3. Project Description
3.1 The project in AL-1520-E
As summarily described in AL-1520-E, the project proposed by SDG&E had two parts. A new 10-mile long, 69 kilovolt (kV) tie line (TL 6942) would be built from Sycamore Substation to Scripps Substation and then to Miramar Substation. TL 6942 would be built by installing a new circuit on the poles for two existing SDG&E lines, TL 6916 from Sycamore Substation to Scripps Substation, and TL 669 from Scripps Substation to Miramar Substation.
About eight miles of the new TL 6942 would be overhead, and about two miles would be underground. The overhead construction for TL 6942 would require replacing about 27 of the 107 existing wood poles on the entire route. The replacement poles would be either heavier wood or steel. Six new wood poles would be interset. The underground construction would require four new steel cable poles, one at each of Sycamore and Miramar Substations and two for a small (0.2 mile) underground section in the Scripps Ranch area. The location of the balance of the approximately two miles of underground construction was not specified beyond being "placed in franchise position."
The second part of the project described in AL 1520-E was reconductoring existing TL 669, which runs between Scripps Substation and Miramar Substation for approximately 3.3 miles. 2
3.2 The actual project
As noted above, the information provided in AL 1520-E is very summary. The project description set out below is pieced together from AL 1520-E, several written submissions by the parties in this proceeding, and oral representations made by the parties at the TRO argument and the PHC.
New TL 6942 will be run on poles for TL 669 from Miramar Substation to Scripps Substation and will then run underground to bypass Scripps Substation. The next underground segment is planned to be approximately 1.5 miles, running from Scripps Substation under Scripps Ranch Boulevard to a little south of Ironwood Drive. The new TL 6942 will then go overhead with TL 6916. At Rue Biarritz, TL 6942 will go for a short distance (0.2 miles) in an existing underground conduit, and will then run overhead again with TL 6916 to Sycamore Substation.
The overhead portion of new TL 6942 combined with the reconductoring of existing TL 669 between Miramar and Scripps Substations will require the replacement of all 37 wood poles currently supporting TL 669. Heavier wood poles will replace eight wood poles; steel poles will replace 29 wood poles. One new pole will also be required. The Scripps Substation-Sycamore Substation segment will require replacement of one existing wood pole with a heavier wood pole, and replacement of 22 existing wood poles with steel poles. Five new wood poles will be interset and four new cable poles will be put up.3
The principal underground portion of new TL 6942 will be in newly built conduit. SDG&E represents that the conduit is part of another project, which it calls the Scripps Lake Conversion Surcharge Undergrounding Project (Scripps Lake underground project). Such undergrounding projects are typically undertaken for aesthetic reasons, with substantial input from the local government, and are paid for with dedicated surcharge funds. Because neither an application nor an advice letter was filed with the Commission for the Scripps Lake underground project, the project description here relies on information provided at the PHC and in post-PHC submissions.
The Scripps Lake underground project removes an overhead section of TL 6916 along Scripps Lake Drive and reroutes the line underground, under Scripps Ranch Boulevard, for approximately 1.5 miles to Scripps Substation, where TL 6916 terminates. This conduit is designed to accommodate the undergrounding of both existing TL 6916 and new TL 6942. SDG&E's post-PHC submission shows an additional piece of the Scripps Lake underground project extending west of Scripps Substation, which must be the underground conduit for the bypass of Scripps Substation by new TL 6942. SDG&E represents that cable pole construction observed by Little and other homeowners at a location south of Ironwood Drive on September 19 and 20, 2004 is part of the Scripps Lake underground project. The cable pole appears to be at the eastern end of the undergrounding. Once the undergrounding is completed, poles from the overhead segment of TL 6916 replaced by the underground segment will be removed.
2 A construction plan, numbered 50027 and dated September 10, 2004 (Plan 50027), submitted by SDG&E in this proceeding, identifies the length of TL 669 to be reconductored as 2.3 miles. At this time, it is unclear if this discrepancy is meaningful.
3 Some of the new and replacement poles will be "direct buried" in the ground; some will be placed in concrete foundations. Despite repeated requests, SDG&E has not yet identified which poles will be put up using which method.
