IID Energy is in the enviable position of owning, controlling, and maintaining all the transmission lines within its territory. It gives us more control of our destiny and far more flexibility to accommodate growth.
Our network includes about 1,300 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. The higher the voltage, the farther we can efficiently carry power. Our transmission lines range from 92,000 volts to 230 kilovolts (230,000 volts). We also own a share of a 500-kilovolt line that carries electricity from power plants in Palo Verde, Arizona, and Farmington, New Mexico, to our station in El Centro.
That’s a tremendous boon to our customers because it enables us to add reliable, low-cost power to our portfolio of energy resources. Our transmission network has become the Green Path of the Southwest, transporting geothermal energy, a renewable resource produced in the Imperial Valley, to other parts of the state. We are actively working with the geothermal industry to develop and transport those resources.
Each year, IID Energy’s Transmission Team performs its load forecasts for the coming year, and up to 10 years out. The Transmission Team uses this data and analytical modeling tools to perform simulations that identify when and where it’s necessary to plan for additional transmission capacity.
In growing areas like the Coachella Valley and Imperial Valley, where desert dwellers use more power than consumers in other areas, it’s become the norm to need more and more transmission capacity. The Transmission Team looks at all the options to decide the most advantageous time to build new transmission substations or transmission lines. To keep up with growing demands on our system, we are reviewing a number of projects with the goal of increasing our ability to import power and bolster our transmission network.
We also sell available transmission capacity (ATC) to other entities that need our lines to transport energy through our service area to coastal cities. Our ATC is posted on wesTTrans.net, a web-based transmission market, whose development was led by IID Energy, and has become a valuable tool for utilities to locate and secure ATC on the Western Grid.
We recognize the value of our transmission system and are exploring partnership opportunities for joint transmission planning. By working with other entities and upgrading our 92- and 161-kilovolt lines to 230 kilovolts, costs for many upgrades can be borne by partners who use our lines. The expanded transmission capacity will be a long-term benefit for our customers, both for economical energy delivery for our use and the revenues the sale of available transmission capacity will generate to offset our own operating costs and keep our customers’ rates low.
