Pacific Gas and Electric
Company released the following statement in response to today's
announcement by the Department of Energy, directing the Western
Area Power Authority (WAPA) to make upgrades to the congested section
of the Path 15 transmission line in Central California:
"As more power plants come
on-line in California and the Western states over the next few years,
the transmission system needs to be enhanced to move the new power
to where it's needed. The upgrades to be pursued by the Department
of Energy will help to eliminate the congestion that currently exists,
and provide additional room to move the output from the new power
resources that are planned and under construction in the Western
United States.
"We applaud the DOE's efforts
to expand Path 15 in order to increase the flow of electricity between
Northern and Southern California. The participation of the federal
government in this upgrade will be of substantial benefit not only
to California, but also to the entire Western grid, particularly
in terms of significantly expediting the permitting process, as
well as reducing the overall project cost.
"Clearly, in addition to
California's retail electricity customers, there are several other
groups that stand to benefit from increased Path 15 capacity - primarily
municipally owned utilities, as well as federal and state agencies
like the California Department of Water Resources and the Western
Area Power Authority. Several times over the past decade, Pacific
Gas and Electric Company has attempted to work with these groups
on ways to fairly share the costs and benefits of any upgrade. However,
in each case, these interests have declined to participate in upgrading
Path 15, leaving the cost of making the upgrade to be born only
by PG&E's retail customers. In at least one case, the California
Public Utilities Commission determined the effort to upgrade Path
15 was uneconomic.
"In the meantime, the utility
has made several low cost, high benefit upgrades to Path 15, which
have successfully increased its capacity. Furthermore, earlier this
year, the utility performed preliminary environmental studies that
should help expedite the development of an upgrade of Path 15.
"Pacific Gas and Electric
Company looks forward to working with the DOE and WAPA to accelerate
the development of this needed transmission upgrade."