August 25
TVA to Invest $100 Million in Demand Response
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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The Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors announced plans to invest $15 billion over the next three years to build additional generation and upgrade the existing system. TVA says it is focused on meeting growing electricity demand while maintaining energy security and moving to a net-zero carbon future. On the demand side, TVA said $100 million will be invested in energy efficiency and demand response programs to help lower energy bills and offset 30 percent of new load growth in the next 10 years.
Ahead of the annual return to school, Consumers Energy worked with 11 Michigan school districts and a heap of federal funding to get traditional, fuel-burning school buses replaced with all-electric buses. This was made possible by federal grants that provided funding for more than 50 electric buses across Michigan. For Consumers Energy’s part, assistance came in the form of electrical work and a rebate for the buses’ charging stations.
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. announced the inclusion of the SolarEdge Home Battery in Xcel Energy’s new Renewable Battery Connect Virtual Power Plant incentive program. Eligible SolarEdge Home Battery owners in Colorado can now sign up for the Renewable Battery Connect program and earn financial incentives in return for discharging their stored solar battery energy during times of peak demand, helping to stabilize the grid.
A new group of five Illinois high schools was chosen for ComEd’s EVs for Education program this week, opening up $250,000 for their use in purchasing electric vehicles and charging equipment for driver’s education courses. The company has awarded a total of $950,000 to 19 high schools in Illinois since the grant program was created in 2019.
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Industry News
Customer satisfaction with public electric vehicle charging infrastructure continues to decline, according to a J.D. Power survey released last Wednesday. Satisfaction with public Level 2 charging decreased 16 points year-over-year, from 633 to 617 on a 1,000-point scale. Customer satisfaction with direct current fast chargers dropped even more, declining from 674 to 654 points since last year.
Ah, vacation: a perfect time to relax, unwind – and maybe even test-drive electric vehicle ownership. Despite EVs being cleaner and cheaper to refuel than gas cars, few Americans have experience with them; a July 2022 survey from Consumer Reports found just seven percent of U.S. adults had driven an EV over the previous year.
Green Mountain Power (GMP) has removed the cap on two of its home battery storage programs to allow more customers to access them after receiving approval from the Vermont utility regulator. This past April, after the third devastating storm in less than twelve months, GMP filed a request with the Vermont PUC to lift the enrollment caps on its popular Powerwall and Bring Your Own Device home battery programs.
Two virtual power plants comprised of residential Tesla Powerwall batteries have completed testing and been qualified to participate in wholesale markets managed by the state’s grid operator, the Public Utility Commission of Texas announced Wednesday. A total of eight virtual power plants totaling 7.2 MW will participate in the Aggregate Distributed Energy Resources pilot, known as ADER.
