A landmark US clean energy transmission line just broke ground

The TransWest Express, a landmark transmission project that will carry clean energy from North America’s largest wind farm in Wyoming to the US Southwest, has broken ground.

The TransWest Express Transmission Project (TWE) will carry electricity generated by Chokecherry and Sierra Madre, the largest onshore wind project in North America. It’s a $5 billion, 3,000-megawatt, 600-turbine wind farm in Carbon County, Wyoming. (For a bit of context, “all-of-the-above” Wyoming, the largest coal-producing state in the US, is the only state that taxes wind power.)

TWE is going to provide 3,000 megawatts of new transmission capacity. It will consist of a 600-kilovolt, direct current transmission line, a northern terminal located near Sinclair, Wyoming, and a southern terminal about 25 miles south of Las Vegas.

The 732-mile, high-voltage interregional transmission line will run from south-central Wyoming through northwestern Colorado and central Utah, ending in southern Nevada. It’s going to provide affordable electricity for consumers in California, Nevada, and Arizona:

The TWE Project will interconnect with the PacifiCorp system in Wyoming, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Intermountain Power systems in Utah, the NV Energy system in Nevada, and the California Independent System Operator.

A ground electrode system for transmission line emergency shutdown will be installed within 100 miles of each terminal.

Over 1,000 jobs will be created by TWE during construction.

Both the Chokecherry and the Sierra Madre and TWE are scheduled to come online in late 2027. The US, under the Biden administration, has set a goal of achieving a net zero power sector by 2035.

Read more: The US’s largest clean energy transmission project just hit a major milestone

Photo: TransWest Express

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