About the project

Project Date:

01 September, 2019 - 30 October, 2022

Energy Generation:

80,000 kWh / Year

Category:

Solar Energy

Client / Company:

Southern California Edison (SCE)

Project Location:

SCE Parkway, Rosemead, California

Project Information

Southern California Edison — Company Overview

  • Southern California Edison (SCE) is the primary electric utility in large parts of southern California, and is the largest subsidiary of Edison International.

  • Service Territory & Customers: SCE serves approximately 15 million people across ~50,000 square miles via a network of transmission and distribution lines.

  • Business & Strategy Context: As a major regulated utility, SCE is actively engaged in grid modernization, integrating distributed energy resources (DERs), and supporting California’s renewable / decarbonization policy mandates.

  • Renewables & DER Posture: SCE actively supports customer-owned generation (e.g. rooftop solar), energy storage (via incentives), and advanced grid applications to manage DERs.

  • Grid Modernization Planning: Under the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) mandates and internal strategic vision, SCE has published a multi-year Grid Modernization Plan / 10-Year Vision, which includes DER integration, substation modernization, advanced controls, and more.

Scope of Project

Objectives / Goals

  • Enable high penetration of rooftop solar + BESS on SCE’s distribution network with minimal reliability impact

  • Reduce customer adoption barriers (streamline interconnection, offer fair export credit)

  • Enhance grid flexibility, reduce peak demand, and defer distribution upgrades

  • Test advanced DER management, two-way coordination, transactive mechanisms

  • Ensure equitable access, regulatory alignment, and cost responsibility balance

Project Phases 

  1. Feasibility & Planning

    • Assess feeder hosting capacity, voltage profiles, protection systems

    • Identify candidate feeders / circuits for pilot integration

    • Engage stakeholders (customers, regulators, DER vendors)

    • Develop modeling, forecasting, and DER integration architecture

  2. Design & Specification

    • Define technical standards (smart inverter functions, telemetry, control)

    • Specify communications, data architecture, DERMS interfaces

    • Design interconnection process enhancements (fast-track, streamlined review)

    • Define export credit / billing rules (e.g., SBP rules)

  3. Pilot Deployment & Testing

    • Deploy rooftop solar + BESS on selected pilot sites or feeders

    • Implement DERMS / GridOS or equivalent control software

    • Integrate with substation controls via EASE or similar

    • Monitor, control, and test dispatch, voltage regulation, islanding, fault responses

    • Run performance metrics, stress tests, worst-case scenarios

  4. Full Deployment / Scaling

    • Refine lessons learned, adjust standards, expand to more feeders

    • Scale interconnection processing, customer outreach

    • Integrate with outage management, operations, planning workflows

    • Provide reporting, regulatory compliance, cost & benefit tracking

  5. Operations, Optimization & Evolution

    • Continuously tune inverter control modes, dispatch strategies

    • Use analytics / AI to forecast solar output, optimize DER dispatch

    • Enable deeper customer participation and perhaps peer-to-peer / transactive markets

    • Ensure cybersecurity, communication health, and data integrity

Project Gallery