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Southern California Edison boosts renewable energy grid access

Celebrating (left to right): CPUC Commissioner Dian Grueneich, FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller, Edison International Chairman and CEO Ted Craver, and Gov. Schwarzenegger visit Southern California Edison's new substation to celebrate completion of the first phase of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project

The first part of a major renewable energy transmission project in California has been completed by power company Southern California Edison.

The Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project is the first major transmission project in the state to be built specifically to provide access to renewable energy.

When complete, it will comprise a series of high-voltage power lines stretching from eastern Kern County to the city of Ontario in San Bernardino County, bringing wind and solar power in from the California desert to the Los Angeles area.

The first part of the project saw the first three of 11 segments completed, providing 700MW of capacity. When complete, it will bring in 4,500MW of renewable power.

Theodore F Craver, chairman and CEO of Southern California Edison’s parent company, Edison International, said: “Today we are able to bring about 700 megawatts of power from the Tehachapi Mountains to the load in Los Angeles. But when we complete all of the segments, we’ll be able to bring 4,500 megawatts of power.

“Just to give you a little perspective, that 4,500 megawatts is roughly equivalent to providing renewable power to 3 million homes. That’s really quite something,” said Mr Craver.

Construction of the remaining segments of the Tehachapi project will begin later this year, pending approval from federal land agencies like the US Forest Service.

The completed segments are expected to be operational in 2015.

As well as connecting up more renewable energy to the grid, the project is expected to improve the overall reliability of California’s transmission system, boosting one of the state’s most important north-south transmission corridors.

The line will serve growing energy demand in the Antelope Valley, as well as easing transmission constraints into the Los Angeles area.

Southern California Edison, which serves a population of nearly 14 million in Central, Coastal and Southern California, said it is investing $21.5 billion to strengthen the grid during the next five years.

Click on the picture above to view a video about the Tehachapi project

The company is providing upfront financing for the transmission project, rather than renewable energy generators, in order to attract the renewable energy projects to the desert areas.

Mr Craver said: “This upfront funding worked very well for this project. We need this to also work very well for a number of other projects. The state, if it is to meet its 33% renewable energy goal, is estimated – by a study that the California Public Utilities Commission did – to require 11 new transmission lines.”

“Tangible”

Commenting on the Tehachapi project’s milestone, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said it was “tangible evidence” that the state was “fulfulling its renewable energy promise”.

Gov. Schwarzenegger said: “I have been fighting ever since I came into office to build more transmission lines because you can have all the renewable energy out there in the desert, all the windmills, all the solar, but if you can’t deliver that energy to the homes and businesses, you have nothing.”