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Ken Schriner |
A tireless dedication to teaching and promoting safety in the community, industry and the workplace led Ken Schriner, a safety and security specialist in Western’s Rocky Mountain Region, to be selected for the National Safety Council’s highest honor for an individual. Schriner will receive the 2009 Distinguished Service to Safety Award on Oct. 26 during NSC’s fall exposition in Orlando, Fla.
Western will use borrowing authority under the Recovery Act to help build the $213 million Montana-Alberta Tie Limited (MATL) transmission project between Great Falls, Montana, and Lethbridge, Alberta. The project meets the criteria established for Western’s Transmission Infrastructure Program and is our first to use the new borrowing authority.
Almost two-thirds of the 214-mile transmission line will be located on U.S. soil, creating American jobs and allowing for the continued expansion of renewable energy production. Once energized, as early as 2010, the 230-kilovolt transmission project will be capable of delivering 300-600 megawatts of clean, renewable wind energy.
The MATL project will be funded through a public-private partnership between Western and Tonbridge Power Inc. with up to $161 million of the total project costs funded through Western’s Recovery Act borrowing authority.
Administrator Tim Meeks announced today his selection of Craig Knoell as the new Transmission Infrastructure Program manager for Western Area Power Administration. Knoell will start his appointment as TIP manager on Sept. 13. Read the news release or see Knoell’s bio for more information.
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Read about efforts last month to save a fledgling owl stuck precariously in the crevice of a Western Area Power Administration tower near Prescott, Ariz., in the News Features section of our Newsroom. Great horned owls took over a red-tailed hawk's nest in the tower shown in this photo.
Informal customer meetings held at the Rocky Mountain, Desert Southwest regional offices and the Colorado River Storage Project Management Center May 20 to 22 rolled out cost allocation methodology recommendations for the Operations Consolidation Project. Customer comments were requested and are due by June 22. Visit the OCP page to see incoming comments and Western's responses to them.
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The nation's transmission infrastructure |
The May 14 publication of our new Transmission Infrastructure Program in the Federal Register, gives Western a solid foundation to build partnerships that will make concrete the vision established in Section 402 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This milestone marks the end of the public process that helped us define the policies and practices to follow in exercising our new borrowing authority granted under Section 402.
“With the ground rules in place, the stage is set for initial project selections,” said Western’s Administrator Tim Meeks. “We remain committed to taking steps that will create new jobs and get lines in the air to help deliver renewable energy to market.”
Western team wins Science Bowl
Straight from the Sacramento Regional Science Bowl High school Mira Loma High School from Sacramento beat Lexington High School from Lexington, Massachusetts in the high school national championship match at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
DOE's full news release details the winning prize and the other top placing teams. Photos of the winning teams, biographical information about the teams and more information about the DOE National Science Bowl are available on the National Science Bowl Web site.
Western's FY 2008 Annual Report available
Hour by hour, Western employees keep a watchful eye on the ever-changing energy demands and do their part to support the energy industry. As the seconds, minutes and hours tick by, their individual perspectives make up the powerful way Western delivers Federal hydroelectric power to our customers, who in turn keep the lights on in millions of homes throughout the West.
Read the report to catch up on our financials and to see how Western employees worked together to deliver our peak load—6,476 megawatts—on July 31, 2008, to meet consumers' power needs.
Just less than two months after the President signed the Recovery Act, Western and the Secretary of Treasury have a borrowing arrangement in place to fund projects that will be selected under the upcoming Transmission Infrastructure Program. Read the news release.
Check out the TIP line blog for responses to some of the questions and comments from the Mar. 23 public meeting.
On March 4, Western announced in the Federal Register the availability of a Request for Interest seeking interest in potential projects that can be funded using the Recovery Act authority to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the U.S. Treasury. These projects will provide Federal funding in partnerships to develop transmission infrastructure that delivers renewable energy to market across the West. To be assured consideration, all Statements of Interest should be submitted in a non-confidential manner and received by Western on April 3, 2009.
Western also published a Federal Register notice initiating a public process to develop policies and practices to guide the new Transmission Infrastructure Program as it implements the new authority.
See our Recovery page for more information on how Western is implementing the Recovery Act.
Section 402 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed by the President on Feb. 17, will promote construction of additional transmission to move renewable energy across the grid in the West.
The Act grants Western Area Power Administration the authority to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the U.S. Treasury. Western now has a mechanism to provide Federal funding in partnerships to develop transmission infrastructure that delivers renewable energy to market. Visit our Newsroom for more information on the new authority.
