October 18
Austin Energy Sees Success with EV Charging Program
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Austin Energy’s pilot electric vehicle charging rate program has been successful in attracting participants and reducing EV charging during peak usage hours, according to a report from the Texas utility. “From the utility’s perspective, the program has paid for itself without incurring cross subsidization between electric vehicle owners and other ratepayers, and there has been 99 percent compliance with the off-peak charging incentive,” Lindsey McDougall, EV Program Manager at Austin Energy, said.
A proposed tariff for a Rate Residential TOU Pricing Pilot by ComEd has been given the go-ahead by the Illinois Commerce Commission this week. Initially filed in November last year, the incentivization scheme is meant to convince customers to shift energy use away from peak hours to times when energy and capacity costs are lower. The state is also taking the opportunity to remind customers that pilots like this can be beneficial for customers with high energy use that does not need to be done at a specific time — electric vehicles, for example, which can just as easily be charged during off-peak hours.
Duke Energy has promised major investment in energy storage for its Carolina territory. It took another step toward substantiating that promise by designing a battery project to back up a South Carolina community center. The 5 MW/5 MWh project does not stand out among the much larger projects underway elsewhere in the country. Its significance lies instead in illustrating how a regulated utility builds up proficiency in battery storage. Many utilities now acknowledge storage will provide great value to the grid, but few have built it at scale.
In Minnesota, a cold war between electric and more traditional power interests heated up over the course of this year, as industrial groups attempted to stymie EV pilots proposed by Xcel Energy, only to be thrown out by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. At one side of the debate was Xcel which, in October last year, filed a petition requesting approval to create two EV pilot programs. The company viewed the programs as a natural extension of its plans to provide 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2050. The Commission approved the pilots in July.
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Industry News
With climate a central issue in the 2020 Democratic primary, contenders are seizing every opportunity to one-up the clean energy bona fides of their fellow candidates. That was certainly on display during the first round of Democratic debates when former Vice President Joe Biden pitched his clean energy plans by leaning on progress made during the Obama administration. “In our administration,” Biden proclaimed onstage, “we built the largest wind farm in the world, the largest solar energy facility in the world.”
Green Mountain Power needed to become more innovative to commit to a clean energy transition. Today, innovation is a key aspect of the company's purpose, according to CEO Mary Powell. Powell reflected on her transition to CEO from leading the utility's human resources department, and the focus placed on internal metrics and customer surveys, during a conversation led by former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy.
Vineyard Wind has proposed a new offshore wind energy project in Bridgeport, Conn. The Park City Wind offshore wind project would develop up to 1,200 MW of wind energy, enough electricity to power 600,000 Connecticut homes. Further, it could generate upwards of $1.6 billion in direct economic benefits and create as many as 12,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs across Connecticut. Vineyard Wind officials say the project could also save Connecticut ratepayers up to $1.1 billion in energy costs.
FPL reached an agreement with stakeholders to move forward on its 1,490 MW community solar program. If approved, the project would be the largest in the U.S., almost doubling by 2021 the current 1,523 MW of community solar currently installed around the country. Three-quarters of the program is reserved for commercial customers, with the remaining quarter reserved for residential, but renewables advocates were concerned the residential slot was not set up in a way that would benefit the state's low-income customers.
