September 29
Consumers Energy Lays Out Long-Term Goals in Face of Increasingly Extreme Weather
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
Member News
Consumers Energy released its Reliability Roadmap for Michigan’s long-term future this week, dedicating itself to hemming in outages through a preemptive and proactive mix of tree trimming, upgrades and grid modernization. The plan explicitly called for allowing no customer in the state to be without power for more than 24 hours and to restrict outages to less than 100,000 customers.
In the ever-evolving landscape of energy consumption and sustainability, with shifts driven by regulatory pressure, DER adoption and infrastructure needs, demand response programs are a critical, proven tool for balancing energy supply and demand. These programs incentivize consumers to adjust their energy usage during peak demand periods, thereby reducing strain on the grid and promoting efficiency.
The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) announced the 2030 Club to recognize 25 electric utilities across the country that have established the strongest near-term voluntary carbon reduction targets. These utilities are committed to achieving at least an 80-percent reduction in carbon emissions or transitioning to a generation supply of at least 80-percent clean energy resources by 2030.
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) is funding workplace charging stations throughout its service area to help advance EV adoption in the state. An initiative called PSE Up & Go Electric has installed more than 40 public and private charging stations for EV drivers over the past six years. This pilot program has targeted local employers. Now, PSE is expanding the Up & Go Electric for Workplace pilot into a full-fledged program by covering up to 100 percent of the cost to install workplace charging stations.
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Industry News
A bipartisan coalition of 25 governors organized as the U.S. Climate Alliance committed to increase heat pump installations across their states to 20 million by the end of the decade. The group said it will work to advance policies that “ensure new buildings lead the way to achieve long-term decarbonization goals,” including supporting zero-emission building codes and standards and accelerating retrofits in existing homes and businesses.
According to a new report from Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association (ACP), the storage market broke a quarterly record in this year’s second quarter, adding 5,597 MW hours. It beat out the previous record by five percent – a 5,109 MW hour deployment in 2021. This was thanks to grid-scale deployments, which achieved a 172 percent growth quarter-over-quarter, dominated by California’s deployment of 738 MW.
EVgo, one of the nation’s largest public fast charging networks for EVs, announced it is now tracking “One & Done” success rates, a measure of a driver’s ability to successfully initiate a charging session on the first attempt. One & Done is part of the progress in network enhancements the company has made through EVgo ReNew, its maintenance program focused on bolstering reliability and elevating the customer experience.
Grid batteries are the latest crop to flourish in the California sunshine: The state’s energy storage capacity has surged tenfold in just the past three years. Battery storage is coming online faster than any other sort of power plant, according to a recent report from the California Independent System Operator, which coordinates grid operations for most of the Golden State.
