NEWS FROM WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 8, 2009
CONTACT: Theresa Williams, 720-962-7051, twilliam@wapa.gov
A GIANT STEP—MOVING RENEWABLES CLOSER TO MARKET
LAKEWOOD, Colo.—By the April 3 deadline, more than 100 proposed transmission projects landed at Western Area Power Administration’s electronic doorstep. The submissions are for transmission development under Section 402 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Public and private entities including utilities, renewable resource developers, financiers, states, tribes and others responded to Western’s March 4 Request for Interest in potential transmission projects to move renewable energy across the grid in the West that could be funded with its $3.25 billion in borrowing authority.
“This is a giant step, only six weeks after the President signed the Recovery Act,” said Western’s Administrator Tim Meeks. “These responses validate the need for transmission to support renewable energy that the Obama Administration and Congress have called upon Western to help fill. I thank all parties—individual members of the public, state agencies, electric utilities and renewable energy developers—for the time and energy that they put into their submittals to help us identify projects.”
Parties submitted a wide variety of proposals for projects in varying states of “shovel readiness” that could develop transmission in many parts of Western’s service area. Submissions are being reviewed and evaluated to ensure projects that best meet the intent of the law rise to the surface. Due to the nature of this project identification process, Western is not publicly releasing the names of the parties who submitted proposals and the projects they identified. Final projects and partners, when selected, will be announced.
Also on April 3, the comment period closed for the public process to develop practices and policies that implement the Section 402 authority. More than 40 comments were received and are being considered as part of the development of Western’s final Transmission Infrastructure Program. Comments are posted on Western’s Recovery Web site. Responses to public comments will be published in the Federal Register along with the final program details.
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Western Area Power Administration annually markets and transmits more than 10,000 megawatts of clean, renewable power from hydroelectric powerplants owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 15 western and central states. It is part of the Department of Energy.
Serving the West with Federal hydropower
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