◆ Project will be built on 450 acres of private ground.
A solar power project is planned for the Cokeville area, with construction starting in 2022.
Lincoln County Commissioner Robert King reported on the SVI Weekday Wake-up program (Swift 98.7 FM Star Valley, The Spur 105.3 FM Kemmerer/Diamondville and 106.7/107.5 Star Valley) the project will be located on 450 acres south of Cokeville.
The project will include a battery storage facility.
“All of this will be on private property, no federal lands will be involved,” Commissioner King said.
After making some changes to the initial design of the project, the commissioner said it has received approval from the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council.
The power will feed into the Rocky Mountain Power system.
• Gateway West
In related news, plans are underway to add an additional transmission line in Wyoming and Idaho under plans for the Gateway West Transmission Line Project. King noted original plans called for the new Gateway West transmission line to be located north of Cokeville with the existing transmission lines already located on the south side of the community.
King reported the Lincoln County Commission had met with Rocky Mountain Power representatives while attending the 2021 Wyoming Governor’s Conference in Cheyenne in November and expressed concerns about a transmission system located on both sides of the community. “We are concerned about encircling Cokeville with power lines,” he said. “We will want them all in a certain corridor.”
He added, “We’ll put that in writing for Rocky Mountain Power, so they understand our stance.”
The commissioner suggested that regulations regarding the transmission line had allowed for the lines to be placed in a nearby corridor.
The Gateway West website reports, “this project is jointly proposed by Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power to build and operate approximately 1,000 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines between the Windstar substation near Glenrock, Wyoming and the Hemingway substation near Melba, Idaho.
“The project would include approximately 150 miles of 230 kilovolt (kV) lines in Wyoming and approximately 850 miles of 500 kV lines in Wyoming and Idaho.
“Rocky Mountain Power and Idaho Power are building this new transmission line to provide electricity to meet increasing customer needs.
“It will deliver power from existing and future electric resources including renewable resources such as wind energy. In addition, the line will provide strength and reliability to the region’s transmission system.”
