Riverside County to Address Need for Electricity Infrastructure for Coachella Valley

RIVERSIDE – Supervisor V. Manuel Perez is getting Riverside County involved in addressing the issue of electricity infrastructure and support growth, economic development and jobs in the Coachella Valley, particularly in Thousand Palms, eastern Coachella Valley communities, and parts of Indio, La Quinta and Coachella.

The county today agreed to create a JPA (Joint Powers Authority), a regional government agency, that will work on solutions to bring energy capacity for new housing and commercial developments in the areas of the valley served by the Imperial Irrigation District, IID.

“This is years already in the making,” said Supervisor Perez. “This is the big topic when it comes to development, and it is limiting growth now. It’s a huge priority to fix the problem. This is not just a little pocket, this is regional. And we need to address this in a regional way.”

Currently, overall electricity system capacity is impacting new development that cannot be served by the current substations and grid provided by IID. The utility has identified $1.5 billion needed to maintain and improve generation and transmission capability in its service territory.

The Coachella Valley Power Agency JPA, or joint powers authority, will be a forum for local representation to develop energy solutions to increase reliability and plan for growth.

A goal of the JPA is to bring people and organizations, including developers, IID, the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, and other agencies, to the table to discuss these issues and work on regional solutions together. This includes exploring ideas, such as working with developers, affected cities and IID to fund the building of power substations through a cost contribution model.

Along with the County of Riverside, the City of La Quinta has joined the JPA, and the Indio City Council will be considering joining the JPA at its meeting tomorrow. The JPA provides the ability for additional members, including Tribal nations and more cities, to join.