Edison to add up to 185.5 MW of wind, geothermal

Rosemead, Calif.-based Southern California Edison said it plans to add up to 185.5 megawatts of renewable energy to its portfolio, enough to power 120,000 homes in the area.

Southern California Edison, the electric utility subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), signed 20 year power purchase agreements with Reno, Nev.-based Ormat Technologies (NYSE: ORA) for geothermal power, and Daggett Ridge Wind Farm, an affiliate of Arlington, Va.'s AES (NYSE: AES), for wind power.

The contracts are subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission.

"We hope to add even more prospective contracts to our renewable energy portfolio from our 2007 competitive solicitation," said Stuart Hemphill, Southern California Edison's director of Renewable and Alternative Power.

The deal with Ormat is for energy from a new 30 MW geothermal plant to be built in Imperial Valley, Calif., and expected to come on line by mid 2012.

The agreement includes an option to increase capacity at the Imperial Valley facility to 100 MW.

"We are very happy to bring more baseload through clean geothermal energy to California," said Dita Bronicki, CEO of Ormat.

"We are already supplying approximately 160 megawatts of geothermal energy to SCE from the existing power plants that we operate and we have an additional 50 megawatts under construction."

AES' Daggett Ridge Wind Farm in Barstow, Calif., is expected to generate 79.5 MW of electricity, with the potential to go up to 85.5 MW.

Southern California Edison did not disclose a timetable for the construction of the wind farm.

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