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When President Biden left office on January 20, he left behind a string of federally funded cleantech factories and green energy projects, with the bulk of the largess going to Trump-voting states. In one of life’s little ironies, the current occupant of the Oval Office plans to unravel those new factories and projects in favor of fossil energy. So, where does that leave Idaho?
Idaho Is Sitting On A Clean Energy Bonanza
Idaho factors into the US clean energy story because the state is readying itself to receive the final piece of a regional electricity puzzle that has been in the works since the 1980’s. That piece is a new, 285-mile transmission line called SWIP-North, short for the Southwest Intertie Project — North. The line will stretch from a substation near Twin Falls, Idaho, to a substation near Ely, Nevada.
The original regional transmission planners probably did not anticipate that wind and solar energy would play a significant role, but that was then. Idaho is poor in fossil energy reserves, leaving the field wide open for the clean energy revolution of the 2000’s.
“Idaho’s energy potential lies in its substantial renewable energy resources, including hydropower, wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal,” the US Energy Information Agency noted last year.
You can say that again. Red-state politics aside, Idaho is a renewable energy champion. As of 2023, the state held the lofty #5 position in a 50-state ranking of renewable electricity generation at 68% share of its electricity coming from renewables, with the bulk coming from hydropower. Although other resources have been slow on the uptake, the state hosted its first utility-scale wind farm in 2005 and utility-scale solar made its first appearance in 2016. Biomass also makes a respectable showing.
In addition, EIA describes Idaho as a state with “some of the best geothermal potential” in the US. Though, all but a small fraction remains untapped.
Those clean energy assets are already attracting businesses that are scouting for reliable, economical energy resources. The EIA lists real estate, manufacturing, healthcare, and construction as top contributors to GDP, with agriculture, food processing, mining, and chemicals sectors also chipping in.
Meanwhile, the lack of internal fossil energy reserves means that the pressure to exploit clean energy assets will rise alongside economic growth, and the situation is already at a boiling point.
The EIA notes that although Idaho sits near the bottom of a 50-state ranking on total energy consumption, it consumes four times the amount of energy that it produces.
SWIP-North Is Coming For Your Fossil Fuels
Energy policy makers in Idaho are firmly on the side of clean energy, or at least they were as of 2022 when the state’s Department of Commerce pitched the state to businesses as “a leader in carbon-free energy” in a promotional document.
The same document positions Idaho as a sort of climate change haven for businesses in search of reliable, resilient energy inputs. “Weather-related impacts to Idaho’s energy infrastructure have been minimal and are repaired quickly when they occur through the utility companies’ operations and maintenance programs,” the Commerce Department emphasized.
So much for the business case. As in other states, local residents have joined forces with fossil energy stakeholders to oppose new wind and solar projects, with some success. Nevertheless, the new SWIP — North transmission line is on track for construction. It is a bi-directional line that will bring more renewable electricity into (and out of) Idaho, regardless of local pressure.
SWIP-North is the final leg of a three-part regional transmission upgrade supported in part by the US Department of Energy. At the Ely substation in Nevada, it will meet up with the existing ON Line (short for One Nevada Transmission Line), which stretches for 231 miles to a substation near Las Vegas. The 500-kilovolt ON Line went into service in 2014 under the wing of NV Energy, which obtained financing through the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office.
Another leg of the network is DesertLink, a 60-mile, 500-kilovolt line in Clark County Nevada between substations near Las Vegas and the California border, which commenced operation in 2020. Though modest in length, DesertLink plays a key role in region-wide clean energy transmission because it is a participating transmission operator within the grid network managed by CAISO, the California Independent System Operator corporation.
The developer behind SWIP-North is LS Power, through its wholly owned subsidiary Great Basin Transmission. LS describes the $1 billion+ project as “the final link of the transmission corridor extending from Idaho to southern Nevada that will enable the bidirectional flow of approximately 2,000 megawatts of electricity, increase grid reliability for the West, and provide new transmission access to the thousands of megawatts of renewable resources under development in the region.”
“SWIP-North will deliver economic benefits and strengthen the electric grid in the western U.S., while also connecting renewable energy resources to customers that need them,” emphasized LS President of Power Development Paul Thessen in a press statement last April, when Great Basin won Energy Department approval to begin capacity contract negotiations for SWIP-North.
The bidirectional element is a crucial one for Idaho ratepayers, who are already grumbling over the idea that in-state clean energy resources could be exported to other states. “SWIP-North’s bidirectional capability and ability to unleash latent capacity on ON Line make it a valuable and cost-effective transmission system improvement,” Thessen emphasized further.
Aside from the potential for accelerating clean energy development in Idaho and Nevada, climate resiliency is also in play. LS notes that the addition of a new multi-state transmission network will help buffer ratepayers from grid interruptions due to extreme weather and wildfires while supporting “regional electrification and climate goals.”
Next Steps For The New Clean Energy Transmission Line
CleanTechnica has seen new interstate clean electricity transmission lines hit years-long, crippling delays. In contrast, ON Line and DesertLink are in-state projects that sailed through in relatively short order. With Trump in office it’s anybody’s guess if SWIP-North will enjoy a similar conclusion.
Still, light is appearing at the end of the tunnel. On January 21, just one day after President Trump re-occupied the Oval Office, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Great Basin to proceed with the development agreement for SWIP-North, which went into effect on November 23.
Absent any unforeseen obstacles, SWIP-North will begin construction later this year and go into operation in 2027, linking up with ON Line and DesertLink. Stay tuned….
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Image: Trump or no Trump, a new bidirectional clean energy transmission line is on track for construction to commence this year, connecting wind and solar resources in Idaho, Nevada, and California (courtesy of LS Power).
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