SDG&E flips the switch on Otay-Metro Powerloop
Flipping the switch: Kevin Faulconer, San Diego City councilmember; Debra Reed, SDG&E president and CEO; and Timothy Alan Simon, commissioner with the California Public Utilities Commission, flip the switch to energize the Otay-Metro Powerloop.
San Diego’s first high-voltage underground line.
Officials, business leaders and scientists joined San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) executives and employees on July 20 to dedicate the first major high-voltage underground electrical-transmission line in San Diego.
The line is called the Otay-Metro Powerloop. It was finished ahead of schedule and under budget.
Safe, reliable power
The 52-mile Otay-Metro Powerloop includes two, new, 230,000-volt electrical lines, which will carry reliable and affordable electricity within San Diego for decades.
The project was prompted, in part, by the increase in new power plants built in Sand Diego County, including Palomar Energy last year and another scheduled to come online in Otay Mesa in 2009.
As its name implies, the Otay-Metro Powerloop creates a loop around the heart of San Diego County, linking the cities of San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Santee and unincorporated areas. About 10 miles of this new line were built underground, with the rest placed on new or existing poles within SDG&E’s utility corridors, saving customers money and reducing the impact on the environment.
The construction did yield some surprise finds. As crews dug beneath the city, paleontologists found 200,000-year-old fossils. The fossils are now being kept at the San Diego Museum of Natural History.
“Looped in”
Otay-Metro Fast Facts:
- Two, new 230-kilovolt transmission lines.
- Fifty-two-mile loop around San Diego County that circles downtown, south to Chula Vista and east to Santee.
- Ten miles of this new line built underground.
- Enhances capacity of the regional grid.
- Improves access to more power sources.
- Improves access to reliable and competitively priced power.
- Enough electricity for 500,000 homes and businesses.
- Built ahead of schedule and under budget.
The line was built with little impact on homes, businesses and commuters, despite its path through dense urban and suburban areas.
SDG&E launched a strong outreach program with city leaders, community groups and customers to gain input before construction began.
Customers offered ideas on ways to reduce the impact on traffic, noise and construction dust.
Long-term resource plan
Construction on the Otay-Metro Powerloop began in 2005. As with other electrical-transmission projects, the cost of the $210 million Powerloop is being underwritten by all California energy consumers, with San Diego consumers paying about one-tenth of the cost.
The new line is part of SDG&E’s Long-Term Resource Plan, which calls for a balanced mix of new power plants, transmission lines and conservation efforts to ensure the region has the energy it needs well into the future.