By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, December 18, 2008

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. says it must build a $1.9 billion, 123-mile transmission line to harness solar, wind and underground heat from a distant desert.

Critics question if the high-voltage power line will ever deliver on its promise of providing renewable power from California's Imperial Valley to the nation's eighth-largest city. They say it will blight the mountain landscape with 150-foot towers and emphasize that ratepayers will pick up the tab.

Those views will clash Thursday when the California Public Utilities Commission meets in San Francisco to consider approving the power line. The PUC has held marathon public hearings since SDG&E asked permission to build the Sunrise Powerlink three years ago and it commissioned an 11,000-page report on its potential impact on the environment.

PUC President Michael Peevey, backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, proposes that the five-member panel approve SDG&E's 500-kilovolt line, which would carry enough electricity for about 750,000 homes, or about half of the utility's customers.

Commissioner Dian Grueneich wants to condition approval on requirements to ensure the line is used for renewable energy. A PUC administrative law judge recommended commissioners reject the proposal.

SDG&E, a unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, dropped initial plans to cut 23 miles through the middle of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, a spot known for its hiking trails, wildflowers, palm groves, cacti and spectacular mountain views.

Thursday's vote comes as utilities nationwide are under pressure to rely less on coal and natural gas to fire their plants, the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S.

California's three investor-owned utilities are required to get 20 percent of power from renewables by the end of 2010. SDG&E is the biggest laggard, getting just 6 percent from renewables.

SDG&E would build the power line but buy the juice from a host of generating companies. The most ambitious generation project relies on a commercially untested technology for a gigantic solar plant.

Stirling Energy Systems Inc., a Phoenix startup, wants to build thousands of solar dishes, each four stories tall about 100 miles east of San Diego. The dishes, which collect sunlight to heat gas and drive the cylinders of an engine, have been tested on a small scale but would now need to move to mass production.

The PUC's vote is unlikely to be the final word.

If the line is rejected, SDG&E can ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to overrule the decision. A 2005 law gives the federal government authority to approve power lines in Southern California and other parts of the country deemed to need more transmission capacity.

A power line opponent, Michael Shames of Utility Consumers' Action Network, said the consumer advocacy group would ask a state court to block construction.