March 8
Georgia Power Strengthens Reliability for Customers
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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Georgia Power continues to build the future of energy by making valuable investments in Georgia’s energy grid to make it stronger and more resilient for customers. Over the past 10 years, the company has invested more than $10 billion in strengthening the power grid through programs and initiatives approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC).
The clean energy transition is progressing globally, with virtual power plants, which are aggregations of managed energy resources, such as rooftop solar and storage, poised to emerge as a critical resource. Between 2023 and 2030, U.S. electricity demand may increase by 200 GW due to electrification, according to a recent report from the Department of Energy.
Uplight’s December acquisition of AutoGrid was a milestone in the world of virtual power plants, as the utility software company deepened its connections with utility control rooms. The deal officially closed in mid-February, and the companies are now in the midst of integrating their offerings into a single platform. AutoGrid and Uplight say grid flexibility — via an array of customer devices that can stand in both for peaker plants and for day-to-day generation — will become increasingly key.
The SRP Board of Directors has approved revisions to SRP’s 2035 Sustainability Goals that establish more ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions, increase energy efficiency and electrification, conserve water and improve forest health. Originally approved in 2019, the goals are updated every five years to ensure they continue to meet the evolving needs of the customers and communities SRP serves.
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Industry News
Truly “smart” EV charging means a whole lot more than just giving EV drivers a schedule of times to avoid plugging into the grid. For example, with the right technologies and incentives in place, EVs can not only avoid charging when grid demand is at its peak — they can also absorb solar and wind power when it’s cheap and plentiful, or even serve as roaming batteries, reinjecting their stored energy when the grid is facing shortfalls.
Electric vehicles have come a long way since Nissan brought the LEAF to market in 2010. In 2022, battery-electric vehicles comprised slightly less than six percent of total automobile sales in the U.S. and 14 percent in California. During the commercialization of EVs, pundits, politicians and professors have classically identified barriers to EV adoption as high vehicle purchase price, low driving range and limited EV infrastructure.
The U.S. solar industry added 32.4 GW of new electric generating capacity in 2023, accounting for 53 percent of all new electric generating capacity added to the grid last year, according to a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie. It’s likely the momentum won’t stop there. This growth represents a 37-percent increase from the previous record set in 2021 and a 51-percent increase from 2022.
Cutting fossil fuels out of our homes and commutes can be a formidable challenge. But the climate dividends would be huge: more than 40 percent of U.S. energy emissions come from our appliances, home energy sources and cars, according to electrification nonprofit Rewiring America. In 2022, Judy Ko decided to take up the challenge and start electrifying her 1965 San Francisco home.
