Two Wyoming 'Rapid Response' Transmission Projects Moving Closer to Development Completion

The Wyoming Infrastructure Authority announced that both of Wyoming’s electricity transmission line projects selected for focus by the federal Rapid Response Team for Transmission (RRTT) have moved ahead this summer in their respective permitting processes. The RRTT is co-led by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

The two Wyoming transmission lines chosen in October 2011 for the RRTT program include the TransWest Express Transmission Project (TWE Project), and the Energy Gateway West Transmission Project (GWW Project), both of which must cross hundreds of miles of federally owned land in the Western United States. Both projects initially applied for federal rights-of-way in 2007.

• On July 3, 2013, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Western Area Power Administration (Western), serving as joint lead agencies, announced the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the TWE Project, with a 90-day comment period ending Sept. 30. The TWE Project is a 600-kV, 3,000-MW direct current (HVDC) transmission line that will provide California-Nevada-Arizona utilities access to the very high-capacity, very cost-effective, world class wind energy generated in Wyoming. The approximately 725-mi line is being developed by TransWest Express LLC, an independent transmission developer, and Western which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy. The TWE Project is the only RRTT project to interconnect Wyoming resources with the Desert Southwest electricity market.
• On April 26, 2013, the BLM issued the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the GWW Project, and the 60-day comment period closed June 28th. The GWW Project includes approximately 1,000 mi of new 230-kV and 500-kV AC lines between the Windstar Substation near Glenrock, Wyo., and the Hemingway Substation near Melba, Idaho. It is being developed jointly by Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power to provide electricity to meet increasing customer needs. The GWW Project will deliver power from existing and future electric resources including renewable resources.