November 5
SnoPUD Projects Aim to Increase EV Charging Equity
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
The Snohomish County Public Utility District has entered partnerships to provide electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities on a socially equitable basis in Everett, Washington, where the PUD is based. In partnership with the City of Everett, Snohomish PUD is working on a project to install an in-ground resonant magnet induction charging system for electric buses at Eclipse Mill Park near downtown Everett.
About a year ago, Generac acquired DERMS provider Enbala to further its smart grid 2.0 capabilities, and yesterday, the company said it is adding smart home technology company ecobee to its family. In a press release, the company said the transaction could be worth as much as $770 million contingent on the achievement of certain performance targets. One of the first companies to deliver smart thermostats, ecobee was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Xcel Energy plans to have carbon-free gas utility operations by 2050, making the utility company the first to have a net-zero target across its electric and natural gas operations, according to Bob Frenzel, Xcel's President and CEO. In a first step, Xcel intends to cut carbon emissions from its gas utilities by 25 percent from 2020 levels by the end of this decade, partly by buying natural gas only from suppliers with "certified" low emissions, the Minneapolis-based company said Monday.
SRP announced a new program for residential and small business customers interested in supporting large-scale solar energy growth, called Solar Choice. Customers enrolled in SRP Solar Choice can choose to offset half or all their energy use with clean, solar power energy by paying as little as a half a cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on top of their current monthly price plan with SRP.
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Industry News
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is planning to install infrastructure for 16,000 additional charging ports in Northern and Central California, including Level 2 EV chargers. This new effort will support multifamily housing residents with onsite, workplace and public destination charging options. Further, PG&E plans to install Level 2 EV chargers and fast chargers at publicly accessible locations, including shopping centers, local government buildings and park-and-ride lots.
The COP26 climate summit in Glasgow is surrounded by a swirl of talk about money. In the opening days of the two-week conference, multiple initiatives have pledged billions of dollars to help poor countries decarbonize their economies over the coming decade — and a huge part of the task will be helping these countries wean themselves off coal.
A trio of recently released reports shows that the cost of renewable energy continues to decline while energy storage costs were mixed and the use of hydrogen as a fuel remains dependent on availability and technology costs. “Our three studies together document the continued acceleration of the energy transition,” said George Bilicic, Vice Chairman and Global Head of the Power, Energy and Infrastructure Group at financial advisory firm Lazard.
Hawaiian Electric filed a proposal with the state’s Public Utilities Commission to expand its public electric vehicle charger network and implement lower EV charging rates. The proposed Public Electric Vehicle Charger Expansion Project would install and operate approximately 150 single-port DC fast charging stations and 150 dual-port Level 2 charging stations at roughly 75 sites across the company’s service territory from 2023 through 2030.
