May 13, 2005
Informal meetings will provide opportunity to learn about Antelope project and to talk to SCE project team
LANCASTER, Calif., May 13, 2005— Southern California Edison (SCE) will host open houses on May 25 and 26 in the Antelope Valley and June 2 in Santa Clarita to discuss the proposed Antelope Transmission Line Project. SCE is seeking authorization from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to construct Antelope -- a series of new and upgraded high-voltage transmission lines that would deliver electricity from potential new wind farms in the Antelope Valley.
The open houses will be held on:
- May 25, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Hummell Community Building, 2500 20th Street West, Rosamond, California;
- May 26, noon-7 p.m., at the SCE service center, 42060 10th Street West, Lancaster, California; and
- June 2, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Rio Norte Junior High School, 28771 Rio Norte Dr., Valencia, California.
Alis Clausen, SCE’s public affairs region manager, said that the purpose of the open houses is to provide information to area residents and other interested parties about the Antelope project and to answer questions. The project team will have maps and photo simulations of how the transmission project might look when completed.
The Antelope project could transport additional power from eastern Kern and northern Los Angeles counties and increase the supply of electricity generated by wind power for Californians. Several wind farms are in varying stages of planning and development. When completed, the Antelope project would be capable of delivering 1,100 megawatts of electricity, enough energy to supply approximately 825,000 homes.
The Antelope transmission project would play an important role in helping the state increase the supply of renewable energy. SCE is the country’s leading purchaser of electricity produced from renewable resources like wind, solar, biomass, geothermal energy, and small hydroelectric plants.
SCE proposes to construct the Antelope project in three segments to coincide with the likely development of the privately owned wind farms. The three segments are:
- Antelope to Pardee – construction of a 25-mile, 500-kilovolt (kV) line to connect SCE’s existing Antelope substation located in Lancaster with its existing Pardee substation, in Santa Clarita. Completion is expected in 2007, pending CPUC approval.
- Antelope to Vincent – a 17-mile, 500-kV line connecting Antelope substation with the existing Vincent substation, near Acton.
- Antelope to Tehachapi – a 26-mile, 500-kV line connecting the Antelope substation to a proposed substation in the Mojave area, and an 8-mile, 220-kV line connecting the proposed Mojave-area substation to a proposed substation in the Monolith area.
The proposed Antelope project is one element of SCE’s effort to meet future electricity needs of its customers. Other approaches include encouraging energy efficiency, increasing SCE’s procurement of renewable energy, and building and maintaining reliable transmission and distribution systems to deliver power to customers.
Whenever possible, the Antelope project would utilize existing SCE rights-of-way to minimize any additional impacts on affected areas.
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