Edison power plans to be explained

LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA - Southern California Edison officials will explain plans for three 500,000-volt lines proposed between west Lancaster, Valencia, Acton and Tehachapi to serve a huge expansion of Antelope Valley wind-energy farms.

Open houses May 25 in Rosamond, May 26 in Lancaster and June 2 in Valencia will provide information to residents, property owners and anyone who is interested in the Antelope transmission line, which is expected to cost $190 million to $250 million, and when completed could carry enough electricity to power 825,000 homes.

"It's the project team that will be there and will be available for questions," Southern California Edison public affairs region manager Alis Clausen said of the open houses.

As presently envisioned, the new lines would replace a lower-power line leading northeast from Santa Clarita, add to an existing power-line corridor from west Lancaster to Acton, and create a new power-line right-of-way north from Lancaster into Kern County between 100th and 110th streets west.

Edison is seeking authorization from the California Public Utilities Commission for the lines. The first segment, between Valencia and west Lancaster, is expected to be finished in 2007.

With a post-energy crisis state law ordering utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from "renewable" sources by 2017, state officials say the Tehachapi-Mojave area has the potential to grow from 600 megawatts of wind power to as much as 4,500, with another 400 megawatts in Los Angeles County.

Last July, the state Independent System Operator board told Southern California Edison to proceed with the design and environmental studies, though both Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric have objected to being required to finance power lines serving other companies' wind projects.

The first line would run 25.6 miles from east of Interstate 5 near the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in Valencia to a substation west of Lancaster.

A later extension would run high-power lines 26.1 miles to a new substation west of Mojave, and then a further 9.4 miles to east of Tehachapi, serving the area of existing wind farms and potential new wind farms in East Kern County.

A third leg will run 17.8 miles from the west Lancaster substation to near Acton at the Vincent substation, a prime component of the state power grid.

Much of the Valencia-West Lancaster line runs through Angeles National Forest, which will require Forest Service approval for adding 80 feet to the existing 100-foot-wide right-of-way.