Technical and Economic Comparison between Two Major Projects Planned to be Constructed in the United States Southwest Region

This paper presents the technical and economic comparison between two major transmission projects that likely will be constructed in the 2008 and 2009 timeframe in the Southwest Region of the United States. The two transmission projects will expand the transmission network capacity between Arizona and California which are in the western electricity coordinating council (WECC). Either of the two projects is recognized as reducing power congestion in this major transmission path between Arizona and California as well as providing the economic opportunity of expanding transmission capacity for the open energy market in the WECC region.