Moorpark-Pardee Transmission Project Okayed Despite Doubts

A transmission line upgrade to serve the constrained Moorpark area came under fire just before it was approved by the grid operator as part of its 2017-18 transmission plan. Critics expressed doubts over whether the new line actually would improve reliability in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

NRG Market Affairs Director Brian Theaker said the line will run on the same towers an existing line runs along and be subject to some of the same outage risks, including wildfires.

His March 22 testimony to the California Independent System Operator’s board came after the area suffered the state’s largest wildfire on record late last year that triggered extensive power outages in the area. That was followed earlier this year by devastating mudslides in the burn area.

Theaker said the line will be no substitute for the local generation capacity CASIO studies have found is needed to assure reliability in the event of the transmission line going down.

The Southern California Edison project involves stringing a fourth Moorpark to Pardee 230 kV circuit along 26 miles of existing towers at an estimated cost of $45 million, according to CAISO.

The line will close 232 MW of a 318 MW local capacity gap in the area, according to Jonathan Yuen, Edison power systems planner. There are about some 2,000 MW of coastal power plant closures slated for Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

The California Energy Storage Association earlier warned that “stringing an additional line on an existing transmission tower” will continue to leave the area’s electrical service susceptible to “extreme” events, like earthquakes, wildfires, and mudslides, all of which have occurred in the area.

Indeed, the Clean Coalition told CAISO in comments that meeting the entire local reliability need with preferred resources will in the long run be less expensive than fulfilling it largely with the transmission line.

While capital costs may be higher for preferred resources, the coalition’s analysis showed the cost of energy over the lifetime of the facilities likely will be less than the cost of electricity moved over the transmission facility. This would create overall savings to utility customers of some $65 million over 30 years.

More transmission will cut the cost of assuring reliability in the area, according to Edison, by leaving only an 86 MW need for the utility to procure local preferred resources. Estimates for meeting the whole local capacity need of 318 MW with local solar, energy storage, and other preferred resources ranged up to almost $1 billion.

The utility turned toward the transmission project, coupled with local preferred resources, to meet the local capacity need in the Moorpark area after the California Energy Commission declined to issue a construction license for NRG’s proposed Puente power plant last year.

CAISO found that the transmission project was “the most effective and economic alternative” to meet most local needs and will still leave a role for storage, solar, and other local preferred resources. —William J. Kelly

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Moorpark-Pardee Transmission Project Okayed Despite Doubts

William J. Kelly

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