Article written by: Wayne Fortin

Sunrise Power link

There are many sides both pro’s and con’s to what is known as

the Sunrise Power link. . We find Michael Shames on behalf of the

Utility Consumers Action Network (UCAN) in opposition of San Diego

Gas and Electrics plan to construct such a transmission line. We see

that the Sunrise Power link is expensive and we know that there are

environmental impacts that go along with its construction but if we

look into the future we will see that there is going to be a greater

demand for energy, which will need the support of the Sunrise Power

link. San Diego Gas and Electric provides substantial evidence on why

we need the Sunrise Power link in the future. It is stated that the

Sunrise power link is the best way to harness the renewable sources

located in the Imperial Valley and transport through to San Diego via

Sunrise Power link. There are many proposed routes for such a

transmission line to be constructed upon, some more feasible than

others; we also know that there are environmental impacts when

constructing such a transmission line but San Diego Gas and Electric

has come to the conclusion that the best route is known by the name

of the ‘Enhanced Northern Route’ which crosses through the Anza

Borrego Desert. When it comes to Environmental standards the

Enhanced Northern Route best meets such mandates out of all the

other routes because of the corridor that already exists. The Enhanced
Northern Route is said to cost less than Alternative routes, although

there is a “Modified Southern Route” that’s may seem feasible it is

uncertain because it requires federal approval to cross through

Cleveland National Forrest, it is also estimated to cost consumers two

billion more if the cost of expected outages and “inferior

expandability” Is factored into the price, we also see that the Southern

route impacts more undisturbed land thus making the Enhanced

Northern Route preferred. Alternative routes also consist of the “Aspen

Northern/Southern route” but we deem such a route infeasible due to

its proposed route through Indian reservations, and it is said that the

American Indians will be quick to veto such a proposal across their

land. We see that non Sunrise DEIR alternatives are infeasible because

they are merely hypothetical. We see that the Enhanced Northern

Route is the best possible way to deliver what the Sunrise Power link is

intended to do, which is to improve energy reliability, have direct

access to renewable sources and lower the cost for consumers.

We need the Sunrise Power link to pursue the Renewable

Portfolio Standard (RPS) criteria it is stated that San Diego Gas and

Electric is obligated to harness 20% of its energy from renewable

sources by the year 2010 and an obligation that states by the year

2020 we need to have our production of green house gas levels down

to 1990 levels, therefore we must have the Sunrise Power link to meet

these mandates. We have covered part of why we need the Sunrise

Power link and we have covered the environmental aspects of such a

Transmission line and now we need to financially analyze such a

project, we know it will be expensive but we know it is essential as the

demand for power grows.

Michael Shames statements on behalf of UCAN bring up

arguments against the Sunrise Power link. When Shames mentions

Sunrise he says that it is not economically sound. UCAN is in support of

rooftop photovoltaics and they point out how SDGE’s plan for Solar

tracking is not cost efficient. UCAN’s protest is based upon failure to

show cost effectiveness, non explanation of why solar tracking is better

than other PV applications, and losing out on economies of scale when

it comes to solar tracking as opposed to Southern California Edison’s

plan for PV. Michael Shames basically points out that single axis

tracking is way too expensive and is not a promising means for PV

deployment and that we need to consider other means alternative

means, such as mass deployment in thin film rooftop PV, and

subsidized customer owned PV.

Shames brings up a few points when it comes to the monetary

expenditures that will arise in single axis tracking but when we bring

up an argument brought upon us by the SDGE representatives we had

in class we see that rooftop PV may cost upwards of $30k, and

although it is a clean renewable source, it is very expensive and there

downside is the payback, the representatives told us that you get

roughly $12 back in rebates so you are stuck with a remaining 18K

dollars and a minimum of 12 years for payback. Even though Shames

states the economies of scale that take place in rooftop PV, our SDGE

representatives stated that rooftop PV prices have gone up due to

demand and government incentives. Another argument says that it

may cost 1.2 billion dollars for the Sunrise Power link we the customers

only pay for 10% because it is socialized, in other words since all

transmission lines that are built have to benefit all customers in

California therefore we only pay 10%, as opposed to building a new

power plant for 500 million dollars and only having the residents of San

Diego cover all the costs. In essence the Sunrise Power link will be

costly but since the cost of such a project is dispersed rather than a

local project being concentrated the benefits of such expenditure will

outweigh any negative aspects of the Sunrise Power link.

Although there is high speculation of the initial high costs of

Sunrise it has been proven that the Sunrise Power link has proven that

it will more than pay for itself with its Enhanced Northern Route

construction, is expected to cost less than any of the DEIR alternatives.

The California ISO says that Sunrise will bring in yearly net benefits

that will far surpass any alternatives. If we take a few steps back, and

consider a power plant or an in basin facility we can see that it

compromises our goals for attaining renewable sources as well as our

quality of air due to potential pollution.

 Although Michael Shames from UCAN has been fighting Sunrise

but us as a people still come to the conclusion that we need the

Sunrise Power link to provide us with reliability incase our main

Transmission line goes down, Access to renewable Sources east of San

Diego in the Imperial Valley. Renewables from the Imperial Valley can

come from the form of PV, Geothermal and Wind, which San Diego

lacks. Another benefit to Sunrise is that it will lower prices for energy

consumers. San Diego only has One Transmission line thus far. The

Sunrise Power link would be the second in San Diego if it is agreed

upon. We see that the entire state of California has contains 47 Power

lines and only one of those are in San Diego and building another

additional line would be a benefit to our region and state rather than a

set back.