CPUC Approves New SDG&E Transmission Project

The California Public Utilities Commission on July 8 approved San Diego Gas & Electric's Miguel-Mission transmission project. The line includes a new 230 kV circuit between the Miguel and Mission substations. Commissioners Loretta Lynch and Carl Wood cast dissenting votes. SDG&E faces a "serious and growing threat with transmission congestion," said commissioner Susan Kennedy. Her approved plan to place lines overhead instead of underground—as proposed in the defeated draft decision—will save "hundreds of millions of dollars in construction and congestion costs," she calculated. Kennedy noted that the California Independent System Operator had backed her plan. The CPUC has gotten heat from the grid operator as well as the California Energy Commission for delays on this project. The utility filed for a certificate of public convenience and necessity in 2002, but commission delays moved its proposed on-line date from last month to June 2006. "Everyone says this is a no-brainer," CEC member John Geesman said recently. He claims the project has a $55 million annual benefit because it can tap into cheaper power from the Southwest and Mexico. With the CEC angling for jurisdiction over siting transmission lines, Geesman has expressed disdain over the pace of CPUC progress in approving the line. In another transmission case, a parade of people spoke out about Pacific Gas & Electric's proposed 27-mile, 230 kV line—known as Jefferson-Martin—for the San Francisco Peninsula. Many applauded the commission's draft plan, calling for expanded study of exposure to electromagnetic fields from power lines. Votes on the plan and an alternate version by CPUC president Mike Peevey were tabled until August 19.

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CPUC Approves New SDG&E Transmission Project

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