Wind energy developer Anschutz Corp. asked the California grid operator in late July to manage at least 1,500 MW of its planned 3,000 MW TransWest Express transmission line linking the Rocky Mountains, Desert Southwest and Southern California.
This TransWest interregional transmission project that may become part of the California Independent System Operator’s high voltage network would carry wind power from Anschutz wind farms in Wyoming to municipal power agencies in the southern half of California.
The project would give California “access to remote renewable resources without increasing the [CAISO] transmission access charge, provide incremental capacity for a reasonable rate” and be consistent with state objectives for out-of-state renewables, according to an Aug. 1 presentation on the proposal by CAISO’s Deb Le Vine.
Under the proposed contract, released by CAISO in late July, TransWest would become the grid operator’s first Subscriber Participating Transmission Owner.
Subsidiary TransWest Express LLC would reap revenues for providing long-term firm transmission service to its subscribers and for providing other transmission services under a separate wheeling charge approved by federal energy regulators.
Having CAISO handle the 732-mile project “is an example of a simple solution addressing some of the complex challenges associated with transmission,” said Roxane Perruso, TransWest’s chief operating officer.
The first 1,500 MW phase of the bidirectional $3 billion TransWest Express project is expected to come online in 2026. It will connect to the existing bulk power system in Wyoming and Utah and directly to CAISO’s controlled grid in Nevada.
All major permits and easement authorizations to build on private lands are in hand, according to TransWest’s application to CAISO. At the end of last December, a federal court settlement was reached on a legal dispute over a stretch of the line crossing a conservation easement on private land in Colorado that would impact the western sage grouse.
The high voltage project is to consist of three linked segments: a 405-mile, 3,000 MW, high-voltage DC system between Wyoming and Utah; a 278-mile, 1,500 MW, 500 kV high-voltage AC transmission line between Utah and Nevada; and a 49-mile, 1,500 MW, 500 kV high voltage AC transmission line in Nevada.
The 405-mile section will start at terminals near Sinclair, Wyoming and Delta, Utah. In Utah, the project will connect to the Intermountain Power Project 345 kV Switchyard so it can “interconnect with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power” and deliver renewable energy to southern California municipal utilities, according to TransWest.
Anschutz has begun building two wind farms on ranchland owned by the company near Rawlins, Wyoming.
CAISO is taking comments on its Aug. 1 presentation of the TransWest project until Aug. 15 and on the proposed Transmission Control Agreement until Sept. 19.
