Electric utility Southern California Edison (SCE) signed a 20-year contract for up to 909 megawatts (MW) of wind power to be supplied by an Oregon wind farm to be built in 2011 and 2012.
The project, called Caithness Shepherd’s Flat, is being developed by DCE, an affiliate of Caithness Energy and will include 303 wind turbines across 30 square miles in Gilliam and Morrow Counties in North-Central Oregon. Shepherd’s Flat is expected to generate 2 billion kilowatt-hours per year of renewable energy, which is more than one-tenth of SCE’s overall renewable portfolio.
"This contract is a crown jewel in our renewable energy portfolio," said Stuart Hemphill, SCE vice president, Renewable and Alternative Power. "The project is attractive to SCE because of its size, near-term delivery and its competitive price."
The project requires no additional or upgraded transmission lines, which significantly lessens the time it takes for a power plant of this magnitude to come on line.
"Caithness has been successfully partnering with Southern California Edison since the 1980s to bring renewable energy to the region," said Les Gelber, president and chief operating officer of Caithness Energy. "The Shepherd’s Flat project is particularly exciting and will bring a significant new renewable energy supply to the western United States."
SCE is an Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company and the largest electric utility in California. It leads the nation in renewable energy delivery, procuring about 12.5 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy in 2007, more than any U.S. utility. In 2007, renewable energy constituted about 16% of SCE’s total energy portfolio.
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