of 600 turbines and is partially situated on public territory managed by the BLM.
Since the Obama-Biden administration in 2011, the TransWest Express Project has been marked as a priority. The BLM’s Wyoming office has collaborated closely with stakeholders to determine the best route and reduce impacts on environment in the states of Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, including areas important for greater sage-grouse and wilderness characteristics.
The project will cover a 1175 km long (730 miles), 600 kV direct current transmission line, with a northern terminal near Sinclair, Wyoming, and a southern terminal located south of Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to that, a ground electrode system will be placed within 100 miles of each terminal to ease emergency shutdown of the transmission line.
Under President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the goal is to support the American economy by investing in infrastructure, promoting private sector manufacturing, and driving clean energy investments totaling over $470 B. The benefits of this approach are creating high-income jobs, raising climate change awareness, and increasing community resilience.
By facilitating the environmentally responsible development of renewable energy on public lands, the BLM supports the Biden-Harris administration’s aim of a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. Moreover, the Energy Act of 2020 conducts the BLM to permit 25 GW of solar, wind, and geothermal production on public lands by 2025.
Source: T&D World