Duke-American Transmission Co. Offers Transmission Capacity on San Luis Transmission Project

Duke-American Transmission Co. announced it will conduct an open solicitation process for up to 600 mW of bi-directional electric transmission capacity on the proposed San Luis Transmission Project being developed in California’s San Joaquin Valley. 

The San Luis Transmission Project is a public-private partnership between Western Area Power Administration, Bureau of Reclamation, San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and Duke-American Transmission Co. to economically provide electricity for federal water supply deliveries to water customers in the San Joaquin Valley and Bay Area. Project beneficiaries include regional farmers, water agencies and electric wholesale customers. Significantly, the economies of scale brought to the project also create transmission opportunities for renewable energy developers in the San Joaquin Valley. 

SLTP involves the construction of a new 85-mile, 230,000 V transmission line connecting WAPA’s substation in Tracy to the San Luis, O’Neill and Dos Amigos substations in the Los Banos area, paralleling existing transmission facilities through non-irrigated ranch land. The project will be part of WAPA’s Sierra-Nevada Region transmission system within the Balancing Authority of Northern California, offering transmission access to points of delivery adjacent to CAISO interties with WAPA/BANC. The project has received the required permits as part of the National Environmental Policy Act process and is projected to be in service in 2023.

DATC is financing the project in its entirety and will offer transmission capacity in accordance with the provisions of WAPA’s Open Access Transmission Tariff. DATC submitted a filing to FERC (ER19-1338) on March 15, 2019, to establish conditions for the capacity release.  The amount of capacity available will be contingent upon the final determination of capacity needs to serve Reclamation. 

“The San Joaquin Valley is rich in natural resources and clean energy opportunities but lacks a strong transmission grid to facilitate renewable energy development,” says DATC President Randy Satterfield. “This project will provide transmission access that will enable solar, storage and wind projects to be developed within and near the valley.”

DATC will accept proposals for the available transmission capacity during an open solicitation window from 8 a.m. EST on April 15, 2019, to 5 p.m. EST on May 15, 2019. Interested parties should visit www.SanLuisTransmission.com to learn more about the project, eligibility and the open solicitation process.