When asked by our SIP citizens' group about relocating the Sand Hollow substation to north of Payette (see maps below), he said it would work just fine.
Option 2 relocates the Sand Hollow substation to north of Payette, parallels the PP&L line to Grassy Mountain, then goes north. This route is 46 miles longer than the original loop below. This is the option all those outraged folks in Canyon County who were shut out of the siting process like the best. Download this map with notes HERE or under Map Links at right.
Original TVEP 500 kV loop, 163 miles around the Treasure Valley plus 42 miles to the Baker County line from Sand Hollow for a total of 205 miles. Download HERE or under Map Links.If Idaho Power had used the straight shot from Sand Hollow to Hemingway (37 miles) instead of swinging into Oregon (52 miles) they could have saved 15 miles off their total. It makes us think that it's not the length of the route that's most important, it's what IP perceives as the "path of least resistance."
In a long conversation with officials of Idaho Power, Dennis Hall asked a number of questions, including why Sand Hollow for a new substation? (no answer) and why not keep the entire loop inside of Idaho? (there was no answer to that, either.)
When Dennis asked why they insist on going right through Malheur County farmland, these Idaho Power Officials said:
"We Don't Want Much." (Just 800 acres of prime property and our rural livelihood.)
Dennis compares the locating of a substation to "running an extension cord across your garage." The Sand Hollow substation would serve as a switching point to the Treasure Valley Electrical Plan loop, and could be situated in a number of places.
In case you want to know more about substations, read on. From Idaho Power's Treasure Valley Electrical Plan p. 24-29:
Substations - A substation is used to transform one voltage to another and for protecting and controlling transmission and distribution lines.
What’s inside a substation?– Support structures to terminate transmission lines
Substations - A substation is used to transform one voltage to another and for protecting and controlling transmission and distribution lines.
What’s inside a substation?– Support structures to terminate transmission lines
- Large metallic pipe called bus work
- Circuit breakers
- Switches
- Transformers
Think of a substation as being an onramp or off-ramp from an interstate or an intersection connecting an arterial to a collector road.
- In general, power flows from source substations to hub substations then from hub substations to distribution substations.
- A source substation and hub substation can be co-located.
- then moves down a smaller state highway, leaving the highway at a major intersection (hub substation) onto a city street
- and finally turns off the city street via a minor intersection (distribution substation) into his or her subdivision.
Substation Types
- Source Substation – Acts as the receiving point for energy produced at distant generation.
-Typically 230,000-Volts and higher
-Can be co-located with other types of substations
-Send out power at 230,000-Volts to Hub Substations
-Currently there are 2 Source Substations in the Treasure Valley - Hub Substations – Convert 230,000-Volts (typically) to 138,000-Volts for transmission to Distribution Substations
-Each Hub Substation can have two or more 138,000-Volt transmission lines from it
-3 to 5 distribution substations per line
-Currently there are 4 Hub Substations in the Treasure Valley Substation Types - Distribution Substation – Convert the 138,000-Volt transmission from the Hub Substations to 12,470 or 34,500-Volts for delivery to its end use.
