Southern California Edison

Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE|EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. However, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, San Diego Gas & Electric, Imperial Irrigation District and some smaller municipal utilities take substantial chunks out of its territory. The northern part of the state is generally served by the Pacific Gas & Electric Company of San Francisco.

Southern California Edison (SCE) still owns all of its electrical transmission facilities and equipment, but the deregulation of California's electricity market forced the company to sell many of its power plants, though some were probably sold by choice. In California, SCE only retained its hydroelectric plants, totaling about 1,200 MW, and its 75% share of the 2,150-MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The utility lost all of its natural gas-fired plants, which provided most of its electrical generation. The large, aging plants were bought by out-of-state companies such as Mirant and Reliant Energy, which allegedly used them to manipulate the California energy market. However, SCE still owns about half of the 1,580-MW coal-fired Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada, which supplied electricity to California, Nevada and Arizona. The Mohave Generating Station closed in December 2005, amid concerns regarding water rights and coal supply.

Southern California Edison's power grid is linked to PG&E's by the Path 26 wires that generally follow Interstate 5 over Tejon Pass. The interconnection takes place at a massive substation at Buttonwillow. PG&E's and WAPA's Path 15 and Path 66, respectively, from Buttonwillow north eventually connect to BPA's grid in the Pacific Northwest. There are several other interconnections with local and out-of-state utilities, such as Path 46.

Unknown to many is that SCE also operates a regulated gas and water utility. SCE is the sole provider of natural gas and fresh water service to Catalina Island, including the city of Avalon, California. SCE operates the utilities under the names of Catalina Island Gas Company and Catalina Island Water Company.

Renewable energy

Southern California Edison has entered into a contract with Stirling Energy Systems to buy electricity from a 500 megawatt, 4,600 acre (19 km²), solar power plant which is due to open in 2009. [ [http://pesn.com/2005/08/11/9600147_Edison_Stirling_largest_solar/ World's largest solar installation to use Stirling engine technology] ] [ [http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6166113.html Full steam ahead for Nevada solar project] ] This will be the first commercial application of the Stirling Solar Dish. A different technology from the more familiar solar panel, the dish concentrates solarenergy by the use of reflective surfaces and by the use of the Stirling heat engine to convert the heat into electricity. [ [http://www.stirlingenergy.com/news/SES%20-%20PUC%20RELEASE.pdf California Public Utilities Commission Approves Stirling Energy System’s Solar Energy Contract with Southern California Edison] ]

In a recent move, Southern California Edison plans to secure 1,500 megawatts or more of power generated from new projects to be built in the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm area. The 2006 contract, which more than doubles SCE’s wind energy portfolio, envisions more than convert|50|sqmi|km2 of wind parks in the Tehachapi region, which is triple the size of any existing U.S. wind farm. [ [http://www.edison.com/pressroom/pr.asp?id=6487 Southern California Edison Signs Largest Wind Energy Contract in U.S. Renewable Industry History] ]

Even more recently, in March 2008, Southern California Edison announced a $875 million project to build a network of 250 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power generation, making it the biggest solar cell project in the nation. The photovoltaic cells will cover convert|65000000|sqft|m2 of rooftops in southern California and will generate enough power to serve 162,000 homes. [ [http://www.edison.com/pressroom/pr.asp?bu=&year=0&id=7002 Southern California Edison Launches Nation’s Largest Solar Panel Installation] ] .

Southern California Edison received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2004, the third year of the report.

Plug-in hybrids

Ford announced on Monday July 9, 2007 that it will team up with Southern California Edison (SCE) to examine the future of plug-in hybrids in terms of how home and vehicle energy systems will work with the electrical grid. Under the multi-million-dollar, multi-year project, Ford will convert a demonstration fleet of Ford Escape Hybrids into plug-in hybrids, and SCE will evaluate how the vehicles might interact with the home and the utility's electrical grid. Some of the vehicles will be evaluated "in typical customer settings," according to Ford. [ [http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/enn.cfm#id_11093 EERE News: EERE Network News ] ] [ [http://media.ford.com/newsroom/release_display.cfm?release=26326 Ford Motor Company - Press Release - Ford Motor Company And Southern California Edison Join Forces To Advance A New Transportation And Energy Vision ] ]

See also

* Ford
* Plug-in hybrid

References

External links

* [http://www.sce.com Southern California Edison]
* [http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=51983 SCE Launches 250-MW Solar Project]