Energy company to seek contractors for transmission line

Businesses and contractors are invited to meet with officials of a billion-dollar energy transmission line next week to learn how to bid for services.

A meeting is scheduled 5-7 p.m. Aug. 2 at Autry Technology Center, Room 22, for contractors and vendors to meet with Clean Line Energy representatives.

Clean Line Energy, of Houston, wants to build a $3.5 billion transmission system transmitting electrical power generated by wind farms in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas to Tennessee. Construction is expected to start in 2014.

The line is expected to move through southern Garfield County, said Brent Kisling, executive director of Enid Regional Development Alliance.

ERDA is working with Clean Line Energy to ensure local vendors and contractors are able to bid on some of the work.

“We’re hosting the meeting Aug. 2 to familiarize local companies with Clean Line, “ Kisling said. “The important point to remember is that construction won’t start for about two years. We’re just at the beginning of the process.”

Construction is estimated at three to four years, with the transmission line scheduled to open in 2018. It will connect 7,000 megawatts of clean energy generation to customers in Tennessee, Arkansas and other markets in the Mid-South and Southeast areas. The project will include more than 800 miles of overhead high-voltage, direct-current transmission lines.

“The oil play up north won’t last forever,” Kisling said. “These are some of the jobs we hope will take the place of the oil play when it moves north. They need everything from dirt work to engineering contracting. It could be housing, food-related, and there will be a lot of people working on the project in the area.”

To participate in the meeting, call (405) 418-6059 or email rsvp@plainsandeasterncleanline.com.