The first three segments will include the Windhub and Highwind substations, located near Mojave and Monolith; a 25.6-mile, 500kV transmission line connecting Southern California Edison’s (SCE) existing Antelope substation with the new Windhub substation and a 9.6-mile, 220kV transmission line connecting the Windhub substation and the Highwind substation.
As part of the project, a 21-mile, 500kV transmission line connecting SCE’s Antelope and Vincent substations and a 26.7-mile, 500kV transmission line connecting the Antelope and Pardee substations will also be built. The new lines are expected to be operational in early 2009.
SCE noted that the Tehachapi project is the first major transmission project in California being built specifically to access multiple renewable generators in a remote renewable energy-rich resource area.
When complete, the project will be part of a $1.8 billion program to provide the high-voltage transmission infrastructure necessary to interconnect and deliver the renewable wind resources being developed in the Tehachapi wind resource area to California’s electricity customers.