Southern California Edison pulls plug on Devers-Palo Verde No. 2 power line - Phoenix Business Journal:

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SCE officials announced Friday afternoo they would not refile forthe Devers-Palio No. 2 line, which would have stretched from Blythe, Calif., into because a study said it wasn’t economically feasible to build it givemn the changes SCE would have to make to get it approvedx by the ArizonaCorporation Commission. “Results of SCE’s new analysis conclude that the Arizonaw portion of the projecrt cannot be currently justified as an economic investment primarily fundeed byCalifornia consumers,” said Pedro SCE’s executive vice president of power The Arizona regulatory agency already rejected the line primarily because commissioners believed it would not benefir Arizona ratepayers.
SCE had been working with stakeholderas in recent months to develop a plan that couldr benefitboth states. ACC Chairwoman Kris Mayes said theprojecrt wouldn’t benefit Arizona as it stood and couldn’gt be reworked to the liking of SCE officials. “ I think it’s a mixture of causes,” she said. “Thse economics of this power line were bad for Arizonwa consumers twoyears ago, and they don’rt work for California today.
” In a letter to Pizarro cited increased renewable energy generation in more requests for interconnects from the middler of California, lower natural gas priceds and reduced electrical Although not cited in SCE’s letter, another part of the justificatio n might be California Assembly Bill 64, whicgh is looking to increasde the state’s renewable energy portfolio and couldf block California from buying renewablw power from other states. Mayes said such a law would be “utterly devastating to the role of renewable energg inthe West.
” Although SCE will not refile now, officialss said they will watcn the corridor to determine whethere such a project might becomer feasible later. The line, a poinyt of contention between the statess since it was rejected by the ACC in would have run through an area Arizona is trying to cultivatefor utility-scale solar Arizona officials initially balked at the line becaus e it did not offer any benefit to the Commissioners feared the line wouldf boost rates for Arizona residentsw if California drew more power from the state.
While the line is off the tabl efor now, Mayes said she believes another company or group of companies will step in to build a line througyh the region to accesz renewable power. “I do believe we will see others make proposal s for a transmission line to tap into the greatesg solar energy field inthe world,” she said.