By: David Garmon, MD, President, Desert Protective Trust

When people imagine a new transmission line crossing the desert, they usually picture steel towers marching across the landscape. They consider the width of the right-of-way, the visibility of the structures, and perhaps the temporary disturbance during construction. Those impacts are real, but they are only the beginning of the story.

A 500-kilovolt transmission line is one of the largest pieces of electrical infrastructure that can be built. It is designed to move enormous quantities of electricity over long distances. Engineers build lines of this size only when they expect them to serve major generating resources over many decades. In that sense, a 500-kV transmission line is much like an interstate highway. The highway is not the end goal. It is the means that enables future development.

That is why planners often describe 500-kV transmission lines as enabling infrastructure. Once high-capacity transmission becomes available, land that was previously too remote for utility-scale energy development suddenly becomes economically attractive. Solar facilities, wind projects, substations, battery storage systems, maintenance yards, and new access roads all become more practical because the essential electricity transportation system is already in place. The corridor itself may occupy only a narrow strip of land, but its economic influence extends far beyond that strip.

San Diego County’s object lesson for this phenomenon is the Sunrise Powerlink. Before construction of the Sunrise Powerlink, eastern San Diego County had relatively limited ability to move large amounts of electricity from remote areas to the region’s population centers. The Sunrise Powerlink dramatically increased that capacity. It was built to improve reliability and support California’s transition to renewable energy, but it also changed the economics of future energy development. Land that previously had limited value for utility-scale generation suddenly became much more attractive because the electrical “highway” needed to deliver that electricity to market was now in place. The massive, $400M+ Jacumba Valley Ranch Energy Farm is a prime example of such development. 

The Sunrise Powerlink did not by itself determine where every subsequent renewable-energy project would be built. Environmental review, permitting, financing, technology, market conditions, and community acceptance all continued to influence individual projects. However, by dramatically increasing transmission capacity, it expanded the range of projects that became technically and economically feasible. In that sense, the line changed far more than the landscape beneath its towers.

The proposed Golden Pacific Powerlink should be understood in the same way. It is not simply another transmission line crossing the desert. It is a major investment in the transportation system that moves electricity from where it is generated to where it is consumed. Once that transportation system exists, large areas that were previously constrained by limited transmission capacity become much more attractive for industrial-scale renewable-energy development because one of the principal barriers to reaching the electric grid has been removed.

That does not mean every acre near the line will be developed, nor does it mean every proposed renewable-energy project will ultimately be approved. It does mean that the economic landscape changes. A 500-kV transmission corridor expands the number of projects that become practical to propose, finance, and connect to the electric grid. The discussion of the Golden Pacific Powerlink is therefore about much more than the towers themselves. It is about the pattern of development that the new infrastructure makes possible over the decades that follow.

Why This Matters

When communities evaluate a proposed 500-kV transmission line, it is natural to focus on the towers, the right-of-way, and the immediate construction impacts. Those issues are important, but they are only part of the story. High-capacity transmission is built to move enormous amounts of electricity over many decades, and that investment changes where future energy development becomes economically feasible.

The question facing Borrego Springs and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is therefore larger than whether a transmission corridor should cross the landscape. It is whether the region should become industrialized as part of California’s long-term energy development. That is a decision whose consequences will extend far beyond the width of the transmission corridor itself.

Transmission lines do more than carry electricity. They carry investment. Moreover, investment changes landscapes.