US officials on Tuesday gave final approval to TransWest Express to break ground on its huge wind energy transmission line, running from Wyoming to Nevada.
The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) gave the company its “notice to proceed”, allowing construction of the $3bn line. The project has been in development for more than 15 years, with approximately two-thirds of the line running across federal lands.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The BLM said in a statement that its approval of the 732-mile line was “a significant milestone in the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to modernise America’s power infrastructure in the West and achieve a fully carbon-free electric grid by 2035”.
Tracy Stone-Manning, BLM director, said: “This large-scale transmission line will put people to work across our public lands and will help deliver clean, renewable energy. Our responsible use of public lands today can help ensure a clean energy future for us all.”
The 600-turbine strong Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farm in Wyoming, currently under construction, will use the line to transmit energy to other cities and states. If completed in 2026 as is scheduled, the farm will become the largest in the US and one of the largest in the world.
TransWest Express construction will begin later this year, with the first stage scheduled to be completed in 2027. It will run from south central Wyoming, through Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, ending at a substation outside of Las Vegas.
“We appreciate the federal, state and local agencies and all of the other stakeholders who collaborated and diligently worked through the process with us to reach this day,” Bill Miller, CEO of TransWest Express LLC, said in a statement via Reuters.
