In the Solar Arena, SCE’s a Veteran Player
Since 2008, SCE-owned solar facilities have generated 322 million kilowatt hours of clean power, an amount equivalent to 30,541 homes' electricity use for one year.
In 1979, SCE partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to construct Solar One - the first commercial solar thermal generation plant in the nation. Solar One produced power from 1980 until 1986.
Beginning in 1986, the Solar One project was redesigned as Solar Two, and the plant's efficiency was greatly increased by replacing the oil with molten salt as the heat collector. By using salt, the plant could continue to produce steam after sunset. Solar Two produced power from 1996 until 1999.
In the late 1980s, Edison research scientists partnered with Texas Instruments to develop flexible photovoltaic materials in an effort to decrease the cost of solar power generation.
