August 24
AEP Ohio Rolls Out EV Infrastructure Incentives
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
AEP Ohio has rolled out an EV infrastructure incentive program to provide $10 million for up to 375 EV public charging stations. The program provides incentives to offset a portion of the charging equipment and installation costs, primarily for local businesses, apartment complexes and municipalities. Non-government applicants must be commercial or industrial customers. For local governments, AEP said there could be no cost at all.
The shift toward the electrification of everything is "going to be profound" for the utility industry. That's according to Mike Howard, President & CEO of the EPRI, which is holding its first-ever international electrification conference this week. “The value of electricity is more important today than it’s ever been. The value of electricity, even 10 years from now, and what it does to help all of us, is going to be profound," he said.
Two well-known Atlanta, Ga. institutions – Georgia Power and the Georgia Institute of Technology – are teaming to build a $10-15 million research microgrid to achieve a “quantum leap” in understanding the technology. Owned by Georgia Power, the 1.4 MW microgrid will serve several buildings at Georgia Tech’s 400-acre campus in midtown Atlanta.
Xcel Energy Colorado filed an agreement Thursday to build a customer-sited 240 MW solar plant on the property of EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel. The landmark behind-the-meter construction is part of a 22-year power purchase agreement, meant to allow the steel mill to expand operations in the state while the utility retires 660 MW of coal-fired generation in the surrounding area.
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Industry News
The Midwest has long been a wind energy hub. Now, an increasing number of the region’s utilities are turning away from baseload coal and contemplating a future that relies heavily on clean energy. Utilities in states such as Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin and Michigan have recently announced goals to pivot toward cleaner resources.
A new report from McKinsey & Co. finds that the growth of electric vehicles will not lead to substantial increases in demand for electric power through 2030. The spread of electric vehicles will add only about one percent to total demand on the grid, requiring about 5 GW of new generation capacity, and by 2050 EV penetration could grow to about four percent, requiring about 20 GW of new generation.
South Australia has reaffirmed its love for big Tesla battery projects with an AUD $5 million (USD $3.7 million) grant for a 25-megawatt, 52-megawatt-hour plant. The funding, which is being matched by an equal amount from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), will go towards the AUD $38 million (USD $28 million) cost of developing a Tesla Powerpack-based energy storage system for Infigen Energy.
In an effort to lower energy bills and reduce emissions, a program offered by Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation has either encouraged customers to purchase or provided them with one million LED light bulbs since 2016. “LED light bulbs have come a long way in helping our customers manage their energy use while improving lighting at home and in the workplace,” Charles Freni, SVP of Customer Services and Transmission & Distribution Operations at Central Hudson, said.
