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Feb. 21, 2024 – Independent transmission developer TransWest Express LLC has been selected to advance to the third and final application stage of consideration for an important loan guarantee program administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO).
To reach this major milestone, TransWest first submitted a Part I application to the DOE for financing under the department’s Title 17 Clean Energy Financing program. Next, DOE determined that the TWE Project met the requirements – such as how the project employs innovative technology, and how it avoids or reduces greenhouse gas emissions – and invited TransWest to submit a Part II application. Then, after a comprehensive evaluation of that material, LPO invited TransWest into the due diligence process. Now, TransWest and DOE are working on reaching a conditional commitment.
As an interregional system, the TWE Project will provide new bulk transmission capacity and will uniquely connect three planning regions in the West: WestConnect, NorthernGrid and the California Independent System Operator. In addition, the TWE Project will interconnect with the PacifiCorp system in Wyoming, with the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Intermountain Power systems in Utah, with the NV Energy system in Nevada, and with the California ISO. The LPO has invited TransWest into its due diligence and term sheet negotiation process for a loan guarantee under Title 17 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as amended, to help finance the TransWest Express Transmission Project. The decision was based on LPO’s determination that the TWE Project is “highly qualified and suitable for a loan guarantee.”
Term sheet negotiation is one step in the due diligence process prior to DOE potentially issuing a conditional commitment for a loan.
“We are pleased that the TWE Project is making progress toward meeting DOE’s stringent requirements. We appreciate LPO’s careful consideration of the innovative TWE Project for a conditional commitment,” said Roxane Perruso, TransWest executive vice president and chief operating officer. “While the TWE Project is physically sited in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Nevada, it will provide benefits beyond those four states to the entire Western power grid and our country.”
“Wyoming is a business-friendly state, and we are proud to continue and expand on our long history of providing the energy that powers America,” said Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. “I congratulate Anschutz for their commitment that has taken more than 15 years to bring this project to fruition.”
The interregional TWE Project will provide western markets with access to wind-generated electricity made by the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project in Carbon County, Wyoming – which is home of America’s highest-capacity onshore wind resources. The under-construction CCSM Project will provide over 3,500 MW of nameplate capacity and produce over 12 million megawatt-hours per year of clean, renewable electricity.
The CCSM Project and TWE Project are at the core of the Wyoming Clean Power Center – located on a 320,000-acre ranch – all a part of the development portfolio of The Anschutz Corporation, a privately held infrastructure, real estate and energy enterprise. The WCPC is being designed as an integrated hub for the giga-scale production and transportation of electricity (wind, solar, storage) and associated clean power-produced products, as well as for carbon sequestration. The WCPC, which is the largest uncommitted renewable energy source in North America, has direct access to the nation’s biggest transportation and transmission corridor including Interstate 80, the main Union Pacific railroad line, and multiple fiber optic lines and gas pipelines.
The DOE's continued evaluation of the application is not an assurance that the terms and conditions of a term sheet will be consistent with terms proposed by the applicant. The foregoing matters are wholly dependent on the results of DOE review and evaluation, and DOE's determination whether to proceed.
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