CPS Energy plans to construct a new 138-kilovolt (kV) transmission line commonly referred to as the "Medina Lake-to-CPS" Project in our western service territory to keep pace with the rapid customer growth and to improve service to existing customers in that area. This new power line will connect the existing Medina Lake Substation in Bandera County to CPS Energy's Cagnon Substation in Bexar County. CPS Energy will build and own the portion of the line from a tie-in point at the edge of its retail service area to its Cagnon Substation.
Using its Facility General Routing and Siting Process, the CPS Energy Medina Lake-to-CPS Project Team presented its recommended transmission route to the CPS Energy Board of Trustees during the regularly scheduled board meeting on July 31, 2006. For the past year, the team has researched and gathered public input in an effort to find the best possible route to connect the Medina Lake Substation in Bandera to the CPS Energy Cagnon Substation.
The CPS Energy Board of Trustees approved the recommended route at its board meeting on August 28, 2006.
With the Board's approval of the route, CPS Energy's Right-of-Way Management Section has contracted with a surveying company and will begin contacting property owners along the approved route in order to obtain permission to survey land and prepare formal legal descriptions of the easements (by metes and bounds), as well as to gather information needed for the timely completion of the route. The specific route, once properly surveyed, will be presented to the San Antonio City Council for approval of an ordinance. The City Council is anticipated to consider approval of an ordinance by December 2006, authorizing CPS Energy to obtain needed property rights for the construction of the line. The Right-of-Way Management Section will also obtain opinions from independent appraisers and work with individual property owners in good faith to obtain any temporary or permanent rights-of-way needed for the project. The projected completion date of this transmission line is December 2009.
