Recharge News:

PacifiCorp will proceed with a $3bn wind and related transmission expansion plan after it received two final state approvals needed to advance the Energy Vision 2020 initiative, said officials at the utility holding company.

Plans call for adding three new wind projects totaling 1.15 GW of power generation capacity and a new 140-mile (225 km) transmission line in Wyoming, and repowering 900 MW of existing facilities in Washington state and Wyoming.

The new wind projects will increase the amount of owned and contracted wind capacity on PacifiCorp’s system by more than 60% and will add enough new wind energy to power more than 400,000 average homes by 2020, according to the utility.

PacifiCorp, which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, says that repowering older wind farms will boost electricity output by more than 25% and extend the life of wind turbines.

The final regulatory approvals were from the Utah Public Service Commission on 22 June and Idaho Public Utilities Commission last Friday.

PacifiCorp owns two utilities: Pacific Power, whose service territory includes northern California, Oregon and southeastern Washington; and Rocky Mountain Power, covering eastern Idaho, and much of Utah and Wyoming. PacifiCorp now estimates its total investment for the Energy Vision 2020 projects will be “just over” $3bn, a reduction from the initial $3.5bn cost projection estimate when they were first announced in April 2017.

More: Buffett utility gets final approvals for $3bn wind expansion