4 States to Join in Power Project

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the governors of Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have agreed to build an estimated $20-billion electricity transmission system to meet rising demand for power, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Monday.

Freudenthal said during a conference call that the Frontier Line system would supply electricity-hungry California -- where power demand is growing about 4% annually, or double the national average -- with power from nearby energy-producing states.

Fast-growing Las Vegas and Salt Lake City also would be served by the system, which is expected to need as much as $5 billion in transmission lines and facilities and as much as $15 billion in power plants.

“We are prepared to move forward,” Freudenthal said. “It is our expectation that this effort will lead to benefits for all of the states involved.”

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said his state might join the effort, which would build infrastructure across the West to deliver 12,000 megawatts of power, or enough electricity for as many as 9 million typical homes.

Coal-fired plants would provide half that amount and wind power the remainder.

Officials said they were forming a committee that would develop feasibility and financing plans for the project. Third-party developers would build the system, which could be operating by 2011, with California as its biggest customer.

Demand for electricity in California hit record highs on seven occasions last summer, peaking at nearly 46,000 megawatts on Sept. 8. The state was forced to order blackouts during its energy emergency in 2000-01.

In the latest sign of the need for more power, Southern California may have to take aggressive conservation steps to avoid electricity shortages should the summer be unusually hot, the operator of the state’s power grid said last week.

The system operator said a prolonged heat wave in Southern California could leave the region with “critically thin operating margins” and a shortfall of as many as 1,700 megawatts.

Southern California still needs transmission upgrades and new power plants to meet rising demand with adequate reserves, despite recent upgrades.

Although a transmission corridor connecting Northern and Southern California has been expanded, congestion remains on the corridor farther south, limiting the delivery of surplus power.