The US Department of Energy (DOE) is offering a conditional commitment for a $350m loan guarantee to develop the One Nevada Transmission Line (ON Line), the first power line project to be offered a conditional commitment by the Loan Programs Office of the DOE.
The ON Line consists of a new 500kV AC transmission line that will run 235 miles from Ely, Nevada, to just north of Las Vegas, with a new substation located at the northern end of the line.
The project will carry approximately 600MW of electricity, including renewable energy resources in northern Nevada, and will integrate existing transmission systems in northern and southern Nevada.
DOE secretary Steven Chu said that this project will help the US tap into the enormous clean energy resources in the West, bringing renewable power from where it is produced to where it is used.
"This is a win for the economy as well as for the environment," Chu said.
The ON Line project will be the first phase of the Southwest Intertie Project which, when fully completed, will carry approximately 2,000MW of electricity and enable wind and solar resources in Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada to power the southwest and California markets.