Power Lines Approved

PO WER Lines Approved- 04/06/2004

An Arizona regulatory committee has approved a project spearheaded by the Salt River Project to build two parallel, 500-kV lines that will connect merchant generation to areas of growing demand.

The ACC's line and power-plant siting committee unanimously approved the project and a full commission vote is expected by summer. SRP aims to have the line operating by 2006.

If approved by the ACC, two 500-kV lines would run from the 3,810-MW Palo Verde nuclear generating station, about 50 miles west of Phoenix, to a site near Mesa, southeast of Phoenix. Several unregulated generators interconnect at the Palo Verde hub, including Duke Energy's 580-MW Arlington Valley Station, Pinnacle West's 1,060-MW Red Hawk facility, and Sempra Energy's 1,265-MW Mesquite Generating Station.

The project grew out of the Central Arizona Transmission Study conducted by several of the state's electric utilities, the Arizona Corporation Commission and energy marketers to address increasing demand created by rapid business and residential growth in the Phoenix and Tucson areas during the past decade.

Partners in the project include SRP, Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power and the Santa Cruz Water and Power Districts Assn. SRP said it expects to file for permission to build a second portion of the project this summer. Under the second phase of the project, a 230-kV double-circuit line would connect a new receiving station for the 500-kV line to SRP's Browning receiving station in east Mesa. SRP expects an ACC decision on that project next winter.