March 9, 2007

Utility announces its fifth renewable energy contract solicitation for additional renewable supplies.

ROSEMEAD, Calif., March 9, 2007—Southern California Edison (SCE) announced today that its 2006 renewable energy purchases and deliveries to customers once again led the nation: 

- SCE delivered 12.6 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable energy during 2006, 16.7% of total power deliveries under California’s renewable portfolio standard guidelines.

- SCE delivered enough renewable energy to serve 1.8 million homes for the entire year.

Energy Sources Billions of kWh Delivered
Geothermal  7.50
Wind  2.45
Small hydro  0.95
Biogas* 0.75
Solar  0.60
Biomass** 0.35
Total 12.60

*Gases from landfills and digesters
**Solids such as agricultural and wood waste

The utility also announced that Monday, March 12, 2007, it will launch its 2007 open, competitive solicitation for additional renewable power contracts, its fifth since 2002. 

Previous solicitations have secured for SCE customers 25 renewable energy contracts with maximum future annual power generation of 13 billion kilowatt-hours, enough electricity to serve approximately 1.9 million average homes for a year.  The actual output of renewable energy projects may be limited due to weather conditions and transmission availability.

"We are once again in the market offering long-term contracts to companies developing renewable power projects to serve our customers," said Pedro Pizarro, SCE senior vice president of power procurement.  "We see renewable energy procurement as one of several ways our industry can reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

SCE will be soliciting 10-, 15-, or 20-year contracts from all interested developers of renewable energy projects – those using solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and small-hydro energy.  Proposals will be due to SCE in May 2007, and SCE expects to submit completed contracts to the CPUC for approval by December 2007.  Interested parties will be able to download details of the request for offers at www.sce.com/renewrfp as of 9 a.m. Pacific, Monday, March 12, 2007.  To answer bidders’ questions, SCE will host a proposal conference on April 4, 2007, at a location to be announced on this Web site.

While pursuing additional renewable energy sources, SCE also is making progress developing new transmission lines to connect untapped renewable resource in areas such as Tehachapi to the utility’s high-voltage power grid.  The California Public Utilities Commission on March 1, 2007, approved the first leg of the utility’s $1.7-billion renewable energy transmission project.  The commission has placed on its March 15, 2007, agenda a possible decision on the second leg of the project.

The project is the first major transmission project built in California specifically to tap the renewable energy available in remote areas of the state.  SCE believes the Tehachapi region has the potential eventually to provide 4,500 megawatts or more of renewable projects.   The utility expects to begin construction of the project later this year, with the first phase expected to begin delivering renewable energy to SCE customers in 2009.

Related Facts
- SCE purchases 1/6 of all U.S. renewable energy used to generate electricity for retail sale, including more than 90% of all the U.S. solar generation.

- SCE signed the largest wind energy contract ever completed by a U.S. utility on Dec. 21, 2006.  It secures for SCE customers 1,500 MW or more of power generated by new wind projects to be built in the Tehachapi area of California.  The contract envisions more than 50 square miles of wind parks in the Tehachapi region – triple the size of any existing U.S. wind farm.

- SCE continues to work toward meeting the goals of California's renewable portfolio standard.   By 2010, the utility hopes to have contracts which, when fully operational, will represent 20% or more of our customers' energy needs.

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An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of more than 13 million via 4.7 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within central, coastal and Southern California.