Canadian company wants Montana wind power
The Missoulian|Mike Dennison|June 6, 2010
The president for Canadian energy giant TransCanada Corp. said last week he still hopes to develop a major power line to transport wind power out of Montana, although so far it has failed to get enough bids to finance the line.
The president for Canadian energy giant TransCanada Corp. said last week he still hopes to develop a major power line to transport wind power out of Montana, although so far it has failed to get enough bids to finance the line.
HELENA - The president for Canadian energy giant TransCanada Corp. said last week he still hopes to develop a major power line to transport wind power out of Montana, although so far it has failed to get enough bids to finance the line.
"We've put a lot of work into that Chinook line," Hal Kvisle said during a meeting with Gov. Brian Schweitzer at the Capitol. "It's not dead."
TransCanada, headquartered in Calgary, last month said it has extended the "open season" bidding process until December on the Chinook line, which would be a $3 billion, 1,100-mile line from central Montana to southern Nevada.
The bids are from potential power-project developers who commit to buy space on the line to move their power. Initial bidding this …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]HELENA - The president for Canadian energy giant TransCanada Corp. said last week he still hopes to develop a major power line to transport wind power out of Montana, although so far it has failed to get enough bids to finance the line.
"We've put a lot of work into that Chinook line," Hal Kvisle said during a meeting with Gov. Brian Schweitzer at the Capitol. "It's not dead."
TransCanada, headquartered in Calgary, last month said it has extended the "open season" bidding process until December on the Chinook line, which would be a $3 billion, 1,100-mile line from central Montana to southern Nevada.
The bids are from potential power-project developers who commit to buy space on the line to move their power. Initial bidding this year for the Chinook line didn't "fully subscribe" the line, company officials said.
Two weeks ago, TransCanada announced it had signed agreements with wind-power developers to fill the space on a similar line out of Wyoming, known as the Zephyr project.
If that $3 billion project goes as planned, TransCanada hopes to begin "major capital spending" on the line in late 2013.
Kvisle said Wyoming has specific projects and larger developers that are "a little further advanced" than what exists in Montana, and that can make deeper financial commitments.
"We've also got to get the California utilities to play a few cards here ... to show that they're serious about buying wind power," he added.
NorthWestern Energy also is proposing to build a new power line, the Mountain States Transmission Intertie, from Montana to Idaho, to move wind power to Southwestern markets.