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Sahuarita council backs Tucson Electric Power's Sanarita connection, selects Route 1 for town support
Summary
After a presentation on regional reliability and substation benefits, the Sahuarita Town Council voted 5–1 on May 11 to support Tucson Electric Power's preferred Route 1 (green) for the Sanarita transmission connection, citing cost, environmental compatibility and public preference.
The Sahuarita Town Council on May 11 voted to support Tucson Electric Power's Sanarita transmission connection project and identified Route 1 (the green alignment) as the town's preferred route.
TE project managers told the council the project responds to a reliability need identified in NERC-mandated planning studies: a contingency scenario in which two of three local transmission paths are out of service would leave a single circuit carrying nearly its full load. TE said adding the Sanarita connection creates a fourth path and reduces overload risk, while enabling a new 138 kV Sanarita substation that would transform transmission voltages down to distribution and provide redundancy for local growth.
Project staff described four candidate routes and summarized community feedback from a March 4 public open house in Sahuarita. Route 1 was presented as the lowest-cost option, with high environmental compatibility and strong public support; Route 3 was shorter but required more new structures and private-rights-of-way negotiations, which raised construction costs.
Council members discussed trade-offs including construction and long-term maintenance costs, proximity to projected growth, corridor disturbance, and jurisdictional entitlements. Several members said the substation location — not the particular transmission alignment within the 500-foot corridor — drives where the town will be able to tap distribution service, and that redundantly served distribution via the substation is the primary community benefit.
Following discussion, a council member moved to "support the transmission line project with Route 1." The motion passed 5–1.
What this means: The council's support is a municipal position to be submitted in proceedings and local outreach; it does not by itself grant rights-of-way or permits. TE will continue state-level permitting and Arizona Corporation Commission coordination, and the town retains a role in future county or municipal entitlements for any corridor segments that fall inside Sahuarita limits or future annexation areas.
(Reporting note: Technical terms and the reliability justification are taken from TE's presentation and NERC definitions cited during the meeting.)
