Sunrise

Article written by: Wayne Fortin Sunrise Power link There are many sides both pro’s and con’s to what is known as the Sunrise Power link. . We find Michael Shames on behalf of the Utility Consumers Action Network (UCAN) in opposition of San Diego Gas and Electrics plan to construct such a transmission line. We see that the Sunrise Power link is expensive and we know that there are environmental impacts that go along with its construction but if we look into the future we will see that there is going to be a greater demand for energy, which will need the support of the Sunrise Power link. San Diego Gas and Electric provides substantial evidence on why we need the Sunrise Power link in the future. It is stated that the Sunrise power link is the best way to harness the renewable sources located in the Imperial Valley and transport through to San Diego via Sunrise Power link. There are many proposed routes for such a transmission line to be constructed upon, some more feasible than others; we also know that there are environmental impacts when constructing such a transmission line but San Diego Gas and Electric has come to the conclusion that the best route is known by the name of the ‘Enhanced Northern Route’ which crosses through the Anza Borrego Desert. When it comes to Environmental standards the Enhanced Northern Route best meets such mandates out of all the other routes because of the corridor that already exists. The Enhanced

Northern Route is said to cost less than Alternative routes, although there is a “Modified Southern Route” that’s may seem feasible it is uncertain because it requires federal approval to cross through Cleveland National Forrest, it is also estimated to cost consumers two billion more if the cost of expected outages and “inferior expandability” Is factored into the price, we also see that the Southern route impacts more undisturbed land thus making the Enhanced Northern Route preferred. Alternative routes also consist of the “Aspen Northern/Southern route” but we deem such a route infeasible due to its proposed route through Indian reservations, and it is said that the American Indians will be quick to veto such a proposal across their land. We see that non Sunrise DEIR alternatives are infeasible because they are merely hypothetical. We see that the Enhanced Northern Route is the best possible way to deliver what the Sunrise Power link is intended to do, which is to improve energy reliability, have direct access to renewable sources and lower the cost for consumers. We need the Sunrise Power link to pursue the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) criteria it is stated that San Diego Gas and Electric is obligated to harness 20% of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2010 and an obligation that states by the year 2020 we need to have our production of green house gas levels down to 1990 levels, therefore we must have the Sunrise Power link to meet these mandates. We have covered part of why we need the Sunrise

Power link and we have covered the environmental aspects of such a Transmission line and now we need to financially analyze such a project, we know it will be expensive but we know it is essential as the demand for power grows. Michael Shames statements on behalf of UCAN bring up arguments against the Sunrise Power link. When Shames mentions Sunrise he says that it is not economically sound. UCAN is in support of rooftop photovoltaics and they point out how SDGE’s plan for Solar tracking is not cost efficient. UCAN’s protest is based upon failure to show cost effectiveness, non explanation of why solar tracking is better than other PV applications, and losing out on economies of scale when it comes to solar tracking as opposed to Southern California Edison’s plan for PV. Michael Shames basically points out that single axis tracking is way too expensive and is not a promising means for PV deployment and that we need to consider other means alternative means, such as mass deployment in thin film rooftop PV, and subsidized customer owned PV. Shames brings up a few points when it comes to the monetary expenditures that will arise in single axis tracking but when we bring up an argument brought upon us by the SDGE representatives we had in class we see that rooftop PV may cost upwards of $30k, and although it is a clean renewable source, it is very expensive and there downside is the payback, the representatives told us that you get

roughly $12 back in rebates so you are stuck with a remaining 18K dollars and a minimum of 12 years for payback. Even though Shames states the economies of scale that take place in rooftop PV, our SDGE representatives stated that rooftop PV prices have gone up due to demand and government incentives. Another argument says that it may cost 1.2 billion dollars for the Sunrise Power link we the customers only pay for 10% because it is socialized, in other words since all transmission lines that are built have to benefit all customers in California therefore we only pay 10%, as opposed to building a new power plant for 500 million dollars and only having the residents of San Diego cover all the costs. In essence the Sunrise Power link will be costly but since the cost of such a project is dispersed rather than a local project being concentrated the benefits of such expenditure will outweigh any negative aspects of the Sunrise Power link. Although there is high speculation of the initial high costs of Sunrise it has been proven that the Sunrise Power link has proven that it will more than pay for itself with its Enhanced Northern Route construction, is expected to cost less than any of the DEIR alternatives. The California ISO says that Sunrise will bring in yearly net benefits that will far surpass any alternatives. If we take a few steps back, and consider a power plant or an in basin facility we can see that it compromises our goals for attaining renewable sources as well as our quality of air due to potential pollution.

Although Michael Shames from UCAN has been fighting Sunrise but us as a people still come to the conclusion that we need the Sunrise Power link to provide us with reliability incase our main Transmission line goes down, Access to renewable Sources east of San Diego in the Imperial Valley. Renewables from the Imperial Valley can come from the form of PV, Geothermal and Wind, which San Diego lacks. Another benefit to Sunrise is that it will lower prices for energy consumers. San Diego only has One Transmission line thus far. The Sunrise Power link would be the second in San Diego if it is agreed upon. We see that the entire state of California has contains 47 Power lines and only one of those are in San Diego and building another additional line would be a benefit to our region and state rather than a set back.