Wyoming Leads U.S. in Transmission Projects, Propelled by Windfarms

Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Wyoming, the Cowboy State, has about 560,000 inhabitants--the least-populous state in the U.S. It is said that the state has more livestock than people. It also has more transmission projects under development than any state--about $9 billion worth.

Two of these projects are scheduled to kick off this year; one has a 2016 kickoff date, and the other seven are slated to begin turning dirt in 2017 and 2018. Most projects are being developed to bring wind power generated in Wyoming to markets located south, east and west of the state. Wyoming has seven large windfarms under development, valued at about $7.9 billion.

Projects scheduled to kick off in 2015 include:

• The 230-kilovolt (kV) Teckla-Osage transmission line, being developed by a unit of Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH) (Rapid City, South Dakota). The substation is owned by the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) (Lakewood, Colorado). Construction of this $156 million substation is scheduled to be completed in mid-2016. Click here to view a report for this project.
• The 230-kV Osage-Lange transmission line and substation, a 75-mile, $11.4 million project that will stretch from Osage, Wyoming, to Rapid City, South Dakota. The line is scheduled to be operating in mid-2016. Click hereto view a report for this project.

The project scheduled to kick off in 2016 is:

• The 230-kV Windstar-Aeolus Gateway West transmission line, a $685 million, 485-mile project jointly owned by units of Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated (NYSE:BRK.A) (Omaha, Nebraska), Idacorp Incorporated (NYSE:IDA) (Boise, Idaho) and Power Engineers Incorporated (Hailey, Idaho). The line will stretch from Glenrock, Wyoming, to Boise, Idaho. The owners plan to release a request for proposals (RFP) in mid-2016. The project is scheduled to break ground in late 2016 and to be online by late 2019. Click hereto view a report for this project.

The largest projects scheduled to kick off in 2017 and 2018 include:

• The Medicine Bow-Zephyr transmission line, a 500-kV, 1,100-mile transmission project between Medicine Bow, Wyoming, and South Las Vegas, Nevada. The project, with total investment value (TIV) of about $3.5 billion, is being developed by units of Duke Energy Incorporated (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina) and American Transmission Company (NYSE:ATC) (Waukesha, Wisconsin). Click here for a report on this project.
• The 600-kV Transwest Express transmission line, a $3 billion project scheduled to kick off construction in early 2017 and to be operating by yearend 2020. This 725-mile, extra-high voltage (EHV) line will stretch from Sinclair, Wyoming, to Eldorado Valley, Nevada. This project is a 50:50 joint venture between WAPA and a unit of the Anschutz Corporation (Denver, Colorado).

"Some of these transmission projects have delayed a few times as transmission developers have played a chicken-and-egg game with windfarm developers," said Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of global research for the Power Industry. "Neither one wants to go first and potentially build a windfarm with a transmission line or build a transmission line without a windfarm. Still, there is unmet demand for more renewable electricity in the West, led by California's recent decision to increase its renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 50% by 2030."

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