April 12, 2023 |
Photo – TransWest Express LLC Electrical Line – Courtesy TransWest Express web-site
The Power Company of Wyoming received final federal approval Tuesday to begin building a massive transmission line that will deliver wind energy from here in Carbon County to California.
The “notice to proceed” from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management allows TransWest Express LLC to break ground on its $3 billion line after more than 15 years of development.
About two-thirds of the project will be on federal lands.
The BLM said in a statement that its approval of the 732-mile TransWest Express is part of an effort to achieve a “carbon-free electric grid by 2035.”
Billionaire Philip Anschutz owns TransWest Express. A separate Anschutz firm owns the 600-turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farm south of Rawlins and west of Saratoga, which is under construction. Once built, the wind energy plant will send electricity westward through TransWest Express.
Construction on TranWest Express will start later this year. The first stage will be completed in 2027, the company said. The line will run from south central Wyoming here in Carbon County, through Colorado, Utah, and Nevada to a substation outside of Las Vegas.
