New $215 million, 230-kilovolt Montana Alberta Tie Line may foster wind farms

A biting wind whipped across the snow-covered Montana prairie as Clayton Larsen and John Mattheis took soil samples from 30 feet below the surface north of Conrad earlier this month.

The men, who work for SK Geotechnical in Billings, are helping build the $215 million, 230-kilovolt Montana Alberta Tie Line — a transmission line that could be the key to the future of wind development in the region.

With calls for more renewable energy increasing, new plain-looking pole-and-wire projects such as MATL are sprouting up in anticipation of the construction of more eye-catching wind farms.

The first stage of construction of MATL, which will carry up to 300 megawatts in each direction, began this month with soil testing.

Full Story: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_2783e93c-0ca1-11df-a4ba-001cc4c002e0.html

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Western Renewable Energy Zones Initiative

Implementing the Western Renewable Energy Zones Phase I Recommendations

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the Western Governors’ Association $12 million to assist the 11 states within the Western Interconnection in planning for new transmission while considering such factors as future demand, a diverse mix of resources, environmental concerns and greater energy efficiency.

A number of scenarios for potential new transmission will be developed and evaluated on how each one may affect water supplies, wildlife, landscapes and state economies. Funding will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and more than 85 percent of those funds will directly support the states’ work.

Seeking to implement numerous stakeholder recommendations from the WREZ initiative, future phases will expand upon resource assessments and transmission planning within the Western Interconnection. See press release and documents submitted to the DOE are listed below below:

http://www.westgov.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=219&Itemid=81