Tres Amigas, LLC, a merchant transmission company, and CH2M HILL—a global full-service consulting, design, construction, and operations firm—announce that CH2M HILL has received a contract to provide program management services for building the Tres Amigas SuperStation in Clovis, New Mexico. Once completed it will tie together America’s three power grids for the first time. Construction is projected to commence in 2012 and be completed in 2014. Under the terms of the contract CH2M HILL will provide overall program management services and logistical support to ensure that the project remains on schedule.
“CH2M HILL is pleased to assist Tres Amigas with this landmark project,” says Don Zabilansky, president of CH2M HILL’s Power Group. “The Tres Amigas SuperStation will enable cross-regional marketing of clean electricity, enhance power grid reliability and security, and provide new opportunities for renewable energy producers. This strategic infrastructure program will transform the way electricity is delivered to customers across the United States utilizing the most advanced technology.”
Phil Harris—the former CEO of the world’s largest transmission balancing area (PJM Interconnection) and CEO and founder of Tres Amigas—says that “The Tres Amigas SuperStation will offer multiple benefits to power consumers and energy producers across North America, including savings projected in the hundreds of millions of dollars due to the more economic dispatch of electric power. Tres Amigas will also increase the value of several large transmission projects planned for the Southwest and will support the expansion of a reliable national corridor system. Tres Amigas is committed to completing the SuperStation in its projected timeline, and CH2M HILL has the expertise and experience needed to ensure that happens. We’re pleased that this leading firm will provide Tres Amigas with planning, organization, and logistical support throughout the construction of the project.”
The SuperStation project site is at the intersection of the nation’s three grids: the Eastern Interconnection, Western Interconnection, and the Texas Interconnection. It will serve as a market hub and balancing authority, enabling the economic transfer of thousands of megawatts of power among the three interconnections. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management for government, civil, industrial, and energy clients. Go to www.ch2m.com. Tres Amigas, LLC, headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is uniting the nation’s electric grid as a merchant transmission entity composed of electric utility industry operational, technology, and thought leaders. More information is available at www.tresamigasllc.com.
