DENVER - Oilman Philip Anschutz is moving ahead with his Wyoming wind farm project despite the current recession and tight credit markets.

In late July the Anschutz Corp., through its affiliate Transwest Express LLC, reported it had acquired the rights to develop a proposed $3 billion, 900-mile transmission line capable of moving 3,000 megawatts of power from wind farms in southern Wyoming to markets in Southern California, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Another Anschutz affiliate, Power Company of Wyoming LCC, is working on a 2,000-megawatt wind farm project in Carbon County.

The power line and wind farm are undergoing federal
environmental impact studies, expected to take approximately
two years, because part of the line and the wind farm are on
federal or state lands. About half the wind farm is on private
land owned by Anschutz, company spokesman, Jim Monaghan said

“Nothing has really changed. We’re still pursuing the transmission line and the wind farm. There’s no change in our plans.”

Monaghan point out that “The area is a perfect wind corridor.
It’s in one of the best wind corridors in the United States. We
didn’t run around and search out a place. It just happened that
he’d owned the property for 15 or 20 years.”

The transmission line initially was proposed by London-based National Grid Plc, which delivers electric power to 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island, and manages the electricity network on Long Island. The proposed path took the line 900 miles from southern Wyoming, through Utah and Nevada to Las Vegas.

That route takes the line through federally owned lands, and will require studies to determine possible enviromental impacts from construction and operation on wildlife, habitat and views.

“Assuming that everything goes the way they like it, they’re
looking at 2011 as an operational year,” said Mark Ducker,
director of the Carbon County Economic Development Corp.

The first line of the 1,000-turbine wind farm would be visible
from Interstate 80 east of Rawlins, Ducker said.

Interest in wind and solar projects in Wyoming, Colorado and
other Western states continues to escalate, despite the
economy. One driver is the anticipated support the new Obama
administration will provide to renewable energy.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter told reporters a week ago that
he’s pushing for money to build new transmission lines that
will carry power from remote wind and solar farms to city
centers, as part of a proposed federal stimulus package.

“I think the future for wind is very bright,” said Craig Cox,
executive director of the Interwest Energy Alliance, a group of
renewable energy companies with western interests. “I know
we’re having a credit crunch, but when we need power, I think
wind and solar and renewables will have big benefits.”