Monday, June 13, 2011

Southern California Edison: Re-engineering Grid For Solar

Southern California Edison said today that it's in the middle of a major "re-engineering" of its power distribution network, due to the increase in solar power generation in its market. According to the power utility, it has been reworking neighborhood power circuits, to accept large amount of fluctuating, solar generation capability now on the grid. The utility said the changes are the first change "in more than 100 years" in the design of traditional circuits to carry electricity into neighborhoods. Those circuits have previously been designed as one-way routes, and are now being re-engineered to handle the two-way power delivery inherent in solar power installations, particularly in large, multimillion-watt solar power projects within neighborhoods. The utility did not say how much it is investing in the effort, which also includes connection of new solar power plants, utility-scale solar plants, and other efforts.

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