In order to deliver clean, renewable energy to where it can be utilized, the power must be transmitted from where it is generated. In the case of the proposed 460-mile SunZia Southwest Transmission Project, that means building two 500-kilovolt alternate current transmission lines across central and southern New Mexico through southeastern and central Arizona.

Public scoping meetings for the discussion of proposed routes across Bureau of Management lands will be held this Wednesday from 5-8 p.m. in Safford and June 29 in Willcox. The Safford meeting will be held at the Manor House Convention Center at 415 E. Highway 70, and the Willcox meeting will be held at the Valley Telephone Company conference room. There will be two other scoping meetings held in Arizona – one each at Oracle and Eloy – and five more at communities in New Mexico.

The BLM initiated the meetings to gather information before overseeing an Environmental Impact Statement that will evaluate alternatives for the project. Renewable-energy development has been made a priority by the Obama administration. In an article in the Washington Post, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is quoted as saying, "We have to connect the sun of the deserts and the winds of the plains to places where people live."

SouthWestern Power is the transmission and generation project developer and project manager. Other participants include Tucson Electric Power, Shell WindEnergy, Salt River Project (irrigation district and utility) and Energy Capital Partners (an equity investment fund.)

According to a recent PowerPoint presentation by Robert Kondziolka, Salt River Project's Manager of Transmission Planning, the remote location of renewable wind energy in New Mexico requires the installation of long-distance transmission lines to supply power to western load centers.

Another possible positive of the project's transmission corridor is it would pass through an area south of Safford that has been identified as a solar thermal resource area, according to a PowerPoint presentation by Mark Etherton, assistant project manager. The transmission lines could entice a solar power plant in the area due to the transmission lines connecting it to several power providers already being in place.

The paradox of the project is while the renewable wind and solar power from New Mexico would carry about 3,000 megawatts of power and eliminate the need for many new coal-fired power plants, some environmentalists say the transmission lines could themselves be detrimental to some forms of wildlife.

According to the project's preliminary study of corridors, the transmission lines would begin New Mexico's wind-filled plains north of Roswell in either Socorro or Lincoln counties. The proposed lines would travel east, skirting the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, then head south to the Luna substation east of Deming, N.M. The lines would then travel west through Lordsburg, N.M., and cross into Arizona through the San Simon Creek basin before tying into the Willow substation south of Safford. The lines would then follow existing transmission lines up to a point near Swift Trail and skirt the Pinaleno Mountain Range. The lines would traverse south of the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness as it continued west, eventually ending at the Pinal Central substation east of Casa Grande.

Alternative routes suggested has the lines heading southwest after the Willow substation and either traveling between the Pinaleno and Gailuro Mountain Ranges or going around both mountain ranges and connecting with substations Winchester and San Manuel.

Feasibility studies about the project began in June 2006, and the first phase of the project's development and permitting began in February 2008. If it receives all its permits, design and construction is slated to begin in December 2009 and be finished by December 2013. The power would then be initiated in late 2013.