Path 46, also called West of Colorado River, Arizona-California West-of-the-River Path (WOR), is a set of many high voltage electrical power tranmission lines that are located in southeast California and Nevada up to the Colorado River. This power transmission system is essential to meet the electricity demands of Southern California's massive population centers like Los Angeles and San Diego. The massive system has three separate systems of power lines.

Individual power lines of Path 46

Supporting system (230 kV only)

• El Centro - Imperial Valley 230 kV
• Ramon - Mirage 230 kV
• Coachella - Devers 230 kV

Southern System (500 kV only)

• North Gila - Imperial Valley 500 kV
• Palo Verde - Devers 500 kV No.1

Northern System

• Marketplace - Adelanto 500 kV - although this line is called Path 64, it is part of Path 46.
• Eldorado - Lugo 500 kV
• Eldorado - Lugo 230 kV lines 1 & 2
• Mohave - Lugo 500 kV
• Julian Hinds - Mirage 230 kV
• McCullough - Victorville 500 kV lines 1 & 2
• Hoover - Victorville 287 kV

Note- although the Intermountain HVDC line follows the route of the northern system (specifically, the Hoover - Victorville and McCullough - Victorville lines) the DC line is not considered part of Path 46. Instead, the line is a distinct path: Path 27.

Route of the 500 kV lines

North Gila - Imperial Valley (San Diego Gas and Electric)

The power line begins in the Imperial Valley substation located west of Mexicali between the United States-Mexico border to the south and Interstate 8 to the north.^[1] The same substation is also the northern end of Path 45, an international power transmission corridor linking the Californian power grid to the Mexican power grid.^[1] Leaving the substation, the line parallels Interstate 8 at a distance to the south as both Interstate and power line head east.^[1] At a certain distance to the east near the sand dunes, Interstate 8 parallels the line closely, as infrastructure bunches up to cross the shifting sand dunes.^[1] For the next 10 miles (16 km), the line is squeezed tightly between the US-Mexico border and Interstate 8, until both Interstate 8 and the power line turn northeast.^[1] As Interstate 8 turns east again to reach Yuma, the line spans over and abandons the freeway as the line continues to head northeast.^[1] The line reaches the foothills north of Yuma and heads east.^[1] Abruptly, as the line crosses the Colorado River, the power line turns south to head into the North Gila substation.^[1] Another line, Palo Verde - North Gila, connects this southern line to the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant. The section of line east of the Colorado River is referred to as Path 21.

Palo Verde - Devers No. 1 (Southern California Edison (SCE))

Starting from the Devers substation northeast of the San Gorgonio Pass and north of Interstate 10, the line parallels Interstate 10 as both freeway and power line pass by Palm Springs as both head southeast. After leaving Palm Springs, the freeway and power line turn to head east-northeast. In the middle of the Mojave Desert, the line spans over Interstate 10 and runs south of the highway for the rest of the route east to Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant, eventually the line runs out of sight of the freeway as the lines spans over the Colorado River. Like the North Gila - Imperial Valley line, the section of this power line east of the Colorado River is Path 21. The very long power line eventually ends in the massive Palo Verde substation next to the nuclear power plant and with the southernmost line mentioned above.

Mojave - Lugo (SCE)

Eldorado - Lugo (SCE)

McCullough - Victorville lines one and two (both Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADW&P))

Marketplace - Adelanto (LADW&P)

Main article: Path 64

The Marketplace - Adelanto line starts at the Adelanto substation west of the Victorville substation. The same substation is also the southern end of the Intermountain HVDC line at the Adelanto static inverter plant. As the line leaves the substation, it heads northwest along with U.S. Route 395 for a while before it turns east and then northeast as it meets the other Marketplace - Victorville lines and Interstate 15. The line follows the other Path 46 wires and then Interstate 15 closely until the Nevada border, where the line abandons the freeway as the line heads east into the Marketplace substation.

Capacity and source of the electricity

The entire Path 46 system has a capacity of transmitting 10,100 megawatts or about 10 gigawatts of electrical power to the massive population centers of Southern California. If one megawatt can power about 1,000 households, then Path 46 has the capacity to power up ten million households to ensure a steady power supply for Southern California. The source of the electricity the lines carry is from hydroelectric dams (like Hoover Dam) on the Colorado River, fossil fuel plants (like the Mojave Generating Station in Laughlin), and nuclear power (like the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant).

References

• Wecc.biz

Major 500 kV Electric power transmission corridors of the Western United States
High Voltage Alternating current (HVAC)	Path 3  •   Path 4  •   Path 5  •   Path 6  •   Path 8  •   Path 9  •  Path 10-11  •   Path 14  •   Path 15  •  Path 21  •   Path 22  •   Path 26  •  Path 45  •  Path 46  •  Path 49  •   Path 51  •   Path 54  •   Path 61  •  Path 62  •  Path 63  • Path 64  •  Path 66  •   Path 71  •   Path 73  •   Path 75
High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC)	Intermountain (Path 27) •  Pacific DC Intertie (Path 65)

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