LOS ANGELES, June 20 (Xinhua) -- TransWest Express high-voltage transmission line, a 732-mile (1,177.8 kilometers) project that was designed to send massive wind power from the U.S. state of Wyoming to California, broke ground on Tuesday.
The infrastructure project will deliver three gigawatts of power from the 600-turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project in Carbon County of Wyoming, which is the largest onshore wind farm in the United States, to grids in the states of Arizona, Nevada, and California.
The northern terminal of the project is to be located near Sinclair, Wyoming, and a southern terminal approximately 40 kilometers south of Las Vegas, Nevada. A ground electrode system, which was required for transmission line emergency shutdown, would be installed within 100 miles (160.9 kilometers) of each terminal.
The project of 5 billion U.S. dollars will be capable of providing enough energy to power about 2 million homes. TransWest Express LLC, a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation, which also owns the wind farm project, said in April that it expected to complete the project by 2028.
"This is the biggest interstate transmission line that will be built in the West in decades," said Kara Choquette, communications director at TransWest Express LLC at that time. "It's not just about sending Wyoming wind to California solar, but how do you blend all these sources together. The physical infrastructure to connect diverse renewable resources will be there."
The U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday issued a statement celebrating the project's groundbreaking, saying it would accelerate "our nation's transition to a clean energy economy by unlocking renewable resources, creating jobs, lowering costs, and boosting local economies."
The project had experienced a nearly two-decades-long permitting process after it was initiated, local media said, adding it was a reminder how complicated permitting processes could slow the country's transition to clean energy. ■