Renewable energy transmission line to break ground this year

By Karoun Demirjian

Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010 | 9:27 a.m.

The powers behind a high-voltage transmission project designed to transport renewable energy across Nevada are planning to break ground by December.

The “ON Line” project, which is being conducted in partnership between energy company NV Energy and energy developer Great Basin Transmission, is to build a 235-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line stretching from the Harry Allen power substation just north of Las Vegas, to a new, yet-to-be-constructed substation northwest of Ely.

The transmission line will be the most advanced such project in the West to deliver renewable energy from its production sites to areas where it will be most in demand.

But just as importantly, politicians say, it will bring thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars in decreased energy costs to Nevada.

Transmission lines have long been the missing link in plans to expand renewable energy consumption. That’s because for the most part, windfarms, geothermal plants, solar panel fields and other renewable energy sources are produced in areas of the country with low-population density – and the existing power grid can’t transport all of that energy back to the cities where it’s needed.

But building transit lines isn’t just a question of stringing more wire – land rights, environmental impact assessments, permits and costs are often prohibitive. The ON Line project itself carries a projected price tag of $510 million.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the federal government had agreed to approve $350 million in loan guarantees.

While that deal isn’t expected to close until next month, it’s the last necessary hurdle developers had to clear to start work on the project.

The Ely-to-Las Vegas segment of the project is the first of many planned legs for the transmission line, which developers say will be completed by the end of 2012. When completed, it is expected to stretch from Twin Falls, Idaho, to south of Las Vegas, where energy can then be transported and sold to higher-demand markets like California – which has set itself a goal of 33 percent renewable energy consumption by 2020. (By comparison, Nevada aims to be 25 percent renewable by 2025.)

Politicians say the existence of a transportation line will only encourage more renewable energy investment in Nevada – leading to more jobs in the industry.

“Transmission … makes these projects possible,” Salazar said at an introduction ceremony at the Harry Allen substation Tuesday. “It will make believers out of the skeptics.”

Renewable energy jobs – or “green collar” jobs as they have come to be known in energy circles – have become one of many sticking points in Nevada’s contentious elections, especially in Reid’s race against Republican Sharron Angle, who once called such positions “designer” jobs.

Reid recalled this moment Tuesday. “These are good paying jobs, and another thing: you can’t outsource them,” Reid said, pointing out that the jobs, and the underlying project, were funded by the stimulus bill.

“This is the way to stimulate the economy, it’s a way to get the private sector to work and create jobs,” he said. “It demonstrates what can result when government and business come together.”

Democratic House members Dina Titus and Shelley Berkley – who also voted for the stimulus last year – issued statements echoing Reid’s praise for the project.