Southern California Edison Signs Contracts for More Than 900 Megawatts of Renewable Power

ROSEMEAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed agreements with wind and solar suppliers for up to 960 megawatts of clean, renewable power.

“Southern California Edison is committed to expanding our renewable energy portfolio to benefit our customers, our suppliers and the environment”

The recent agreements, subject to approval of the California Public Utilities Commission, include two contracts with Solar Millennium for a potential 726 megawatts of power from solar-thermal trough generators. When complete, those projects call for two 242 megawatt facilities with the option to expand one to include an additional 242 megawatts. The projects would be located in Blythe, Calif., and Ridgecrest, Calif., and are expected to come on line in 2013 and 2014.

“Southern California Edison is committed to expanding our renewable energy portfolio to benefit our customers, our suppliers and the environment,” said Stuart Hemphill, SCE vice president, Renewable and Alternative Power. “As the nation’s leading utility in renewables, we applaud the innovation that these companies show, and we look forward to productive, long-term partnerships.”

Other recent renewable power contracts — both scheduled to come on line in the fourth quarter, 2010 — include an agreement with Columbia Energy Partners for 40 megawatts of wind power, expandable to 104 megawatts, in Central Oregon; and one with BP Wind Energy & Ridgeline Energy, LLC for 90 megawatts of wind power, expandable to 130 megawatts, in Southeast Idaho.

To date, SCE has executed 12 contracts from the 2008 renewable solicitation representing potential annual deliveries of more than 6.5 billion kilowatt-hours per year. In addition, SCE is in the process of preparing to issue the 2009 renewable solicitation with an expected launch date by the end of June.

SCE delivers more renewable energy to its customers than any other utility — 12.6 billion kilowatt-hours in 2008 — and 16 percent of its total energy portfolio comes from geothermal, wind, solar, small hydro and biomass resources. In addition, SCE delivered 65 percent of the nation’s solar energy to its customers in 2008. For more about SCE’s work in renewables, visit www.sce.com/renewables.

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 14 million via 4.9 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.