Tierra Right of Way Services, Ltd. (Tierra), has been retained by The El Paso Electric Company (EPE) to assist in providing the necessary land services to complete the Jornada to Moongate 115kV Transmission Line (the project). Due to high growth in the area, the project is necessary to meet increased demand and will involve construction of a new electric transmission line from the current Jornada Substation, on the corner of Thurmond Road and Calle Paraiso, to the new Moongate Substation, which is currently under construction at the corner of Moongate Road and El Centro Boulevard. The transmission line will be approximately 8.8 miles long and will be constructed across privately owned parcels and New Mexico State Trust lands and within City of Las Cruces public rights-of-way.
The purpose of the new transmission line is to increase capacity and create adequate system reliability to meet the East Mesa area’s current and future demand for electric service. Development along the planned route is occurring rapidly, and the new line will provide the required redundancy that EPE needs in order to minimize any disruptions to the electric service customers currently receive. Through technical evaluations, modeling, and analysis, project engineers have determined that a new 115kV transmission line connecting the Jornada Substation and Moongate Substation is critical and necessary for EPE’s operations.
JORNADA-MOONGATE TRANSMISSION LINE PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETED
- Phase II, Installation of 115kV transmission line and OPGW: within the City of Las Cruces ROW (McGuffey, Thurmond, Engler) completed by January 28, 2022 and within Doña Ana County ROW (Engler) completed by February 11, 2022.
- Installation and energization of 345kV transmission line and OPGW (Peachtree Hills, Metro Verde Park): within BLM and City of Las Cruces ROW completed by May 16, 2021.
- Bird Diverter Installation along the entire 115kV transmission line (Phase I & II) completed by March 11, 2022.
- ROW vegetation restoration of entire transmission line corridor (Phase I & II) and laydown yard by Cattleguard Trail completed by March 11, 2022.
- Splicing of OPGW line along the entire transmission line corridor (Phase I & II) complete by April 22, 2022.
- Energization of 115kV transmission line: October 2022.
Questions?
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Staff Agent Darragh Heenan at (505) 433-3748 (office), (800) 887-0847 (toll free), or by email at dheenan@tierra-row.com. She will be more than happy to discuss the project and assist with any questions.
Information last updated: May 23, 2022.
Link: Project Map
Photo 1. Installation of transmission line by El Centro Blvd and into Moongate Substation.
Photo 4. Installation of bird diverters on transmission line along McGuffey.
