|
News Release
Feb. 4, 2005
Public Invited To Comment on PNM Electric
Transmission Line Routes
Santa Fe: PNM will hold three open houses next week
to gather public comment on possible routes for two new electric
transmission lines in Santa Fe.
The open houses will take place Feb. 8-10, from 5 to 7 p.m.
each day, at the B.F. Young Professional Complex, 1300 Camino
Sierra Vista.
PNM wants to upgrade the existing 46k kilovolt (kV) transmission
loop system that serves central Santa Fe with a 115kV system
more typical of today's industry standards. This would involve
building two new 115 kV lines and removing some existing 46kV
lines that were built more than 50 years ago. On days of high
electric demand, during both summer and winter, those 46kV
lines operate near capacity.
"Since the existing lines were built, average household
electric consumption and the city's population have both doubled,"
said Debbie Brunt, who oversees the company's operations in
north central New Mexico. "We want to upgrade the transmission
system in Santa Fe so we can continue to provide customers
with reliable electric service into the future."
Last year, PNM launched the Santa Fe 115kV Loop Project by
forming a Community Working Group and Routing Task Force comprised
of community leaders and technical experts to identify potential
routes for the new lines. The groups identified four potential
routes; PNM will seek approval to build two of them.
PNM will choose between two routes suggested by the Community
Working Group that run south from land it owns near Cerrillos
Road, formerly the site of a power plant, to an existing substation
near Siringo Road and St. Francis Drive. One of the proposed
routes runs along Cordova Road and St. Francis Drive, while
the other runs along a portion of Cerrillos Road and then
St. Michael's Drive.
To complete the 115kV loop, PNM will also choose between
two routes that would connect the PNM power plant property
to one of two existing substations. One runs from the Cerrillos
Road property east on Cordova Road, then north along St. Francis
Drive to an existing substation behind the Santa Fe Radisson.
The other runs from the Cerrillos Road property southwest
along Cerrillos Road to an existing substation northeast of
Siler Road.
While the routes being highlighted at the open houses are
proposed as overhead construction, Brunt said PNM is aware
some Santa Fe residents may want the company to consider underground
construction. "We are willing to consider this option,
but there are important issues that would need to be addressed
for undergrounding to take place," she said.
Undergrounding a transmission line poses technical challenges
that overhead construction does not and costs between three
and 10 times more than overhead construction. "The added
costs would need to be paid by the city or its residents,"
Brunt said.
Last year, PNM received city, county and federal approval
for a new transmission route that is currently under construction
on federal land. That route, known as the Project Power line,
will increase the company's ability to bring power into Santa
Fe, while the 115kV loop project featured at the upcoming
open houses would increase PNM's ability to move power within
the city.
| 
