Interior Department approves major transmission lines through Utah

The U.S. Interior Department has announced their approval of the TransWest Express transmission line. The TransWest Express Project is a high-voltage, direct current electric transmission system that will deliver wind energy from Wyoming along a 730-mile route with potential grid interconnections in California, Nevada and Arizona. About 60 percent of its route — which crosses Utah — impacts Bureau of Land Management land and follows previously established utility corridors where possible.

The project, which will take three years to build, adds 3,000 megawatts of "backbone" transmission capacity between the Desert Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions, or enough energy to power 1.8 million homes. Deseret News