NV Energy ON Line Transmission Project

Connecting the Northern and Southern Nevada power grids. Complete habitat restoration in highly environmentally sensitive areas of the Mojave Desert.

Project Overview

In 2011, NV Energy and Great Basin Transmission South, an affiliate of LS Power, partnered to build the 237-mile 500 kV, 600-megawatt ON Line Transmission Line, to connect the Northern and Southern Nevada power grids. This $343-million, 3-year project spanned over 235-miles, of which 134 miles were located in the environmentally sensitive Mojave Desert, requiring specialty environmental reclamation services to protect the existing natural habitats. ON Line is critical to ensure the reliability and integrity of the Western grid, and is part of the transmission backbone that brings growing wind and solar power generation in Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada to California and other major-load areas.

Scope & Objectives

The goals of this project were to enable the development of renewable energy projects in Nevada and enhance statewide energy-sharing efficiencies for NV Energy’s power generation resources. ON Line would help the western United  States and Nevada in particular to meet a critical need for long-distance energy transport infrastructure due to location of population centers and energy generation facilities or potential energy sources identified in remote regions without access to the transmission system grid.

Soil-Tech Role

Soil-Tech provided specific environmental restoration services at the disturbance areas the southern section of the project to minimize environmental degradation during construction, and to restore ecological functionality and visual compatibility to the natural landscape. The restoration scope included transmission structures, access roads, staging areas, tension and pulling sites and all other extra work areas. Reclamation services for the southern section included salvaging and replanting over 40,000 succulent plants, seeding, dust control and tortoise fencing.

Project highlights include:

  • Pioneered over 80 miles of new access roads and 140 acres of tower pad sites
  • Salvaged all succulents within 24 feet of the right-of-way
  • Maintained more than 40,000 salvaged plants in temporary nurseries for post-construction replanting
  • Performed broadcast seeding and drill seeding on 1,300 acres in several vegetation zones
  • Installed more than 100,000 linear feet of straw wattles

Project Services Include:

MORE ABOUT OUR SERVICES

NURSERY
SERVICES

REVEGETATION

WILDLIFE FENCE

DUST
CONTROL

237 MILE

HABITAT RESTORATION

40,000

SPECIAL STATUS PLANTS preserved

RESULTS

Through years of experience and expertise, Soil-Tech recognized potential difficulties with the vague restoration requirements within the specifications and was able to tailor the implementation plan, ultimately saving the customer time and money.  We conducted additional plant surveys beyond the initial specifications and adjusted plant community boundaries, seeding techniques and seed mixes for customer and agency approval. Our manpower and equipment capacity enabled us to complete all of the work on schedule. Soil-Tech went above and beyond to ensure revegetation success in this project.