Boise-based Idaho Power Co. plans to install a new electricity-transmission line through the central Wood River Valley as part of a broader, long-term plan to bolster capacity in the region's electrical system.
Company officials will present the proposed Wood River Electrical Plan at two community meetings next week in Blaine and Lincoln counties. The meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, March 12, from 6-8 p.m. at the Community Campus in Hailey and Thursday, March 13, from 6-8 p.m. at the Mason Lodge in Shoshone.
In January 2007, Idaho Power convened a Community Advisory Committee to review the electrical needs of the area and to "make a recommendation for ways to meet the demand in coming decades," said Idaho Power Planning Manager Dave Angell. For more than six months, nearly 20 residents from Sun Valley to Shoshone met in Hailey, beginning the process for developing the Wood River Valley's long-term energy plan.
The group learned about electricity, the electrical grid and growth in the area, and then made recommendations on how to get additional energy—from now through the valley's final build-out—into the Wood River Valley.
"We left it open for the Community Advisory Committee to make recommendations," said Idaho Power Project Leader Kent McCarthy.
Now, the plan—which outlines electrical projects over the next several decades—is being presented to the public. The top-priority project—adding transmission capacity between Hailey and Ketchum—is expected to be launched later this year.
That proposal calls for installing a 138,000-kilovolt transmission line between the Wood River Transmission Station in Hailey and a substation in Ketchum. One 138,000-kilivolt line currently runs east of state Highway 75 from Hailey north to Idaho Power's Elkhorn Substation. The second line—projected to be built within the next five years—is considered necessary "to increase the dependability of the electrical supply to the north end of the valley," the plan states.
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The Community Advisory Committee recommended that the line run parallel to Highway 75. If placed above ground, it would require power poles approximately 55 feet high, said company spokeswoman Lynette Berriochoa.
The line could be placed adjacent to an existing distribution line along the highway, could replace the existing distribution line (which would then be placed underground), or both lines could be placed underground.
The existing line along the highway has towers that range in height from 40-60 feet.
Some members of the committee indicated a preference for installing the new line underground. However, Idaho Power states in the plan that placing the line underground would cost 10 times as much and would not be done unless there were "extenuating circumstances," such as environmental issues or land-availability problems. If the line were placed underground solely for aesthetic reasons, the cost difference would have to be "provided for by the community," the plan states.
Idaho Power will listen to public comments and then choose a preferred option before it seeks the necessary permits, Berriochoa said.
Other high-priority projects in the plan include:
- Building a new substation—the Burmah Substation—south of Timmerman Hill, in southern Blaine County or northern Lincoln County.
- Installing a new 138,000-kilivolt line from the Midpoint Substation near Shoshone to the Burmah Substation.
- Installing a new 138,000-kilivolt transmission line from the Burmah Substation to the Silver Substation near Picabo.
- Installing a new 138,000-kilivolt line from the Burmah Substation to the Moonstone Substation east of Fairfield.
The cost of the entire plan is estimated at $78 million, in 2007 dollars.
To see the complete plan, visit WREP Final Report.
