1st major utility proposal for EV charging infrastructure presented to CPUC
05 June 2015
A diverse set of public interest groups, automakers, labor unions, and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) submitted a proposed settlement to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to accelerate the deployment of smart electric vehicle (EV) charging stations that would support the utility grid in San Diego.
The application is California’s first utility pilot proposal to help develop charging infrastructure, and, through pricing that allows for customer-managed charging, to manage transportation electrification load to support the evolving needs of an electrical grid increasingly dominated by variable renewable energy.
The proposed program calls for SDG&E to install smart charging infrastructure at up to 550 multi-family housing sites and workplace locations throughout its service territory, with an average of ten chargers at each location for a total of 5,500 separate chargers. Customers would have a choice of rate options and equipment to ensure drivers charge in a manner that maximizes fuel cost savings and supports the electrical grid and to promote competition and market growth in the charging service industry.
SDG&E would own the charging infrastructure, and EV Drivers or site hosts will be billed for the charging sessions on their SDG&E account. The pilot program would feature price signals that encourage drivers of electric cars to save money by charging their vehicles when renewable energy is plentiful and energy prices are low.
The parties in the settlement agreed that certain important modifications to SDG&E’s original proposal were desirable to address issues raised by stakeholders and to support the Governor’s 2020 grid-integrated infrastructure and 2025 zero-emission vehicle deployment goals, as well as California’s equity, clean air and climate change objectives. These modifications include giving multi-family and workplace site hosts a choice of rate plans and charging service providers, and bringing diverse stakeholders and disadvantaged communities into the program.
The proposal aims to enable all communities to benefit from electric vehicles, alleviating the disproportionate impact of pollution borne by low income communities and communities of color. SDG&E would install at least 10% of the charging stations in such communities and facilitate the expansion of electric car sharing to expand access to zero emission vehicles.
The proposed settlement was negotiated and signed by SDG&E, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Greenlining Institute, California Coalition of Utility Employees, Plug In America, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Sierra Club, the Center for Sustainable Energy, the Green Power Institute, ChargePoint Inc., NRG EV Services LLC, Smart Grid Services Siemens AG, KN Grid, CALSTART, General Motors, Honda Motors, and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
This proposed settlement reflects the outcome of a broad coalition working together to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure and reduce the public health and climate change impacts of our transportation network while aiming to improve the grid and protect a competitive marketplace, utility customers, and disadvantaged communities. We are very pleased to work together to these ends.
—Gina Coplon-Newfield, director of the Sierra Club EV initiative
This is the future, and these are the problems:
Where do you site EV chargers?
How much do you charge for 3rd party electricity?
Can you get a simple protocol for grid friendly EV charging, such as:
I need my car 30% charged by 11am and 80% charged by 5pm, or
I need my car 100% charged by 7.30 am.
And let the utility decide exactly when to supply the power.
You might also allow some reverse flow, for which you would be paid (or given free electricity at say a 2:1 rate). You would have to be careful and only allow a certain amount of reverse flow (say 40% of the battery capacity and N days per month) to preserve your battery condition and life.
Note// The top up by 5pm would need to be at a place of work, the top up by 7.30am would need to be at your home.
It strikes me that if you have a lot of solar, you want a lot of storage connected to the grid when it becomes available, not sitting unused at home.
Thus there are two good times to charge: around noon when there is a lot of solar and in the middle of the night when there is little demand.
If the utilities can decide when to charge, and when to reverse flow, they could save a lot of money, so this should pay for the installation costs.
The trick is to get as much storage onto the grid as possible.
Posted by: mahonj | 05 June 2015 at 03:40 AM
A more interesting problem is what to do if your dominant renewable is wind rather than solar.
With solar, you know when it will (or should) be sunny ( 10-4pm) or whatever; with wind, there is no special time, it is blustery any time of the day.
Thus, it is harder to plan for optimal charging time. You will have accurate weather forecasts, so you can say when it will be windy today or tomorrow, but this is not as much use as knowing that the sun will shine every day around noon.
So does it change the rollout plan?
Not really, you still want as much storage on the grid as possible so that you can absorb excess renewable or draw some back at a pinch.
The main thing is to keep as many EVs connected to the grid as possible at all times.
This would place additional value on EVs owned by sedentary people who are at home a lot - they could provide a good buffering service with minimal inconvenience to themselves.
(Typically wealthy retirees).
Posted by: mahonj | 05 June 2015 at 04:05 AM
Future EV batteries will withstand 10,000+ cycles.
Future V2G systems will certainly be able to sense connected EVs and needs to decide if particular connected EVs need to be charrged and/or can feed the grid.
Some 200,000,000 EVs in USA could become major contributors to level peak demands.
Posted by: HarveyD | 05 June 2015 at 07:59 AM