- published: 10 Oct 2015
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Path 46, also called West of Colorado River, Arizona-California West-of-the-River Path (WOR), is a set of many alternating current high-voltage transmission 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.
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.
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. 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. Leaving the substation, the line parallels Interstate 8 at a distance to the south as both Interstate and power line head east. 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. 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. As Interstate 8 turns east again to reach Yuma, the line spans over and departs the freeway as the line continues northeast. The line reaches the foothills north of Yuma and heads east. Abruptly, as the line crosses the Colorado River, the power line turns south to head into the North Gila substation. 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.
Path, pathway or PATH may refer to: