SCE - 1948 - 1978

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History

1948 - 1978

The most popular new appliance of the post war era was the television, causing significant surges in the demand for power

1947-1980: As migration to Edison's service area swells to 1,000 people a week, Edison increases its generating capacity by:

Expanding Big Creek and doubling the project's output;

Building ten multiple-unit, oil- and gas-fired power plants inland and along the coast;

Joining forces with Arizona Public Service Company to build an additional steam plant near Yuma;

Modernizing Long Beach Steam Plant No. 2;

Adopting coal as a fuel source;

Pioneering commercial nuclear power; and

and commencing exploration of future, alternative methods of generating electricity.

Exploring alternative means of generating electricity.

April 12, 1951: Edison installs its one millionth meter.

Edison marine biologists review the growth of lobsters grown under the mariculture program.

1954: Edison commences marine ecology studies around its coastal power plants.

June 1956: Edison retains preeminent scientist Dr. Haagen-Smit to conduct full-scale research into smog abatement. His work results in the adoption of pollution control technologies nationwide.

July 12, 1957: Edison becomes the first investor-owned utility to generate non-military nuclear power (at Santa Susana Experimental Station).

November 12, 1957: Moorpark, Ventura, becomes the first town in the world to receive its entire energy supply from a nuclear power plant, launching California's "Age of Atomic Energy."

January 1, 1964: California Electric Power Company, which serves an area from Tonopah in Central Nevada to Palm Springs in Southern California, merges with Edison. The integration of the two companies' systems is considered the most complex in electric industry history.

Edison crew install new Dreyfus-designed 220KV towers in El Segundo.

1968: Leading industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss works with Edison engineers to produce the nation's first aesthetic transmission towers.

January 5, 1968: Edison powers up Unit One at the new San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), a joint project between Edison (80 percent) and San Diego Gas and Electric Company (20 percent).

Early 1970's: Edison voluntarily adopts a number of environmental programs. It abandons promotional advertising in favor of conservation messages aimed at reducing the overall consumption of electricity.

The Trans Power Wind Farm

1978: Edison builds a wind energy center near Palm Springs and pledges to purchase output from wind farms.

July 1978: In conjunction with the Union Oil Company, Edison begins designing and constructing an experimental 10,000 kilowatt geothermal plant at Brawley. The plant commences operation two years later.

NEXT: 1979 - Present

FOR OVER 100 YEARS...LIFE. POWERED BY EDISON.