Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Project
On December 18, 2008, the California Public Utilities Commission approved San Diego Gas and Electric Company’s application to construct the Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Project. The $1.3 billion high voltage transmission line project is expected to run 150 miles between the CA Imperial Valley and San Diego with the capacity to transmit 1,000 megawatts of electric power by 2010.
The added transmission capacity is designed to ensure reliable electricity for residents of the San Diego area. The new transmission line is also supposed to support the development of renewable energy resources in the Imperial Valley of CA, which offers a high concentrated solar power resource potential just east of the San Diego area, in neighboring Imperial County. 
Stirling Energy Systems (SES) of Phoenix plans to construct thousands of mirrored solar power concentrators in the Imperial Valley to transmit power via the new Sunrise Powerlink. Phase 1 of the SES “Solar Two” solar power plant construction project, sited near El Centro, CA in the Imperial Valley (map below), will consist of 12,000 solar dish Stirling systems capable of generating 300 MW of electrical power. Phase 2 of the SES project will expand the number of solar dish Stirling systems to 36,000 units, capable of generating up to 900 MW of power, enough power to supply 500,000 homes. The power generated at this site will be sold in accordance with a 20-year power purchase agreement to San Diego Gas & Electric.
Cost estimates for the the first phase of solar dish Stirling systems construction (12,000 dishes, 300 MW capacity) range from $400 million to $1.8 billion. The prototype solar dish Stirling systems actually cost roughly $250,000 apiece, but bulk manufacturing and high volume construction is expected to significantly reduce that unit cost.
Opponents of the Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Project say that “clean power” is a cover for SDG&E, a unit of San Sempra Energy, to use the new high-voltage transmission line to sell low-cost, polluting electricity from Mexico, where Sempra has invested heavily in natural gas and power-plant assets.
Related Links
San Diego Union Tribune: Massive solar plan is linked to SDG&E
PBS Now Documentary: Power Struggle
CPUC: SDG&E’s Proposed Sunrise Powerlink Transmission Project
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EIA: Retail Prices
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