State Agency Approves Sunrise Powerlink

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 18, 2008 at 9:34 AM PST

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

California regulators have approved a nearly $2-billion, high-voltage power line that would run 123 miles into San Diego County.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-to-1 in San Francisco today to approve San Diego Gas & Electric Co.'s Sunrise Powerlink transmission line without conditions that it be used for renewable energy. The San Diego utility says the power line is crucial to boost its dependence on harnessing solar, wind and underground heat to generate power but has resisted binding commitments.

Commissioner Dian Grueneich dissented, saying she endorsed the line but only with requirements that SDG&E use it for renewable energy.

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Grueneich: The CPUC's approval of the Sunrise Powerlink today will help pave the way toward achieving the state's aggressive environmental and energy policy goals," said Debra L. Reed, president and chief executive officer of SDG&E. "Reliable transmission infrastructure is critically needed to reinforce the region's electric system and to open up new avenues for delivering green energy to our customers.

The permitting process for the Sunrise Powerlink project was the most comprehensive ever completed for a power line in California history. SDG&E now will finalize engineering and design on the project, procure equipment and then commence construction on the 120-mile Sunrise Powerlink.

With completion expected in 2012, the $1.9 billion power line will be able to deliver as many as 1,000 megawatts of clean, green energy.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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