CA Groups Voice Support for Proposed Electric Transmission Line

0 Comments | Renewable Energy Today, April 10, 2006

A coalition of more than one dozen California business and labor groups, dubbed Associated Business & Labor for Energy (ABLE), recently announced its unified support for the Sunrise Powerlink, a major electric-transmission line proposed by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). ABLE members include such organizations as the California Chamber of Commerce, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the California Solar Energy Industries Association.

According to the coalition, the proposed 120-mile line would help deliver renewable power to the San Diego region by connecting to new facilities to be built in the Imperial Valley, including a new solar-thermal site planned by Stirling Energy Systems and existing geothermal fields near the Salton Sea.

"The proposed Stirling project, and other renewable energy resources like it, will help secure a clean-energy future for California," said ABLE member and past California Energy Commission chairman Bill Keese. "But, we must have new transmission lines, like the Sunrise Powerlink, to ensure this renewable energy can be delivered to customers."

The coalition noted that the Sunrise Powerlink would also help SDG&E meet the state regulators's goal of having 20 percent of its energy come from renewable resources such as solar, wind and geothermal by 2010. SDG&E has received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission for a contract with Stirling Energy Systems for up to 600 megawatts of solar power to be generated in the Imperial Valley and delivered to utility customers via the proposed transmission line.

Contact: SDG&E, website http://www.sdge.com.

(EIN STAFF: 4/5)