LAKEWOOD, Colo.—A Mesa, Ariz., construction and maintenance small business firm has been selected to construct the Path 15 transmission line in Central California.

Under the $87,859,655 Engineering, Procurement and Construction Contract, Maslonka & Associates Inc., will construct the 84-mile, high-voltage transmission line. The line is being privately financed by Trans-Elect New Transmission Development Company Path 15 Limited Liability Corporation.

“We want to congratulate Maslonka & Associates and look forward to working with them to complete this important transmission system upgrade,” said Tim Meeks, Chief Operating Officer for Western Area Power Administration, the federal agency that is overseeing the construction contract and will own the transmission line.  Work on the transmission line will begin this summer and will be completed by Sept. 20, 2004, under the contract terms.

Path 15 is currently a system of three 500-kV lines between Northern and Southern California, except for the segment between the Los Banos and Gates substations, where only two 500-kV lines were built. This project will add a third line and modify the substations at both ends of this segment to accommodate the new line. It will add 1,500 megawatts of transmission capacity between Northern and Southern California.

 Pacific Gas and Electric Company will manage all substation work at its Los Banos and Gates substations. Western, PG&E and Trans-Elect are participating in the project. Trans-Elect is providing the major portion of project funding.
The California Independent System Operator determined that the added capacity will significantly reduce electricity costs in California. As reported in June 2002, when the ISO Board of Directors voted in favor of a Path 15 upgrade, the ISO estimated Californians will save $100 million during a normal year and more than $300 million during a dry year when the project is complete. The ISO also noted that improving Path 15’s transfer capacity can help mitigate the drought-caused lack of hydro resources in Northern California.

Western is a Federal agency within the Department of Energy. It markets electricity from Federal water projects in a 15-state region of the West and delivers this power on a network of nearly 17,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. PG&E is one of three California-based investor-owned utilities. PG&E delivers electricity and natural gas to 14 million customers in Northern and Central California. Trans-Elect is the nation’s largest independent transmission company.