A major transmission line proposed by San Diego Gas & Electric will cost an estimated $1.62 billion, the utility said Monday.<\/p>\n
SDG&E wants to build what\u2019s been dubbed the Golden Pacific Powerlink<\/a> \u2014 a 500-kilovolt line that would act as an electricity corridor running about 150 miles from Imperial Valley in the east to the border of San Diego and Orange counties in the west using overhead power lines.<\/p>\n \u201cI can say it is SDG&E\u2019s largest capital project,\u201d said Erica Martin, SDG&E\u2019s director of project development. <\/a>\u201cIt would be the longest 500 KV transmission line in our service territory.\u201d<\/p>\n The Golden State Powerlink is not a done deal.<\/p>\n It is in the early phases of a regulatory process that includes public discussion on the line\u2019s value, feasibility, environmental impact and routing. Ultimately, the California Public Utilities Commission will have the final say.<\/p>\n If the transmission line wins approval, the cost of the project will be spread among all ratepayers served by the California Independent System Operator<\/a>, which manages about 80% of the state\u2019s electrical grid. Of that, SDG&E customers will shoulder 9% of the financial burden.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a cost that is spread over the life of the asset, so it\u2019s not an immediate one-time cost,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIt would be factored in over the use of the transmission line,\u201d which would have an expected service time of multiple decades.<\/p>\n The proposal originated as part of a 180-page transmission plan<\/a> for some 45 infrastructure projects requested by the grid operator, known as the CAISO.<\/p>\n The plan cited assumptions that the power system needs to add more than 40 gigawatts of new resources over the next 10 years to keep the electric grid reliable and resilient \u2014 as well as meeting California\u2019s clean energy mandates.<\/p>\n The Golden Pacific Powerlink plans to go from SDG&E\u2019s existing Imperial Valley substation and then connect to a still-to-be-constructed substation where San Diego and Orange counties meet \u2014 just north of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and Camp Pendleton.<\/p>\n But the proposed line has met opposition on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n A chunk of about 25 miles of the Golden Pacific Powerlink plans to run through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park<\/a>, the largest state park in California and home to diverse wildlife and vegetation. The Anza-Borrego Foundation<\/a> doesn\u2019t want the high-voltage lines touching any portion of the park.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is home to the most endemic species, meaning these species live nowhere else than Anza-Borrego \u2014 the registered and listed endangered species of the Peninsular Bighorn Sheep, among several birds and reptiles, along with Kumeyaay sensitive burial sites that are in the path of this entire line,\u201d\u00a0 foundation Executive Director Bri Fordem<\/a> told the Union-Tribune in April.<\/p>\n Farther west, an initial route preferred by SDG&E would see the transmission line cross into portions of Riverside County and Temecula. That\u2019s ignited protests from tourism groups<\/a>, some residents<\/a> and the city council of Temecula<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cProgress should never come at the expense of the people it claims to serve,\u201d Mark Winkler, president of Save Temecula<\/a> said in a statement ahead of a rally on July 31.<\/p>\n On July 20, the Fallbrook Community Planning Group came out unanimously<\/a> against the Golden Pacific Powerlink, citing concerns about areas in high-fire risks and calling the transmission towers that can rise 200 feet in height \u201cmonstrous.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim Desmond of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors<\/a> opposes it, saying on X<\/a>, \u201cThe character of these places (in North County), the whole reason people moved here, gets traded away for a line that is just passing through to somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n