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LCRA ponders alternate routes for energy line
Published September 21, 2009
Plans to build transmission lines carrying renewable energy from West Texas through parts of the Hill Country have been delayed to allow LCRA Transmission Services Corporation more time to study alternate routes.
The company, along with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, filed a joint motion last week with the PUC board to delay filing dates for the four Competitive Renewable Energy Zones’ priority transmission projects.
The delay would give LCRA time to study and add two corridors to the original study area for its McCamey D to Kendall project. More time also would allow adequate study of additional routing concepts and routes suggested by PUC staff, according to a press release.
If the delay is granted, the filing dates will be extended to Oct. 28, 2009, for the Gillespie to Newton project; Jan. 15, 2010, for the Twin Buttes to McCamey D project; and July 6, 2010, for the McCamey D to Kendall and Kendall to Gillespie projects, which will be combined into a single filing titled McCamey D to Kendall to Gillespie.
The decision to file for the extension came after more than 1,900 people attended LCRA open houses and filled out questionnaires and area lawmakers pushed for alternative lines that might follow existing lines or roadways.
Last month, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran requested the Texas Public Utility Commission consider routing new transmission lines down Texas 277, heading east along Interstate 10 to the station near Comfort.
“The Westwind announcement (that LCRA will not place a substation just north of Kerrville) is good news to the residents of Kerr County, and I will continue to push for an alternative route that is appropriate to all residents of the Texas Hill Country,” Hilderbran said in a written statement last month.
It appears LCRA was listening.
A delay in the filing date would set the new in-service date for the McCamey D to Kendall to Gillespie transmission lines for the last quarter of 2013. The PUC will select the final routes in 2010 for the Gillespie to Newton and Twin Buttes to McCamey D projects and 2011 for the combined McCamey D to Kendall to Gillespie projects.
The addition of new routes does not eliminate any routes currently under consideration by LCRA TSC.
Originally, the company was to file a request with the PUC for an amendment to its certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) for all four priority projects in October 2009. The amended CCN is necessary for transmission line construction to begin projects.
The PUC has said several geographically diverse routes must be included in the company’s CCN amendment request so commissioners will have numerous options for final routes.
The following are new routes and routing concepts to be studied:
• Route(s) along and/or in the right-of-way of U.S. Highway 277 and Interstate 10. These are major transportation corridors.
• Route(s) paralleling existing 138-kV lines in the vicinity of Menard, Mason and Fredericksburg.
• Route(s) paralleling and in the same corridor as some proposed routes north of the Kendall Station.
LCRA TSC plans to host several open houses in early 2010 to inform the public of the new route options and gather input. Affected landowners and local elected officials will receive open house notices in the mail. Notices also will be published in local newspapers.
The new transmission lines are part of a project estimated at more than $4.9 billion intended to allow delivery of power produced from wind generators located in areas of West Texas and the Panhandle, called Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, to areas of high energy demand statewide.
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