Clean Line Wind Project Clears Hurdle

Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners LLC received initial approval from Tennessee regulators to construct a 700-mile transmission line that would deliver wind power generated in the plains of western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle to customers in the Tennessee Valley.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides power to approximately 9 million people in seven southeastern states, signed a letter of support for the project last November, and would become the largest buyer of the projected 3,500 megawatts of clean power.

Clean Line hopes the project will begin operation in 2018, but the energy developer still must obtain final federal and state approval.