Pacific Gas and Electric is racing to keep pace with an unsatiable demand for energy that will give Watsonville a huge power boost. Last month, the utility began phase one of a $40 million project to upgrade the city’s electrical grid. PG&E spokesperson Stephanie Magallon said the company expects the demand for energy to double in the next decade. According to data from the California Public Utilities Commission, Watsonville’s electrical grid hasn’t had a major makeover since the 1970s.
PG&E employees work on the Green Valley substation.
“Phase one is replacing the poles and the powerlines,” said Magallon. She said customers can expect planned power outages and minor traffic delays while the work is taking place by outside contractors. “So far, the project is going well,” said Jesus Muniz. His company is doing the ground work in preparation for the new power poles on Highway 152.
According to Magallon, crews will be busy replacing 159 new power poles in Watsonville and Freedom, upgrading 93 transformers, along with the Green Valley substation. Customers will likely notice 30,000 feet of new electrical wires, along with almost 2,000 feet of new underground line. PG&E will also boost an existing 800 feet of undergroundelectrical wires. In an effort to modernize the system, the utility will upgrade 70 protective devices on the poles that can detect and isolate exactly where an outage occurs, rather than taking an entire neighborhood off the grid to while the problem is resolved.
The electrical grid will go from four kilovolts of power to 21 kilovolts. “It’s like taking a two-lane freeway and expanding it to six lanes,” said PG&E regional manager Jeremy Howard. The bulk of the work will take place on Green Valley Road between Mesa Verde Drive and Freedom Blvd, in various parts of the College Lake area and along Highway 152 between Holohan and Carlton Roads. Crews will be working Monday through Friday, primarily during business hours.
Magallon says the upgrades will help prevent frequent power outages during heavy winter storms. She expects the work to wrap up by early 2027. Watsonville resident Vincente Martinez says he hasn’t experienced frequent outages during stormy weather but anticipates the improvements will increase his PG&E rates. “We pay a lot already but we expect it will go up,” said Martinez. According to Magallon, the California Public Utilities Commission will determine a potential rate increase but she she’s unsure of an amount.