RAMONA —— Ramona residents who want to find out if part of a proposed 120-mile string of high-power electrical lines from Imperial Valley might run through their community can get information about the plan at a meeting from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Ramona Community Center.

The meeting is second to last "open house" arranged by San Diego Gas & Electric, which wants to build the power line —— dubbed the "Sunrise Powerlink" —— to bring "badly-needed" electrical power to the county from a substation in Imperial Valley.

SDG&E spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan said Friday that the open house would give Ramona residents a chance to ask engineers and consultants where the lines might be located, although the specific power line sites haven't been chosen. The state's Public Utility Commission still must approve the project, and whatever power line routes might be identified.

The agency unveiled a wide, triple-headed "corridor" in November that they have identified as the possible area for the massive power lines and an 80-acre substation that are part of the project. The lines would run from Imperial Valley, through North County to the SDG&E substation in Rancho Penasquitos.

Donovan said the corridor now is still "several miles wide," and that the company does not plan to determine the exact routes for the proposed lines until early next year.

Interest in the open houses and the project, Donovan said, has picked up in the last two months.

"Attendance is picking up, as we expected it would," she said. "Not surprisingly, people have also had some concerns."

SDG&E managers said in November that they were hoping to head off some of the eventual "not in my backyard" protests that could arise over the project by including input from the public and local officials in the planning process.

Jim Avery, SDG&E's senior vice president, said in November that San Diego County desperately needs the electricity that the new power-line system would bring. He said the county's power demands are growing while its reliable supply is shrinking.

He said the fossil fuel and nuclear power plants that have sustained the county —— Carlsbad's Encina Power Plant, Chula Vista's South Bay Power Plant and the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station —— are growing older, producing higher-costing electricity than new power stations, and are too expensive to upgrade.

Meanwhile, the new Sunrise Powerlink would bring clean, cheap, "renewable" electricity —— created by geothermal steam, wind and solar power.

The Ramona Community Center is at 434 Aqua Lane.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com