TEP mulls energy sales with CFE

US energy utility Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is discussing a project with Mexico's state power company CFE to buy and sell energy through a proposed cross-border transmission line, a TEP spokesperson told BNamericas Friday. TEP's planned 345kV, 106km line would carry up to 500MW of energy between the US state of Arizona and northern Mexico's Sonora state. Construction of the US$75mn line would take 18 months. TEP, on the southern tip of the US' western power grid, relies on energy from the north, meaning a southern option could prevent power losses. "From a system/design point of view, it's useful to have another route, and so that's one of the reasons we want to build this line," spokesperson Joe Salkowski said. However, building the line is proving problematic, as some US ranchers and environmentalists actively oppose construction plans, which would cut through protected lands, local newspaper Arizona Daily Star reported. The US federal government has scheduled four public hearings this month on the project's draft environmental impact statement. Moreover the US energy department (DOE) and a handful of other government agencies must approve the plan, while Mexican permits are "another story, and that's part of why we're talking with CFE," Salkowski said. TEP is a subsidiary of UniSource Energy Corporation (NYSE: UNS).