NEWS FROM WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 29,
2008
CONTACT: Randy Wilkerson, 720-962-7056, wilkerson@wapa.gov
SACRAMENTO AREA VOLTAGE SUPPORT DECISION ISSUED
LAKEWOOD, Colo.—The Record of Decision for the Sacramento Area Voltage Support Project was issued today. The ROD documents Western Area Power Administration’s decision to construct the project, which will provide needed transmission system additions and upgrades to maintain greater Sacramento-area system voltage stability, reliability and security.
Western will construct a new double-circuit, 230-kilovolt transmission line, about 31 miles long, between Western’s O’Banion Substation and the area just south of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s Elverta Substation. Western will also reconstruct SMUD’s existing 230-kV/115-kV transmission line between SMUD’s Elverta and Natomas Substations.
“Transmission system studies have shown that the existing transmission lines in the greater Sacramento area have reached their maximum power transfer limits for serving the area’s energy needs, particularly in the northern portion of the area. These additions will help maintain system voltage stability and reliability, and provide additional power-importing capability to the area,” explained Pete Garris, Western’s Sierra Nevada Region Power Operations manager.
Western, in coordination with SMUD and the City of Roseville, prepared a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing NEPA, and the California Environmental Quality Act. Western analyzed seven action alternatives and the No Action alternative in the SEIS and EIR.
Copies of the ROD may be obtained from Steve Tuggle, Natural Resource Manager, Western Area Power Administration, Sierra Nevada Region, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom, CA 95630-4710; telephone (916) 353-4549; e-mail tuggle@wapa.gov. For more information about the Sacramento Voltage Support Project, visit http://www.wapa.gov/sn/planning/SVS/.
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Western Area Power Administration annually markets and transmits more than 10,000 megawatts of power from hydroelectric powerplants owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 15 western and central states. It is part of the Department of Energy.
Serving the West with Federal hydropower
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