Original news published on 6 October, 2014

Wyoming wind farm to be connected to storage facility in Utah, deliver power to Los Angeles

Four U.S. companies proposed an US$8 billion wind power project to provide electricity to the Los Angeles, Calif. The mega-project would provide twice the energy as the Hoover Dam.

The four companies – Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy, Magnum Energy, Dresser-Rand and Duke-American Transmission (DATC) – will submit their proposal to the Southern California Public Power Authority by early 2015, DATC said in a statement. The 1,200-megawatt wind farm would be built in Wyoming, while the energy storage facility would be constructed in neighboring Utah. A 525-mile electric transmission line would connect the two sites. “This project would be the 21st century’s Hoover Dam – a landmark of the clean energy revolution,” Jeff Meyer, managing partner of Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy, said.

A key component of the project – a massive underground energy storage facility – would yield 1,200 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to the output of a large nuclear power plant and enough to serve an estimated 1.2 million L.A.-area homes, Meyer said. Linking the wind farm to the energy storage facility would enable the wind farm to function like a traditional coal, nuclear or natural gas power plant, reliably delivering large amounts of electricity whenever needed, based on customer demand.

Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy would build, own and operate the US$4-billion wind farm, located 40 miles north of Cheyenne, which would generate 2,100 megawatts of electricity. Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy, Magnum Energy and Dresser-Rand would install the US$1.5 billion compressed air energy storage system in four vertical caverns at a site near Delta, Utah, 130 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

Each cavern would be about a quarter-mile in height, 290 feet in diameter and 41 million cubic feet in volume. During periods of high customer demand, the facility would use the stored, high-pressure compressed air, combined with a small amount of natural gas, to power eight generators to produce electricity.

Duke-American Transmission would build the US$2.6-billion, 525-mile, high-voltage electric transmission line that would transport the Wyoming wind farm’s electricity to the Utah energy storage facility.

A separate, existing 490-mile transmission line  would transport electricity from the Utah energy storage facility to the Los Angeles area.

*NEWS SOURCE