Southern California Edison and Lotus Infrastructure Partners today announced they were chosen by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) 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. 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 (SONGS), largely utilizing existing rights of way for the line.

“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 centers and electrification across the economy,” said Steve Powell, president and CEO of SCE. “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. It is clear that there can be no energy transition without energy transmission,” said Himanshu Saxena, chairman and CEO of Lotus. “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.”

The SCE-Lotus partnership calls for Lotus to lead the project’s development. Upon completion and regulatory approval, SCE will buy the entire project and lease 25% of the transmission capability to Lotus. The selection of SCE and Lotus recognizes SCE’s ability to deliver clean energy to its customers and Lotus’s strengths and experience as a transmission owner and developer.

The North of SONGS to Serrano project is a 30-mile, 500-kilovolt overhead transmission line that will transport renewable energy, helping meet California’s clean air and 2045 climate goals while increasing reliability to the southern Orange County area.

The 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. The CAISO’s comparative analysis included considerations for cost and design, project implementation, operations and maintenance.

About Southern California Edison

An Edison International (NYSE: EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of approximately 15 million via 5 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

About Lotus Infrastructure Partners

Lotus Infrastructure specializes in infrastructure investments along the entire value chain of energy and related sectors as well as other industries that benefit from sustainability and energy transition trends. Our main focus areas include renewable power generation, battery storage, renewable and low-carbon fuels, electric transmission, thermal power, and midstream and downstream assets. Our longstanding focus on renewable energy solutions provides us unique perspectives on recent developments in the energy transition space including sustainability, electrification and decarbonization of the global economy. Lotus Infrastructure has raised in excess of $3 billion of equity capital and has executed transactions totaling more than $8 billion in enterprise value, inclusive of approximately $2.8 billion in enterprise value related to the development and construction of renewable assets such as wind farms, solar farms, renewable natural gas (RNG) projects, energy storage and biomass power plants. The Lotus Infrastructure team brings extensive multi-functional expertise to all of its investments including development, construction, operations, acquisition and financing. For more information, please visit www.lotusinfrastructure.com.

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