The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) provided SDG&E with the green light last week to resume helicopter operations on the Sunrise Powerlink. The state agency had temporarily halted this activity of the project to ensure that safe construction practices were being followed after a handful of helicopter incidents.

The Community Alliance for the Sunrise Powerlink understands the importance of project and worker safety, and commends SDG&E for proactively addressing these issues. By working closely with CPUC personnel to bolster existing safety and training standards, and to improve notification procedures, helicopter crews were back at work in short order.

“SDG&E’s swift action helped to resolve the CPUC’s concerns quickly and allowed the helicopter portion of the project to resume with little delay,” said CASP co-chair and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce President Ruben Barrales. “We are all looking forward to the day this critical infrastructure link is energized so that clean energy can flow to our region."

Click here to read the CPUC’s letter to SDG&E allowing helicopter operations to resume.

While the helicopter incidents needed to be addressed, it’s important to put them into proper context given the scope and scale of this significant investment in our region’s future. The Sunrise Powerlink is already nearly 40 percent complete, but there is still much work to do to meet the in-service date in the second half of 2012.

CASP contacted SDG&E to gather and present the relevant facts and figures below that help put this project in perspective. After reading this information, we think you will agree this is an amazing endeavor.

• SDG&E’s workers and contractors have already put in an estimated 2.2 million man-hours, which is equivalent to 1,060 people working 40 hours per week for one year.
• The Sunrise Powerlink’s safety track record is well below the national Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) average.
• Up to 21 project helicopters are making more than 200 flights each day, the equivalent of more than 3,600 flight hours, yet not a single OSHA recordable injury has resulted from Sunrise Powerlink helicopter activities.
• SDG&E’s detailed investigations concluded that none of the helicopter incidents posed a risk to public safety because the external loads were flown within designated flight corridors and not over occupied homes, businesses or roadways without traffic control, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
• SDG&E expects another 67,000 helicopter flights before the transmission line is completed. Helicopter construction is being used to minimize environmental impacts.
• A total of 6,638,240 feet of overhead conductor will be used on the project, which if connected end to end, would cover the distance from San Diego to San Antonio, Texas.
• The project is expected to move an estimated 1,300,000 cubic yards of earth, which is enough soil to completely fill up the Empire State building.
• More than 9,000 acres of sensitive habitat will be preserved in perpetuity through the purchase of nine unique properties spread throughout San Diego and Imperial Counties.
• The project’s expenditures, once they make their way through the economy, will generate an astounding $3.2 billion in economic activity and 23,000 jobs for California.

The CPUC and Bureau of Land Management approved a very challenging route for the Sunrise Powerlink, requiring helicopter construction on more than two-thirds of the 117-mile route. When completed next year, it will be one of the most complex power lines ever constructed in the United States. However, our region and the environment will benefit for many years from SDG&E’s innovative construction practices, unprecedented mitigation and the 1,000 megawatts of clean renewable energy that will be delivered across the line.

For more information on the Sunrise Powerlink, click here.