LCRA Transmission Services Corp. has filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas an application to build a new 345-kilovolt transmission line in Gillespie, Llano, San Saba, Burnet and Lampasas counties.

The application includes a preferred route suggested by LCRA TSC and 10 additional alternate routes for the Gillespie to Newton transmission line.

The line will connect LCRA TSC's expanded Gillespie Station, located in central Gillespie County, to the designated Oncor Electric Delivery Co.'s Newton Station in southeastern Lampasas County.

LCRA TSC's application is a request to amend its Certificate of Convenience and Necessity. PUC must approve the application before construction can begin.

Construction of the Gillespie to Newton transmission line is part of a greater estimated $4.9 billion project intended to allow for reliable and cost-effective delivery of power produced from wind generators in areas of West Texas and the Panhandle, called Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, to homes and businesses in areas of high energy demand throughout the state. The CREZ effort will significantly increase Texas' transmission capacity for wind power.

Potentially affected landowners will have 30 days to intervene in this proceeding, PUC Docket No. 37448. LCRA TSC mailed letters to those landowners, as required by the PUC, on Oct. 28.

The PUC will make a decision on the final route within 181 days of LCRA TSC's filing its CCN application. If the commission approves the project, LCRA TSC will send a final notice to directly affected landowners indicating if their property is on the approved route.

Descriptions and maps of the preferred and alternative routes appear in a public notice in today's edition of the Lampasas Dispatch Record.

The maps also are available on LCRA's Web site at lcra.org/energy/ trans/crez/. They also can be accessed on the PUC's document Web site at interchange.puc.state.tx. us. Click on the log-in button, then type 37448 -- the project's docket number -- in the control number field.

Also, maps illustrating the county-specific project links and the area LCRA TSC studied to design the routes may be reviewed at the county courthouses in Gillespie, Llano, San Saba, Burnet and Lampasas counties.

LCRA TSC staff is working on alternate routes associated with additional CREZ priority projects to file with the PUC. LCRA TSC will file the Twin Buttes to McCamey D project on Jan. 15, 2010, and the McCamey D to Kendall to Gillespie project on July 6, 2010.

Several other CREZ secondary or subsequent projects are also in the works. LCRA TSC will file the McCamey A to Odessa project with the PUC on May 24, 2010, and the McCamey C to McCamey A project on July 26, 2010. Open houses on these projects will be held in early 2010 as well.

As ordered by the PUC, LCRA TSC will build, own and operate about 600 miles of CREZ-related new and rebuilt transmission lines and facilities, which will cost a total of about $700 million, according to PUC estimates.