After 15 years and four presidents, US tycoon's $3bn green power vision finally okayed
Philip Anschutz's TransWest Express came to symbolise bureaucratic and politicised federal permitting processes blocking merchant power lines and US clean energy growth
The US Department of Interior (Dol) has finally issued final federal consent necessary for construction start of the 732-mile (1,178km) TransWest Express project that will deliver 3GW of wind energy from Wyoming to California and adjoining states.
The Notice to Proceed (NTP) represents the last step of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) authorisation process that began in 2008 and continued for 15 years under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden.
“Achieving the BLM NTP milestone provides important certainty that is needed as we work to complete other pre-construction steps,” said Bill Miller, CEO of TransWest. “We plan on commencing construction activities on the TransWest project before the end of the year.”
TransWest consists of a 3GW direct-current segment with terminals near Sinclair, in southern Wyoming, on lands under BLM jurisdiction and those owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz, and Delta, Utah. From there, a 1.5GW alternating current line will extend to southern Nevada.
At that location, a converter station will directly connect with the electric grid managed by the California Independent System Operator (Caiso) the largest of 38 balancing authorities within the Western Interconnection, one of two major power networks in North America.
Last December, Caiso gave conditional approval for TransWest to join its balancing authority area which includes about 80% of California and part of Nevada.
In November 2021, the project allocated its transmission capacity under long-term service agreements with Power Company of Wyoming, which is developing the 600-turbine, 3GW Chokecherry and Sierra Madre (CCSM) wind farm to be built south of Sinclair.
Both CCSM and TransWest are owned by Anschutz, who made his fortune in oil, property and entertainment, through subsidiaries of his holding company, The Anschutz Corporation, based in Denver.
Inefficient, opaque, plodding, and politicised federal permitting processes for privately-owned low- and zero-carbon infrastructure are a major barrier to US clean energy growth and emissions reductions.