Each of the company’s transmission lines will be capable of carrying 3,000 megawatt (MW) of power and aims to serve markets in southern Nevada, Arizona and California. Chinook would be online by late 2014.
FERC for the first time approved a model that permits half of the capacity of the lines to be reserved by an anchor customer, instead of having an open season for all of a line’s capacity.
We must do more to unlock the potential of our country’s location-constrained renewable energy resources, FERC Acting Chairman Jon Wellinghoff said. This order is one of the most significant steps this commission has taken toward that goal.
The country has inadequate transmission capacity to carry the electricity that wind and solar power projects could produce. Wind-power projects waiting to be connected to transmission lines could supply 20% of the nation’s electricity needs, as per the report issued by the Solar Energy Industries Association and the American Wind Energy Association.
The project will provide critical transmission infrastructure in the Western United States that will enable the large-scale development of environmentally attractive renewable generation projects in both Montana and Idaho, the company said.
