TransWest Express Project
TransWest Express, LLC proposes to construct, operate, maintain and decommission the TransWest Express 600-kV Direct Current Transmission Project. TransWest Express, LLC is a whollyowned subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation.
The Project consists of an overhead transmission line extending approximately 725 miles from south-central Wyoming crossing Colorado and Utah, with a potential interconnection at the Intermountain Power Project near Delta, Utah, and terminating at the Marketplace Hub in southern Nevada. This Project would include two AC/DC converter stations, about 200 acres in size at each terminating point, a fiber optic network communications system, and two ground electrode facilities, each about 600 acres in size. When completed, this Project would transmit about 3,000 megawatts of electricity per year generated primarily from renewable resources at planned facilities in Wyoming.
The Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Office and Western are joint lead agencies for the preparation of the environmental impact statement, and Western is proposing to participate as a joint owner in the Project.
Public meetings:
To provide an opportunity to review the proposal and project information, BLM and Western held 23 open-house meetings at various locations in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada during the public scoping period. BLM staff, Western staff and Project proponents explained Project details and gathered information from interested individuals or groups.
Project Update:
In October 2011, the TransWest Express Project was selected as one of seven pilot demonstrations of streamlined Federal permitting and increased cooperation at the Federal, state and tribal levels. The interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission, or RRTT, is expected to coordinate permitting, review and consultation among Federal and state agencies and expiditiously resove interagency conflicts to accelerate the development of selected transmission projects.
On Sept. 9, 2011, Western and TransWest Express LLC announced an agreement to fund the project’s development phase.
Western is providing its share of funding through the 2009 borrowing authority amendment to the Hoover Power Act. Under the terms of the development agreement, TWE and Western will each pay up to $25 million to complete the development phase. If Western continues its participation in the project into the construction phase – a decision that will be made when the environmental analysis is complete – additional borrowing authority would be used to help fund the project.
Project documents:
Federal Register Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, January 4, 2011 (146 kb pdf)
News release - Western, TWE execute development agreement for TransWest Express Transmission Project, Sept. 9, 2011
TWE news release - Federal "Rapid Response Team for Transmission" selects TransWest Express Transmission Project, Oct. 5, 2011
Resources:
BLM's TransWest Express Project website
TransWest Express LLC's Project website 