Oklahoma power grid project gets $250 million federal investment

The U.S. Department of Energy says it is putting $250 million toward a planned high-voltage transmission line that would run from near Guymon in the Oklahoma Panhandle to Pueblo, Colorado.

The roughly 300-mile power line, known as the Three Corners Connector, is designed to connect the eastern and western U.S. electric grids.

That would allow electricity to move between the two regions depending on where power is needed, grid operators said.

The Department of Energy lists the project receiving the federal funding at a total value of more than $832 million.

Why the new power line matters

Federal officials say connecting the two regional grids would increase the amount of electricity that can be transferred between them and help improve reliability.

“So the connectors that we’re investing in across the U.S. is ensuring that we have capacity to move the power and energy to where it’s being posted. And ultimately, this is going to drive cost down. It’s a whole lot cheaper to connect two large systems like STP and WET than it is for us to build new generation.”

The Department of Energy says the project is intended to increase transfer capability between the eastern and western electric grids.

$250 million part of larger federal investment

The $250 million for the Oklahoma project is part of a broader $5.25 billion federal initiative aimed at increasing electrical grid capacity and reliability across the country.

The Three Corners Connector is being developed to give the two regions another way to move electricity where it is needed, grid operators said.