WYOMING WIND WILL BLOW POWER TO CACTUS LANDS

Forget developing the oil and gas and coal - Wyoming's real riches are in developing WIND!

Wyoming’s high quality winds offer the state the opportunity to sell energy to the rapidly rising populations of the southwestern sunbelt without drilling or digging.

The sunbelt states are growing so fast and therefore so in need of New Energy they will likely even share the cost of building the new transmission necessary to deliver the power.

Experts say Wyoming’s wind is more than enough to supply its residents and export a full supply to burgeoning, energy-hungry southwestern sunbelt states.

The new transmission is already planned: TransWest Express. $3 billion, 3000 megawatt carrying capapcity, proposed to complete in 2014.

Is it practical? The Power Company of Wyoming apparently thinks so. It’s developing a 2,000-megawatt wind farm to feed the TransWest Express in Wyoming’s Carbon County. (That’s the only carbon in wind power.)

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Wyoming wind may power Southwest
Michelle Dynes, August 2, 2008 (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle)

WHO
National Grid and Energy Strategies; Wyoming Wind Working Group (Ed Werner, executive director);

WHAT
National Grid’s The West’s Renewable Energy Future: A Contribution by National Grid proposes a synergy between the solar energy potential of the Southwest and the wind energy potential of Wyoming as a solution to meeting the New Energy electricity generation needs of the rapidly growing southwestern sun belt states.

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WHEN
- 2010: California’s utilities must produce 20% of their electricity from New Energy.
- 2015: Nevada’s utilities must produce 20% of their electricity from New Energy.
- 2020: New Mexico’s utilities must produce 20% of their electricity from New Energy.
- 2025: Arizona’s utilities must produce 15% of their electricity from New Energy and Utah’s utilities must produce 20% of their electricity from New Energy.
- TransWest Express is scheduled to go online in 2014.

WHERE
- Wyoming wind represents more than half of the best quality U.S. wind energy resources.
- TransWest Express will connect southern Wyoming wind farms with demand centers in California, Nevada and Arizona.

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WHY
- The U.S. West is the fastest growing part of the country and will grow 45% from 2000 to 2030.
- The West will need will 116,000 gigawatt-hours of New Energy-generated electricity yearly to meet established RESs.
- The proposed 3,000-megawatt high-voltage TransWest Express transmission system will cost $3 billion.
- The new Power Company of Wyoming 2000-megawatt wind farm will use half of the TransWest Express capacity.

QUOTES
Jonathan Naughton, director, University of Wyoming Wind Energy Center: “The next challenge is to provide the transmission lines to deliver this product to energy customers. Wyoming already has the wind and the space for turbines…”