Clean Energy Partners receives approval for wind transmission line

• 10 years ago (2015-01-15)
• Junior Isles

North America 1042 Renewables 791

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Clean Line Energy Partners, the Houston-based company backed by such investors as Britain's National Grid, has secured a major regulatory approval in Tennessee that will keep its Plains and Eastern wind transmission project on track.

The Tennessee Regulatory Authority has granted Clean Line a 'Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity' allowing it to continue as a transmission-only utility in the state.

Clean Line's main project, the 1130 km (700 miles) HVDC Plains and Eastern Project seeks to transmit some 3.6 GW of wind-generated energy from the panhandle region of Oklahoma and Texas to customers principally in Tennessee and Arkansas.

Clean Line has also proposed four other mega-transmission projects, seeking to extract energy from natural sources from low population areas in the US and sending it to customers in high population areas.

Plains and Eastern – the first mega-project to be constructed – is expected to break ground next year and should start delivering electricity as soon as 2018. The project will unlock $6 billion worth of investment, according to Clean Line.