SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Gas and Electric unveiled Monday the proposed route the 130-mile Sunrise Powerlink electric transmission line would follow from the Imperial Valley through San Diego County.

SDG&E officials said the transmission line is needed to improve the reliability of the region's power grid.

It will be capable of delivering 1,000 megawatts of power to the region by 2010, enough energy for about 650,000 homes, according to the utility.

SDG&E divided the path for the line into four segments -- desert, central, inland valley and coastal.

In the desert, the line would run about 55 miles through a mostly uninhabited area from an existing substation in the Imperial Valley along a utility right-of-way through a portion of Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

A 35-mile central segment would end at a proposed new substation on property owned by the Vista Irrigation District near the junction of state Route 2 and state Route 79, according to SDG&E.

In the inland valley areas, the line would travel 25 miles along SDG&E's rights-of-way or roads in the community of Ramona, with the potential undergrounding of lines through populated areas.

The coastal segment of the line would run about 15 miles through existing utility easements in Scripps Ranch, Rancho Penasquitos and Torrey Hills. SDG&E is also considering burying the lines in those areas.

A more extensive engineering and analysis of the proposed route will now be conducted before an environmental assessment is filed with the California Public Utilities Commission this summer, according to SDG&E.

In a statement, San Diego City Council President Scott Peters urged SDG&E to continue working to reduce the negative impacts of the line.

"I appreciate SDG&E's efforts to listen to the community and find creative ways to mitigate potential problems," Peters said. "I encourage them to continue working with residents as we enter the next phase of development."

James P. Avery, SDG&E's senior vice president of electric, said the proposed route is still a "work in progress."

"What we've proposed is the result of many months of work and feedback from hundreds of people in San Diego County, but it is only the beginning," he said. "As regulators consider our project, the process will include many opportunities for additional public comment over the next several months."

SDG&E plans a series of public outreach meetings on the proposed route over the next two weeks. The first one was held Monday at the Ramona Performing Arts Center.