ST. LOUIS, April 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Energy's ("DOE") Grid Deployment Office today announced that it has selected a project owned by Great Basin Transmission, LLC ("GBT") to enter into capacity contract negotiations as part of DOE's Transmission Facilitation Program. GBT is a wholly owned subsidiary of LS Power.
The Southwest Intertie Project-North ("SWIP-North") is a $1+ billion, 285-mile, 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line that will connect the Midpoint substation near Twin Falls, Idaho, with the Robinson Summit substation near Ely, Nevada, providing a new pathway for delivering energy between the Desert Southwest and the Pacific Northwest.
SWIP-North will also extend to Idaho the benefits of transmission lines developed earlier by LS Power that have served Nevada and the California Independent System Operator ("CAISO"). The concept of an inter-regional transmission project spanning multiple states originated in the 1980s, with LS Power acquiring rights to the project in 2005. Since then, LS Power has developed or will develop the following projects:
- One Nevada Transmission Line ("ON Line") is a 231-mile, 500 kV transmission line connecting the Harry Allen substation near Las Vegas, Nevada, to the Robinson Summit substation near Ely, Nevada, which was built in partnership with NV Energy and placed in service in 2014. DOE facilitated the debt financing for ON Line through its Loan Programs Office in 2011.
- DesertLink is a 60-mile, 500 kV transmission line connecting the Eldorado substation to the Harry Allen substation, both in Clark County, Nevada, which was placed in service in 2020.
- SWIP-North is the final link of the transmission corridor extending from Idaho to southern Nevada that will enable the ...