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A proposed, new transmission line connecting the Front Range of Colorado with the wind-rich high plains of eastern Wyoming has reached a significant milestone. Project sponsors offered up to 850 megawatts of transmission capacity in a public auction. This has resulted in 585 megawatts of capacity purchase commitments from credit-worthy parties. It is anticipated that much of the capacity of the transmission line will be committed for delivering Wyoming’s high-quality wind resources to benefit consumers in Colorado.
Western seeks to purchase renewable energy certificates for seven Federal facilities, including one Western firm power customer. The request for proposals calls for purchasing up to 552,412 MWh of renewable energy certificates for up to 10 years. Renewable energy certificates represent the environmental benefits of renewable energy, sold separately from power generation. Facilities may use certificates to comply with the Federal government's goals for renewable energy use by agencies.
FY 2007 Annual Report released
Western's fiscal year 2007 Annual Report is a story about weaving partnerships. The partnerships we've forged with customers and others to provide the reliable, constant flow of power and dependable service on which the public has come to rely.
See how this year's report highlights the agency's top three goals—transmission expansion, customer service building and renewable energy integration.
Read the full report in our newsroom.
Employees grieve Brian Morris: 'Best. Guy. Ever.'
Just two weeks after congratulating Brian Morris for earning an Exceptional Service Award, employees were consoling themselves with memories of their cherished co-worker and friend, who died suddenly in a car accident July 1 while returning from a job site near Rolla, ND.
As North Dakota’s Field Maintenance Manager, Morris was well respected and admired by his employees, co-workers, supervisors and peers. In sharing their memories of Morris, co-workers were overwhelmed with sadness as they recalled losing the man they called “the best guy ever.” We could only print a sample of their memories here.
Bismarck employees and Brian's family planted a blue spruce in his honor on July 7 at the Bismarck District Office.
Western announces new IRP rules
Western is adopting three revisions to its integrated resource planning rules, effective July 21, 2008.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 requires Western's firm power customers to submit an integrated resource plan to Western every five years and provide annual updates, forecasting their future electric power demand and thoroughly evaluating ways to meet it. The program is designed to extend Western's existing firm power resource commitments, and to promote energy diversity and efficient practices.
The changes are:
- Eliminating the requirement that members of a member-based association unanimously approve the MBA's IRP
- Encouraging customers to cooperate on preparing regional IRPs
- Making current customer IRPs more accessible to the public by placing them on Western's or the customer's Web site
Operations consolidation moves forward
Western appreciates the valuable input we have received from customers on our Operations Consolidation proposals. Comments from the April 24 customer meeting and our responses are posted on the Operations Consolidation page.
Through careful consideration of comments and extensive research and analysis by Western's staff, we have chosen Option C (consolidated operations with the Rocky Mountain and Desert Southwest regions serving as alternative control centers for each other.) Western believes that by moving forward with Option C, we will maximize our resources and staff to provide better service.
We are committed to continue working with customers on this initiative and will continue to provide opportunities to stay informed and give input during implementation of this decision.
Composite conductor links Western with Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Needles, Calif.
On May 5, Western helped dedicate a new 69-kV line along the California/Arizona border that uses innovative, composite-conductor technology to increase reliability for the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and the City of Needles, Calif. Western provided the funding and project management to interconnect the new line to our system at the new Firehouse Substation, as well as environmental compliance. The four-mile Firehouse-Topock line to the Tribe’s No Name Substation not only connects the city and the tribe to additional power and transmission resources, but it was designed to carry additional capacity when the area’s population grows.
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