September 28
SMUD to Roll Out Time-of-Day Rate Next Week
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
SMUD will begin transitioning to a default time-of-day rate structure on Oct. 1, 2018. The new rates are designed to encourage customers to conserve energy and to better align costs for customers with utility costs. SMUD says it costs two to three times as much for it to provide electricity during summer peak hours as it does during non-peak hours.
SECC released a new report, “Data Analytics: Unlocking the Consumer Benefits”, which reveals what residential consumers want to know from their electricity providers about the energy usage data that’s been collected from their smart meters. With smart meters now installed at over 60 percent of U.S. households, energy data is more widely available than ever before and is delivering benefits to consumers, including more accurate billing and more reliable forecasts and alerts.
Sempra will unload 981 megawatts of renewable energy and battery storage projects to a subsidiary of Con Edison, in a deal announced last Thursday. The acquisition includes 379 megawatts of projects that Sempra Renewables and Consolidated Edison Development jointly own, plus 602 megawatts of Sempra-only assets. Con Edison’s getting it all — solar, solar-plus-storage projects and one wind facility — for just over $1.5 billion plus $576 million in non-recourse debt.
The CSU board recently approved the addition of 150 megawatts of new solar generation plus battery storage to its system by 2024. The move will bring Springs Utilities’ renewable energy mix to more than 20 percent by 2024, the public power utility said on Sept. 20. The project, in addition to two solar projects totaling 95 MW coming online in 2020, will change the way the utility powers the Pikes Peak Region for decades to come.
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Industry News
The USDA announced that it will invest $398.5 million in projects to improve electricity service in rural areas through its Electric Infrastructure Loan Program. That includes $43 million to smart grid technology in several states to make electricity networks more efficient and responsive. The largest loan will send $68.5 million to back a solar farm run by NextEra Energy Resources in Arkansas, which could meet the needs of 21,000 homes.
ICC began a notice of inquiry this week, opening their doors to information and opinions from stakeholders of electric vehicles (EVs) regarding their place in grid resilience and energy efficiency. While the inquiry is not a rulemaking effort and will not itself lead to any decisions by the Commission, it can inform future decisions. The overall goal of the inquiry would be to educate the ICC on opportunities and challenges related to the emerging technology.
NYPA and Puerto Rico's embattled utility have signed an agreement for the mainland utility to continue assisting in the modernization, rebuilding and storm-hardening of the island's electric grid. New York and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) have been working closely since Hurricane Maria devastated the island and destroyed its electric grid one year ago.
A diverse group of transportation companies and public stakeholders on Wednesday unveiled a new initiative, the 50x50 Commission, alongside a set of policy and regulatory recommendations to reduce energy used in transportation 50 percent by 2050. The commission counts members from across the environmental, transportation and energy space, including EEI, Audi, General Motors, Southern Company and NRDC.
