The Round Mountain 500 kV Area Dynamic Reactive Support Project, now known as the Fern Road Substation, was awarded to LS Power Grid California, LLC in 2020 through a competitive solicitation conducted by CAISO for its 2018-2019 Transmission Planning Process. This reliability driven project will provide critical reliability for the Northern California grid by eliminating chronic high voltage issues on PG&E’s system and addressing wide voltage variability resulting from increase solar generation in CAISO. The project is located in Shasta County, California with a planned in-service date of 2024.

The Project includes two ±265.4 MVAR static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) blocks and a new Fern Road Substation consisting of a 6-position 500 kV breaker-and-a-half switchyard with two 500/60.9 kV transformers. Fern Road Substation will loop in PG&E’s existing Round Mountain to Table Mountain 500 kV #1 and #2 lines. Fern Road Substation will be located approximately 11 miles south of PG&E’s Round Mountain 500 kV substation.

Construction of the Project is planned to begin in late 2023 after necessary approvals are obtained. The construction phase of the project is anticipated to be approximately one year in duration, concluding with the energization of new Project facilities in late 2024.