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KERRVILLE — The news media in the Kerr County area clearly understand the widespread public interest the proposed new Rim Rock-to-Goat Creek transmission line has generated in the community. News coverage has been fair and balanced, addressing many of the concerns raised by the public to LCRA Transmission Services Corporation (LCRA TSC), which is proposing to build the line. One issue that continues to come up in letters to the editor and in comments to LCRA TSC is whether the line is needed. We would like to share with you our perspective. The need for this power line comes down to two basic considerations: one technical, one practical. Heavy load
On the technical side, when the “load” (i.e., electricity used by customers) on an electric substation exceeds 20 megawatts (20 million watts), and that substation is only served by one transmission line, then another transmission source to that substation must be provided to maintain service reliability. The Rim Rock substation, which is served by a single transmission line, has now exceeded 20 megawatts. Currently, more than 3,000 electric customers south of the Guadalupe River depend on the Rim Rock Substation for electric service and that load is growing daily. If LCRA TSC and the local electric providers it serves, Kerrville Public Utility Board (KPUB) and Central Texas Electric Cooperative (CTEC), are going to meet their obligation to provide reliable electric service to the community, the line must be built. It is no secret that the Kerrville area is growing and thriving. New homes and businesses are going up every day. These homes and businesses need infrastructure – new streets, new water lines, new sewer lines, and new power lines. Ensuring electric service is available
This is where the practical side comes in. No one likes a power outage and that includes LCRA TSC and your local electric providers, KPUB and CTEC. The fact that there have been few outages in the past is a testament to the utilities that have made electric reliability a priority. But power outages happen - animals, weather, equipment failures, or people running into electric poles can all cause outages. If the transmission system serving this area is built and operated correctly, electric service will still be available when a single transmission line outage occurs because a second transmission line will continue to serve the substation. In other words, customers served from Rim Rock will not lose power. But if the system fails to keep up with growth and lacks the necessary transmission availability, customers will lose power as a result of a single transmission line outage. The outage could last minutes, hours or days. That may be OK with some folks who say they would rather endure an occasional outage than have a power line going across the landscape. But many others would have difficulties enduring a long outage. Ask the mother who must keep her baby formula properly cooled. Ask the nurses working at a local medical office or the ailing patients at that office. Ask the home-bound patient on life-support equipment. Ask the police officer dealing with inoperable traffic lights or the restaurant owner who cannot keep food fresh. The current schedule for this transmission project calls for completion by the end of 2009, assuming the Public Utility Commission of Texas approves it. Meanwhile, the forecasts we see show that Kerr County will continue to grow, with a corresponding increase in electric demand. Without projects such as this line, a broader area within Kerr County will be affected. The bottom line is that the new transmission line is needed and it will benefit all the people of Kerr County. Dennis Palafox is on the staff of the Lower Colorado River Authority and is the regulatory case manager for the proposed Rim Rock-to-Goat Creek transmission line. |
