SCE to buy 909 MW of wind power from Oregon

NEW YORK Aug 18 (Reuters) - Edison International's (EIX.N) Southern California Edison unit signed a 20-year contract with DCE, an affiliate of Caithness Energy, for up to 909 megawatts of wind power from Oregon, SCE said Monday.

The company did not disclose the terms of the deal and officials of SCE were not to comment.

The project, called Caithness Shepherd's Flat, will involve the installation of 303 wind turbines across 30 square miles in Gilliam and Morrow counties in north-central Oregon between 2011 and 2012.

Shepherd's Flat will generate about 2 billion kilowatt-hours per year of renewable energy, which is more than a tenth of SCE's overall renewable portfolio.

The project will not require additional or upgraded transmission lines, which should lessen the time it takes for the power to reach customers.

In 2007, renewable energy constituted about 16 percent of SCE's total energy portfolio. The company currently has sufficient contracts in place that, when delivering, will meet or exceed 20 percent or more of customers' energy needs with renewable energy.

One MW powers about 700 homes in California.

Edison International, of Rosemead, California, owns and operates about 14,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities in North America, and transmits and distributes electricity to about 4.8 million customers in central and Southern California. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Walter Bagley)