Feds open comment on 500-mile New Mexico-Arizona power line

Federal officials have unveiled draft plans for a proposed $1.5 billion power line linking central New Mexico with southeast Arizona across at least 460 miles of federal, state, local and privately owned lands. The Bureau of Land Management said Tuesday that it is seeking public comment on the SunZia Southwest Transmission Line Project that calls for two new 500 kilovolt transmission lines and up to five new substations, depending on the final route selected. The transmission lines are expected to spur development of renewable energy resources – including wind, solar and geothermal energy – throughout the desert Southwest by linking the region to an interstate power grid. The SunZia project would also help modernize the electrical grid and increase reliability in the region by adding up to potentially 3,000 to 4,500 megawatts of electricity. That will help relieve an outdated, maxed-out power system, said Bill Merhege, the Bureau of Land Management‘s deputy state director for lands and resources in New Mexico.

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