Published July 28, 2010

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has temporarily reopened public comment on a controversial proposal to build new high-voltage transmission lines that would carry solar electricity through part of a sunny southern valley.

Opponents of the plan are mobilizing to flood Judge Mana Jennings-Fader with comments against the proposal to construct a total of about 146 miles of new high-voltage lines that would, among other uses, transmit energy from proposed solar power plants in the San Luis Valley area.

The public comment period is scheduled to end today, July 28, at 4 p.m.

A group called the San Luis Valley Renewable Communities Alliance is asking its supporters to send emails to the judge in opposition to the power-line plan, which is proposed as a joint project by two utility companies: Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. and Public Service Co. of Colorado, part of the multistate corporation Xcel Energy.

The project's opponents are being asked to suggest that instead of developing new high-voltage lines, the state focus on other policies to promote smaller-scale solar development closer to where power is used, such as feed-in tariffs or property assessed clean energy programs, known as PACE.

"With the right policy incentives (expansion of net-metering, FITS and PACE for example), Colorado can develop its diverse renewable energy resources without a costly, destructive new transmission line AND without sacrificing Huerfano County and the San Luis Valley," says a letter that opponents are being asked to copy and send to the judge.

"The use of distributed solar generation on the existing transmission infrastructure is the cheaper, faster, smarter, cleaner path" to meeting Colorado's new goals for developing renewable energy, the suggested letter says.

The utility companies say on a website discussing the plans that "there is plausible concern in south-central Colorado regarding the reliability of existing electricity service if additional transmission lines are not constructed to relieve congestion, increase capacity of the current power delivery system and provide needed infrastructure for investment in renewable resources."

"Growth in residential and agricultural areas throughout the region has caused the existing transmission infrastructure to reach its limit, requiring investments to increase capacity into and out of this part of Colorado," the utilities say.

The state is requiring that utilities increase their use of renewable electricity, but "It will be difficult to meet these mandates if transmission constraints are not addressed," the companies say.

Opponents respond that "transmission costs and losses cancel out the advantage of generating solar energy in the San Luis Valley for export purposes. ALL of Colorado has excellent solar. Generating energy at or near the point of use is more efficient and cost-effective."

The San Luis Valley is a flat, sunny farming area in south central Colorado tucked beneath scenic mountain ranges.

The well-organized opponents include Louis Bacon, owner of the 171,000-acre Trinchera Ranch, part of which the proposed power lines would cross. The property, believed to be the largest privately owned ranch in Colorado, was formerly owned by the Forbes family. Mr. Bacon, a wealthy financial-markets trader, has been a supporter of nonprofit environmental organizations.

Although the public comment period ends today, an evidentiary hearing on the plan is scheduled to resume Friday.