Southern California Edison to install largest rooftop PV system in US

Sep. 19, 2011 - Chris Whitmore - pv-tech.org

Southern California Edison (SCE) will install the largest single-building solar rooftop system in the US at an industrial property in Perris, California. Dexus Property Group has signed a 20-year lease with SCE for the 513,588m2 rooftop space, which will soon be home to 36,000 solar panels.

The record-breaking system, which will have a peak capacity of 10MW, is part of a network of solar plants SCE is building through southern and central California. Electricity generated by these installations will be transferred directly into the neighbouring SCE energy grid throughout more than a dozen inverter and transformer clusters built close to the building. Construction on the Perris array is scheduled to begin in late 2011 and the station is expected to be connected to the grid some time in 2012.

“The new lease will unlock further value with the Dexus distribution centre to now host two tenants: SCE on the rooftop and Whirlpool within the building it has occupied since 2008. This complex and exciting project is thanks to the collaborative efforts of Dexus, Whirlpool and SCE and will support renewable energy production in California for decades to come,” Dexus CEO Victor Hoog Antink said.

“Thanks to the support of building owners like Dexus, Southern California Edison’s solar project objectives are being met – increasing California’s renewable generation resources and helping address solar generation’s significantly higher customer costs,” Mark Nelson, director of Edison's solar photovoltaic programme, added.