Southern California Edison (SCE) has launched a 290 MW round of solicitations for small-scale renewable source projects, including solar, wind, geothermal and biomass facilities between 3 MW and 20 MW.
The submission deadline for this solicitation, which is being done through a renewable auction mechanism (RAM), is June 27. SCE notes it has obtained 530 MW of renewable power for its customers through four prior auctions.
"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," says Tony Frontino, principal manager of contract origination at SCE.
According to SCE, 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 California's 33% by 2020 renewable portfolio standard.
SCE says 22% of the power the utility delivers to its customers currently comes from renewable sources, and the company delivered 1,037 GWh of solar energy in 2013.
