The California Energy Commission launched its first proceeding to advance increased use of electric vehicles, solar systems, battery storage, and appliances that connect to the distribution grid and can fuel it. The action follows the California Public Utilities Commission’s first in a series of workshops to overhaul the utility distribution system to allow for surging numbers of Distributed Energy Resources (DER).
“Every consumer of energy can be an active participant in the grid, not just a consumer of load,” helping decarbonize the grid affordably, Commissioner Andrew McAlister said at the CEC’s June 1 workshop.
The CEC proceeding aims to “dig deeper” into DER and “give the agency a significant role in policy and collaboration,” Commissioner Siva Gunda said. While the resources connected to power lines can provide “enormous benefits” to the grid and customers, the technologies’ different characteristics add considerable complexity to grid management, both he and McAlister said.
Power from DER is fundamentally different than power from traditional big generating stations because it comes from many households and communities. Clean DER at issue also includes “smart” two-way thermostats that can adjust electricity demand and energy efficiency.
DER is “growing rapidly” and the CEC also wants to “make deployment more equitable,” like its sister agency, the CPUC, said David Erne of the CEC’s Energy Assessment Division. “Taking advantage of DER for grid reliability is instrumental,” he added.
Neil Miller, California Independent System Operator director of transmission infrastructure, agreed. He said it is essential to capture the “full benefits” of DER and “manage them effectively.”
Key for CAISO management of DER is more data, telemetry, and creating different pathways for it to participate in the market.
Telemetry allows the grid operator to see where resources are fluctuating, such as when solar power output falls in response to cloud cover, and adjust flows, said Delphine Hou, CAISO director of California Regulatory Affairs. She added that different market pathways are needed although some may not be “flush with participants,” yet must be ready as needed.
The next day, representatives from Ford, Honda and a commercial EV fleet charging station developer called for policies and more funding to enable electric vehicle owners to support grid reliability.
“The technology is there, what is lacking is how to monetize it,” David McCreadie, head of Ford Motor Company’s EV-Grid Integration Strategy, said during a June 2 Power of Northern California Association meeting. Because EVs are more expensive than their gas counterparts, it is critical to enable EV owners to financially benefit from providing grid services to lower the cost.
He said if the expected 5 million EVs on California roads by 2030 were bidirectional and provided some of the power stored in their batteries to the grid, they could provide 5 GW of supply.
Vehicle-to-Grid “creates a robust business proposition,” said Ryan Harty, head of connected and environmental business development for Honda.
Car companies are investing billions of dollars in EVs, but another key barrier is the cost of the chargers, according to Obri Hostetter, vice president of InCharge Energy, a provider of large EV chargers for vehicle fleets.
EVs are bought principally for mobility not to service the grid so another challenge is making dealers and car buyers aware of the capabilities of bidirectional batteries to fuel the grid and their homes. The latter is critical because of the rising number of intentional power shutoffs by utilities during risky fire weather.
Harty said that making standard electric rate tables available at dealerships could help inform buyers of the vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home capabilities and benefits. It also could help incent charging when there is excess renewable energy on the grid.
