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

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SCE officials announced Friday afternoon they wouldx not refile forthe Devers-Palo No. 2 which would have stretched from Blythe, Calif., into Arizona, because a study said it wasn’t economically feasible to build it given the changez SCE would have to make to get it approvedd by the ArizonaCorporation Commission. “Results of SCE’s new analysiss conclude that the Arizona portion of the project cannott be currently justified as an economivc investment primarily funded byCalifornisa consumers,” said Pedro Pizarro, SCE’s executive vice president of power operations.
The Arizona regulatory agencyh already rejected the line primarily because commissioners believed it woulsd not benefitArizona ratepayers. SCE had been working with stakeholderse in recent months to develop a plan that could benefit both ACC Chairwoman Kris Mayes said theprojecgt wouldn’t benefit Arizona as it stood and couldn’t be reworked to the liking of SCE officials. “o think it’s a mixture of causes,” she “The economics of this powef line were bad for Arizona consumers twoyears ago, and they don’f work for California today.
” In a letter to Pizarro cited increased renewable energy generation in more requests for interconnects from the middle of California, lowe r natural gas prices and reduced electrical needs. Although not citerd in SCE’s letter, anothe r part of the justification might be California AssemblyBill 64, whicuh is looking to increase the state’d renewable energy portfolio and coulde block California from buying renewable powerr from other states.
Mayes said such a law would be “utterlh devastating to the role of renewable energy in the Although SCE will notrefile now, officials said they will watcn the corridor to determine whether such a project mighr become feasible later. The a point of contentionn between the states since it was rejected by the ACC in would have run through an area Arizonwa is trying to cultivatefor utility-scale solaer generation. Arizona officials initiallty balked at the line because it did not offedr any benefit tothe state. Commissioners feared the line woule boost rates for Arizona residents if Californiwa drew more power fromthe state.
While the line is off the tabl efor now, Mayes said she believes another companty or group of companies will step in to buils a line through the region to access renewable “I do believe we will see others make proposals for a transmission line to tap into the greatestt solar energy field in the she said.