LS Power announced the closing of its purchase of the rights to the Wyoming-Colorado Intertie Project. The Wyoming-Colorado Intertie Project consists of a proposed 850 megawatt (MW) transmission line extending approximately 180 miles between Laramie River Station Substation located at Wheatland, Wyo., and Pawnee Substation located at Brush, Colo. The Wyoming-Colorado Intertie Project will provide a transmission path to deliver high capacity-factor wind energy from Wyoming to load centers in Colorado. The Wyoming-Colorado Intertie Project is a public/private development partnership involving the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority and the Western Area Power Administration.
Acquisition of the Wyoming-Colorado Intertie represents another significant expansion of LS Power's transmission development platform, which is being pursued to support the delivery of new renewable energy resources throughout the U.S. Subsidiaries of LS Power Transmission, LLC are advancing the development of the following high-voltage transmission projects:
Cross Texas Transmission, LLC has been designated as a transmission service provider in Texas to develop, build, own and operate approximately $400 million of 345-kV transmission facilities to support renewable energy as part of the Texas Competitive Renewable Energy Zone process, for Texas to meet its "Goal for Renewable Energy".
The Southwest Intertie Project is the most advanced independent transmission project in the U.S., and will enable a path for renewable energy to be delivered from the Midpoint hub in Idaho to load serving entities in Southern Nevada and the desert Southwest.
The Overland Intertie Project will deliver wind energy from Wyoming to the Midpoint hub in Idaho, for delivery to the south on the Southwest Intertie Project, or to the west on other planned transmission at the Midpoint hub.
Paul Thessen, President of LS Power Development, LLC said, "Expansion into the transmission sector of the electric power industry is a major focus within LS Power due to the need to expand the transmission system in the U.S. to deliver renewable resources located in remote areas to load and to improve system reliability and efficiency. The Wyoming-Colorado Intertie is being driven by the strong need to deliver high-capacity factor wind from Wyoming to customers in Colorado. We are excited about the opportunity to build on the work done so far on the project, and we look forward to working with the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority and the other project participants to make it a reality."
