Edison International Builds Out Billions of Dollars in Transmission Projects Amid Shocks from Wildfires

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Edison International (NYSE:EIX) (Rosemead, California) and its subsidiary, Southern California Edison, are at work on a slew of transmission upgrades and additions across southern California and Nevada, in hopes of modernizing and expanding a power grid that is facing constant changes from growing green-energy demands and increasingly common wildfires. Industrial Info is tracking nearly $5 billion in active projects from Edison, including more than $1.4 billion worth that are under construction.

Click on the image at right for a map of active Edison projects across southern California and Nevada.

Much of Edison's active projects in and around southern California include upgrades to existing power lines and substations, as well as reconstruction efforts for some of the oldest facilities. Among the more hotly disputed proposals is the Riverside Transmission Reliability Project. The company wants to build a second overhead line connecting Edison's Vista Substation with the city of Riverside, noting that all of Riverside's energy comes through a single power connection that brings only 557 megawatts (MW) to the city from Vistra.

The project, which is set to begin construction in the fourth quarter, includes an estimated $17 million line that would run about six miles and connect Riverside's proposed $18.5 million substation to the state's electric grid. Both projects are set to wrap in early 2021. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the line and station.

However, the city council for nearby Jurupa Valley accused Riverside authorities earlier this year of giving residents and businesses "false and misleading information" to convince them to support the overhead lines, which would will cut through Jurupa Valley on their way to Riverside from Vistra. Riverside authorities told residents that burying underground lines would be too expensive, but Jurupa Valley countered that "the people of Jurupa Valley will unjustly bear all of the burdens resulting from the [aboveground lines] within Jurupa Valley, but will not receive any benefits from this project," according to southern California newspaper The Press-Enterprise.

Click here for a complete list of projects related to the Riverside Transmission Reliability Project that are tracked by Industrial Info's Project Database.

In the Los Angeles/San Bernardino area, Edison recently began construction on the $31 million Menifee-to-Murrieta transmission line, which runs 15.4 miles from the Valley Substation in Menifee to the Auld Substation in Murrieta. Part of the Valley South sub-transmission line project, it will include new communication equipment and new conductor wires on about 3.4 miles of an existing line. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Edison's highest-valued project is one of the biggest (and most expensive) indicators of changing energy priorities: the estimated $2.7 billion dismantlement and decommissioning of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) near San Clemente, California, which had once generated 2,140 MW for large swaths of southern California, including Los Angeles. The last two units were retired in 2013, following years of safety concerns. California since has adopted some of the nation's most stringent clean-energy standards, including a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that calls for 33% of electricity to come from renewable resources by 2020, rising to 50% by 2030.

The dismantlement/decommissioning process is expected to last until 2031, at the earliest. Earlier this month, nuclear regulators allowed Edison to continue transferring spent nuclear fuel rods from wet to dry storage at the facility; operations had been suspended in August 2018 after a canister containing about 50 tons of spent nuclear rods became wedged in its transport cask as it was being loaded into an underground storage container, according to Palm Springs newspaper The Daily Sun. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Edison also is continuing to deal with the fallout from several wildfires that have swept California in the past few years. California's investor-owned utilities recently agreed to pay roughly $10.5 billion into the state's wildfire fund in exchange for less financial responsibility when blazes are linked to their equipment, according to the Los Angeles Times. Edison executives expect about $390 million on wildfire-related expenditures in 2019, and between $500 million and $700 million in expenditures for 2020.

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