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Sunrise Powerlink – It’s all about the LNG

In case it wasn’t already proven beyond a doubt, a new report from the California Energy Commission shows that the main purpose for the proposed Sunrise Powerlink is to import power from gas-fired plants in Baja California. An article by Steven Greenlee in the online energy industry journal Energy Prospects West, titled “Baja Can Support Gas Exports, Power Remains Constrained by Lack of Wires,” mentions the Sunrise Powerlink, but doesn’t mention renewable energy at all. Instead, it focuses on Baja’s growing gas-fired power capacity, fueled in part by Sempra Energy’s newly opened Costa Azul LNG terminal (pictured above). The article describes the lack of transmission for the growing gas-fired generating capacity in Baja this way: 

“Even if new generation is built in Baja California, the transmission networks on both sides of the border cannot support Mexican exports. The LNG buildout could fuel about 1,000 MW of new Baja generation.”

The article goes on to specifically list the Sunrise Powerlink, as well as an eventual “Full Loop” to Los Angeles and also the Green Path North transmission line, as remedies for the stated lack of transmission, without mentioning that all of these have been billed as lines meant for renewables. While the report itself acknowledges that the Powerlink could also carry renewable energy, even this is in stark contrast to SDG&E executive Michael Niggli’s frequent statements that more gas-fired power in Baja is “not on anyone’s horizon.” And one has to wonder, once the Sunrise Powerlink is filled to capacity with the 1,000 megawatts of new gas-fired power from Baja, where will the renewable energy go? Looks like Southwest Powerlink all over again.

And it also looks like the San Diego Smart Energy Solutions Campaign has been right all along, with its “Fossil Fuel Corridor” Map.

For the Energy Prospects West article, go here (free registration required).

To read the full report, go to the CEC website.

 Photo Credit: John Gibbons, Union-Tribune

Thanks to Denis Trafecanty and Don Wood for the tip about this article and report. Do you have a tip for DesertBlog? Leave it in our comment section, or e-mail to: lahogue AT gmail DOT com.