Board Approves Wind-Power Projects
Reading Time: < 1 minuteCounty supervisors approved two projects in East County Wednesday that will bring electricity generated by massive wind turbines to San Diego County residents.
In separate split decisions, the Board:
- Voted 4-1, with Supervisor Dianne Jacob opposed, to approve a permit to allow the Energia Sierra Juarez transmission lines project — a less-than one-mile stretch of 230 kilovolt lines that will link electricity-generating wind turbines in Mexico to San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E) proposed East County substation.
- Voted 3-2, with Supervisors Jacob and Pam Slater-Price opposed, to approve a permit for the Tule Wind Project — a permit to build five large wind turbines up to 492-feet tall, a collector substation and a series of underground transmission lines on 211 acres of private land under County jurisdiction. The transmission lines will link electricity generated by the five turbines and another 62 on Bureau of Land Management land to SDG&E’s Boulevard substation. The project is expected to generate enough electricity to power roughly 60,000 homes.
Proponents of the projects said they will provide an important source of alternative energy to the region and help meet California’s mandate that energy providers generate at least 33 percent of their power from renewable sources such as the wind and sun by 2020.