July 27
Con Edison Adds EV Info to Marketplace
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Con Edison recently added information to its online Marketplace on the costs and environmental impact of owning various car models, including plug-in electric vehicles and hybrids. The site allows shoppers to make side-by-side comparisons of cars. It provides the manufacturer’s suggested price, the value of rebates and tax breaks for electric vehicles and estimated fuel costs. Enervee, a technology and software company, created the site.
PG&E is projecting that half of the solar PV connected to its electric distribution system will be equipped with smart inverters within two years, according to a company study. PG&E also forecasted that one million smart inverters total will be on its system by 2025. The study reports on the northern California-based utility’s EPIC project.
According to a new report issued by ACEEE, rural households across the U.S. spend a disproportionately high share of their income on energy bills. The report states that rural consumers spend about 40 percent more than their metropolitan counterparts. The study was conducted in partnership with the EEFA coalition and finds that the problem is highly evident in the East and Southeast and among low-income households across all regions.
CPS Energy is pursuing a so-called “Flexible Path” approach to energy, one that incorporates new energy storage technology to guide its ongoing transition from fossil fuels to renewables. "We want to look into new technology, innovation," says CPS spokesman John Moreno. "We want to reduce our dependence on coal." CPS serves 804,000 electric and 343,000 natural gas customers in San Antonio and seven surrounding counties.
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Industry News
GMP said its residential battery storage program, rolled out last year in Vermont, saved $500,000 by reducing peak demand during the July heat wave. When temperatures spiked on July 5, GMP called on about 500 of Tesla Powerwall batteries to send power to the grid. GMP partnered with Tesla last year to offer the Powerwall 2 batteries to 2,000 customers, which could potentially help reduce peak load by 10 MW.
The potential of blockchain in the energy industry could be transformative. Over the past two years, we have seen a host of energy companies engage with the technology and launch pilots. Some common trends are emerging, but a lot still needs to be defined from both a technical and business perspective. Our view is that experimentation at this stage is worthwhile as it will enable utilities to explore the technology and see its use, limitations and scaling potential.
Residential energy storage deployments hit a record in the first quarter. There was as much grid-connected residential storage deployed in the first quarter, 36 MWh, as was deployed in the previous three quarters. Much of the increase in residential energy storage deployments can be attributed to changing policies in California and Hawaii.
What truly separates (and connects) customer and utility differs by point of view. From the customer angle, it’s simple – a narrow definition. They see one thing only. What’s between them and the utility is the meter. (They pay cash for what the meter tells them they use. The end.) No matter what they expect the utility to supply them on usage data and billing information, on product offerings and management sets, on marketplaces and renewable possibilities, in the end, they still only really see that singular meter transaction.
