Planning for Future Power Needs in the Sun Valley Area – Part IV

The fourth meeting of the Community Advisory Committee developing a “Wood River Electrical Plan” was held this week. This is my fourth progress report on that effort. The previous reports are available here, here, and here.

It has become apparent that in order to meet the future demands for electrical power and have a reliable source during peak demand times in the Wood River Valley and especially in the Sun Valley/Ketchum area, it will be necessary to add transmission lines. This is going to be a challenge as our area is limited by terrain constraints and we need to consider the value of our important viewsheds. Having a reliable source of power to support our key tourist and second home economy, especially during the winter, is vital. There is currently no redundancy for the north end of the Wood River Valley.

At this month’s meeting we finally got our feet wet and took a close look at the maps in an effort to try to identify potential areas where new power transmission lines could be located given the important siting criteria and goals we have established in previous meetings. We came up with several possible scenarios that will be evaluated by Idaho Power based on GIS (Geographic Information Systems) information for further refinement and consideration at our next meeting.

As mentioned in my previous reports, this process is on track for a planned public release of a preliminary plan in mid to late summer this year. This will lead to full public discussion and input on the proposal.

As always, I will continue to report on our progress and you can also follow it at the Wood River Electrical Plan website provided by Idaho Power. The website has a great deal of information, including copies of all the presentations and minutes of our meetings.