Southern California Edison (SCE) has launched another round of solicitations for small-scale renewable source projects, including solar, wind, geothermal and biomass, with the goal of procuring up to 290 megawatts from smaller-scale renewable projects through a Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM). The submission deadline for this solicitation is Friday.
The request for offers is open to renewable electric energy-generating facilities between 3 and 20 megawatts. Additional RAM information and eligibility requirements can be found on the RAM 5 RFO website. SCE has obtained 530 megawatts of renewable power for its customers through the previous four auctions.
“This is part of our leadership into an energy future where SCE believes customers will have more choices and access to clean energy,” said Tony Frontino, principal manager of Contract Origination at SCE. “The previous solicitations have been successful in encouraging small-scale renewable development and once operational, these projects will add to the portfolio of clean energy that we provide to our customers.”
RAM was adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission in December 2010 with the objective of lowering transaction costs and promoting the development of small-scale, system-wide renewable distributed generation. The program encourages development of resources that can use existing transmission and distribution infrastructure, promote competition, elicit the lowest costs for customers and contribute to the state’s renewables goals of 33 percent by 2020.
In addition to soliciting projects throughout the state, SCE has a preference for projects in specific locations for its preferred resources pilot. With a focus on Orange County, the pilot is SCE’s multi-year, comprehensive study designed to determine whether preferred resources — including clean energy options such as energy efficiency, energy conservation, solar, wind and energy storage — can meet the constantly changing demands for electricity in the central Orange County area.
Key facts about SCE’s renewable portfolio:
- Twenty-two percent of the power SCE delivers to its customers comes from renewable sources, compared to the overall California power mix of 15 percent renewables.
- SCE has consistently led the nation as one of the top utilities for renewables and is on track to meet the goal of 33 percent renewables by 2020.
- SCE delivered 1,037 GWh of solar energy to its customers in 2013. This clean energy is the equivalent of removing 715,064 metric tons of carbon dioxide and enough electricity to power 98,358 homes for a year.