Southern California Edison and Lotus Infrastructure Partners has won a tender to deliver transmission infrastructure in California to accommodate more renewables.
California Independent System Operator (CAISO) chose the partnership to develop, permit, own, operate and maintain new transmission infrastructure that will deliver energy from renewable sources, such as utility-scale solar, wind and battery installations, to southern California.
Lotus will lead the project’s development and upon completion and regulatory approval, SCE will buy the entire project and lease 25% of the transmission capability to Lotus.
The companies will build a high voltage transmission line from Serrano substation in north-central Orange County to a substation in the vicinity of the retired San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, largely using existing rights of way for the line, which will be 30 miles long and consist of overhead wires.
“New transmission in California needs to be built at up to four times historical rates to meet unprecedented new demand for electricity, driven by growth in EVs, heat pumps, data centres and electrification across the economy,” said SCE president and chief executive Steve Powell.
Lotus chairman and chief executive Himanshu Saxena said: “Adding transmission capacity is necessary to ensure the electric system is reliable, resilient and ready to deliver more clean energy when and where it’s needed.
“Lotus has been developing transmission assets for almost 20 years, including our most recent high-voltage transmission project in the Desert Southwest region, Ten West Link.
“Lotus is proud to partner with the CAISO, SCE and the local communities to move this very important project forward and enable more renewable projects to be built to meet California’s clean energy goals.”
CAISO conducted a rigorous competitive selection process pursuant to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order No. 1000 and selected SCE-Lotus’s proposal from four applications.
CAISO’s comparative analysis included considerations for cost and design, project implementation, operations and maintenance.