As the Dust Settles in Borrego Springs… What Now for the Sunrise Powerlink?

The CPUC held two back-to-back public participation hearings in Borrego Springs on Monday (5/12). The most notable difference from all of the previous hearings held thus far was that almost all of the commissioners were in attendance. CPUC President Peevey and Commissioners Bohn, Simon and Grueneich were present for over eight hours of public comment on the project.

What did we see or learn from the testimony? Nothing new, in fact, it was very similar to the five previous hearings that were held in the last few months in various San Diego communities. If I closed my eyes and listened – the song remains the same.

What we did see – were numbers. The opposition really did show up and this time they brought a few folks that are no strangers to spotlights. And if I have learned nothing else about Mike Aguirre, he never met a camera he didn’t want to jump in front of, and now as City Attorney, the next word you can always expect is “lawsuit.” He may have a case, but having watched him on energy matters (ever since the energy crisis of 2000-2001) before, this is likely to be more spotlight than action.

I was a bit surprised by Supervisor Diane Jacob, she raised points about the firefighting hazards that she had not raised before – or maybe I had just missed that before. Senator Christine Kehoe (also Chair of the Energy Committee) did not attend, but did have a representative read a letter into the record. Other than making it clear that she opposes any route through the State Park, she stressed that distributed generation is being overlooked as part of the solution to San Diego's energy needs.

What does all this mean? I think that the opposition scored one for their side – and the CPUC will now have to sharpen the pencil to draft an alternate proposed decision that outlines a clear path to construction for this project if it is going to get built. I still believe it will get built, and I further believe that the Commission will find a way to secure the right formula to getting this project approved. The big question now is what will the route be and when will the line be energized? Every year of delay, will mean one more year of tighter energy reserve margins for the region. And while no one wants to hear the word “blackout” – the CAISO will tell you that delays may really pinch system reliability.