Utility companies are preparing to build 850 megawatts of electrical-generation capacity in Wyoming, much of it in the form of wind power.
A dozen companies have qualified to bid on transmission capacity on a proposed power line from eastern Wyoming to the Colorado Front Range, according to Steve Waddington, executive director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority.
Waddington said most of the companies that qualified to bid by passing credit checks are pursuing wind power.
“It’s not exclusively wind developers that are qualified to bid, but it is predominantly so,” Waddington said. “The project looks pretty promising.”
The project is expected to create a boom in wind power in Wyoming.
By 2013, new power lines could open up 900 megawatts of wind power in eastern Wyoming for delivery to Colorado. A megawatt is enough electricity for about 750 homes.
Colorado utilities have been rushing to meet state deadlines for boosting renewable energy.
A month-long open auction for transmission capacity on the Wyoming-Colorado Intertie is expected to begin at the end of June.
The project’s first phase will be a 345-kilovolt line from a coal-fired power plant in the Wheatland area to a substation in Colorado.
