Board approves agreement to fund power substation in Thousand Palms

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - Riverside County supervisors today approved a funding agreement for a new power substation slated for construction in Thousand Palms, benefiting several communities served by the Imperial Irrigation District.

"When there are blackouts in the summer, there's no air conditioning. It's hot," board Chairman Manuel Perez said ahead of the 5-0 vote in favor of the Cook Street Substation Project. "It makes things tough. Advancing a new substation in the Thousand Palms area is important."

The board voted to support the project with a promised $5.6 million investment via the newly established Coachella Valley Power Fund. The county committed an initial $250,000 Tuesday, drawn from the Unincorporated Communities Initiative account, which was established five years ago specifically to provide money for projects intended to uplift underserved or economically challenged areas.

Further appropriations will be added to the power fund as the project matures. Its total cost was estimated to be $42.62 million.   

In addition to the county, the cities of Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage, as well as IID and the nonprofit Berger Foundation, are parties to the funding compact.  

The project will be situated in the immediate vicinity of Cook Street and Chase School Road, just north of Interstate 10 and less than a mile northwest of Acrisure Arena. The property is owned by the Berger Foundation, which will be involved in the planning stages of the substation, according to documents posted to the board's agenda.

No groundbreaking date has been set yet, and a timeline for construction wasn't published.

IID officials said the station will house one 28 mega volt-amperes transformer and one 50 mega volt-amperes transformer, with space for a third 28 MVA transformer in the future. Substations serve as power flow regulators, distributing electrical current to homes and businesses via the grid with safeguards. The stations don't generate electricity independently.   

"Our team has been able to draft a regional solution to the infrastructure needs of the eastern Coachella Valley,'' IID spokesman Antonio Ortega told the board. ``It took a lot of work, effort and diligence to get us to this point. Here we are today. But this is just the start.''

The county Transportation & Land Management Agency and other entities are also working toward the future establishment of a substation on Avenue 58 in La Quinta. That remains in the conceptualization phase.   

The Cook Street Substation will fall under the purview of the Coachella Valley Power Agency, a joint powers authority set up in May to provide a forum for government and private interests to work in concert toward expanding and improving power grid infrastructure throughout the region.