Nevada Approves 155-Mile Power Line Project to Meet Data Center Electricity Needs

Nevada officials, including Gov. Joe Lombardo, recently broke ground on the Core Upgrades Project, a significant transmission infrastructure upgrade in the southern part of the state. Led by GridLiance West, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Transmission, the project involves replacing or rebuilding 155 miles of 230-kilovolt and 500-kilovolt transmission lines and modernizing substations across Clark and Nye counties.

The upgrades are designed to add up to 1 gigawatt of capacity to the region's power grid, bolstering reliability for areas like Las Vegas, which rely on aging infrastructure. Gov. Lombardo emphasized the importance of reliable, affordable energy for Nevada's economic success and its ability to attract new businesses, citing the Western Transmission Expansion Coalition (WestTEC) as an example of interstate cooperation on grid modernization.

The Bureau of Land Management approved the project in June, following a federal environmental review initiated in August 2023. Construction will primarily follow existing utility corridors west of the Spring Mountains, affecting approximately 4,900 acres of federal land. The project is expected to be completed by late 2027, with the upgraded system entering service in 2028.

Rising electricity demand from data centers is a primary driver for this expansion; the Electric Power Research Institute projects that data centers' share of Nevada's electricity use will increase from 8.69% in 2023 to nearly 20% by 2030.