December 20
BGE Reshapes Peak Pricing Programs
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
BGE has launched a digital experience pilot for thousands of Baltimore residents who pay on- and off-peak rates for electricity. BGE is using Oracle Utilities Opower Behavioral Load Shaping Cloud Service to engage customers with a proactive, personalized experience designed to help them save on their utility bills. The new service encourages customers to shift their biggest everyday energy loads, such as running energy-intensive appliances and electric vehicle charging, to off-peak times.
PSE&G opened for operation its largest solar farm to date. The 15.2 MW Pennsauken Solar Farm, located in Pennsauken, has 37,908 solar panels and generates enough electricity to power more than 2,500 homes annually. The site is part of PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program. The Pennsauken Solar Farm is the 34th Solar 4 All project. Six of them are built on landfill sites, while five are built on brownfield sites. PSE&G has invested more than $600 million on the Solar 4 All program.
Missouri utility regulators instructed Evergy to run a one-year, $15 million pilot program using a “Pay As You Save” concept. Kansas City residents will soon have a new option to pay for energy efficiency upgrades that doesn’t require borrowing, upfront payments or credit checks. The program is expected to help put energy conservation within reach of renters and people with low incomes — groups that traditionally have not had easy access to home improvements aimed at reducing energy use.
Riverside Public Utilities in Southern California has selected smart grid technology firm Tantalus Systems as their smart grid solutions partner for their community of 320,000 residents. The decision came as a result of RPU’s plans to leverage its existing infrastructure while simultaneously planning for future innovation. Of particular importance was the need to make the most of RPU’s investments in encoded receiver transmitter metering technology.
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Industry News
The 50,000-home virtual power plant (VPP) Tesla is developing in South Australia helped maintain grid stability when a coal-fired unit in Queensland tripped offline and reduced system supply by 748 MW in October. According to the Australian Energy Market Operator, the outage caused power system frequency to drop below normal levels but Tesla's VPP was able to inject power from hundreds of individual residential batteries to help return the system frequency back to stable levels.
One in five newly constructed California homes now comes topped with a solar installation. Starting in January, that needs to jump to five out of five. A year ago, California gave final approval to updated building codes that require all new homes to come with solar attached. Multifamily units below three stories must also adhere to the mandate. Since then, residential installers have worked to cement homebuilder partnerships. Builders have practiced their solar pitches.
Demand response participation in wholesale electricity markets grew eight percent between 2017 and 2018 to reach 29,674 MW, according to a new report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The growth is tied to the proliferation of smart meters, which are now the most prevalent electric meter deployed in the United States. In 2017 an estimated 78.9 million advanced meters were operational nationwide, representing a penetration rate of 51.9 percent.
Dominion Energy has chosen Thomas Built Buses to supply 50 electric buses for its Virginia service area by the end of 2020. “We are excited to take this major step forward to bring electric school buses to the customers and communities we serve across Virginia,” Mark Webb, Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of Dominion Energy, said. “This innovative partnership with the transportation industry is key to reducing our carbon footprint. The implementation of this program will provide a number of benefits, including cleaner air for our children, enhanced grid reliability through additional battery storage, and cost savings for school districts.”
