California Regulators Vote To Allow Submetering Of Electric Vehicles
August 5, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 5, 2022
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Aug. 4 made California the first state in the nation to allow electric vehicle (EV) owners to measure an EV’s energy use independently from the owner’s main utility meter through submetering.
Separately metering EV charging independently from a customer’s main utility meter is crucial because special rate structures apply to EVs that allow customers to buy less costly power during off-peak times, the CPUC said.
Those rate structures are often inappropriate for the entire home or commercial facility where the EVs are located, it noted.
The decision applies to the following utilities: Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Liberty Utilities, Bear Valley Electric Service Inc. and PacifiCorp.
“The inability to submeter has been a major barrier to the expansion of EVs because taking advantage of EV-specific rates significantly lowers the total cost of ownership of an EV but few customers are willing to invest in a separate utility-grade meter,” the CPUC said. Submetering will also allow EV charging to participate in demand response programs by decreasing the EV charging load or even feeding power back into the grid when it is needed most.
The decision also adopts communication protocols for EV chargers, which are often called EV Service Equipment (EVSE). The communication protocols are consistent with recent CPUC-approved utility EV programs, as well as with the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) recommendations for EVSE.
The CEC has deemed these standards as vitally important to ensure interoperability with publicly funded EV charging infrastructure and to ensure the state achieves convenient, grid integrated charging.
The CPUC said that both aspects of the decision are crucial to enable widespread Vehicle-Grid Integration (VGI) and to capture the resulting grid benefits.
VGI refers to a suite of actions that shape vehicle charging behavior — such as changing the time or level of charging, or how power is sent back to the electric grid from vehicles — in ways that maximize both consumer and grid benefits.
“As the number of EVs in the state grows rapidly to meet our state’s climate goals, VGI will ensure that the electric grid is not stressed by the new load and will also allow customers to buy electricity at the cheapest times,” the CPUC said.
The proposal voted on is available at: docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M496/K405/496405751.PDF.
Department of Housing and Urban Development Issues Community Solar Guidance
August 5, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 5, 2022
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued new guidance that for the first time will help enable families in HUD-assisted rental housing to subscribe to local community solar where available.
In some programs, such as the Washington, DC Solar for All program, savings to households from subscribing to local community solar can reach up to 50% per year, the White House noted in a fact sheet.
The national guidance builds on recent state-specific guidance that HUD has provided to Illinois, Washington, DC and New York, that determined community-net-metering credits would be excluded from household income and utility allowance calculations and therefore not increase housing costs for residents in properties participating in HUD Multifamily, Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance programs, the fact sheet said.
HUD also announced that HUD regional offices will convene stakeholders in their regions over the next 90 days to highlight federal funding sources — including funding streams from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and HUD programs such as the HOME Investment Partnerships program and the Community Development Block Grant — that can be used to support public facilities and increase affordable housing supply that improves energy efficiency.
Building on guidance from last year, HUD will also launch a new initiative to help small rural housing authorities make money-saving energy efficiency upgrades and retain the savings from those projects to reinvest in improvements to rural HUD supported rental housing.
Other Agencies Also Take Action Related To Solar Energy
In addition, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington, D.C. have signed up to pilot the Community Solar Subscription Platform which is designed to connect community solar electric bill savings projects to households participating in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
DOE estimates that families in the pilot states and Washington, DC will see over $1 billion annually in combined electric bill savings.
DOE is announcing the Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar, a new awards program to recognize communities that are implementing best-in class community solar programs and projects that lower costs and increase access for families.
TVA Enters Agreement With GE Hitachi Related To Potential Deployment Of Small Modular Reactor
August 5, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 5, 2022
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has entered a two-party agreement with GE Hitachi to support TVA’s planning and preliminary licensing for a potential deployment of a BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at the Clinch River Nuclear site and provide additional information needed as TVA continues to analyze the viability of SMRs, subject to future TVA board approval.
This follows an April 2022 collaboration agreement with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to support the development of small modular reactors as an effective long-term source of 24/7 carbon-free energy in both Canada and the U.S.
Such collaborations could help reduce the financial risk that comes from development of innovative technology, as well as future deployment costs, TVA said on Aug. 2 as part of its release of third quarter Fiscal Year 2022 financial results.
The TVA-OPG agreement allows TVA and OPG to coordinate their explorations into the design, licensing, construction and operation of small modular reactors.
OPG is moving forward with plans to deploy an SMR at its Darlington nuclear facility in Clarington, Ontario. The Darlington site is the only location in Canada licensed for new nuclear with a completed and accepted Environmental Assessment.
DOE Offers Funding For EV Charging, Other Transportation Activities
August 4, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
August 4, 2022
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced a $96 million funding opportunity to support decarbonizing the U.S. transportation sector.
The funding will focus on expanding access to electric vehicle charging stations, creating cleaner non-road vehicles through electrification and the use of alternative fuels, and developing electric drive components and materials to maximize electric vehicle efficiency and affordability.
Non-road vehicles, including agricultural and construction equipment, rail, marine and aviation, are a major source of pollution, emitting more carbon pollution than any other sector of the economy, the DOE said.
While decarbonizing on-road vehicles is critical to fighting climate change, it is equally important to research, develop, and deploy clean engines and fuel technologies for non-road vehicles, the DOE said in the funding announcement. The federal agency said the new funding opportunity aims to support research on non-road engine technologies that are less harmful to the environment and develop electric, natural gas, and other alternatives for fueling and powering non-road engines.
DOE’s funding for on-road electric vehicles is aimed at helping to support President Biden’s call for electric vehicles to make up half of all automotive sales by 2030 by ensuring that the nation’s charging infrastructure is prepared to meet increased demand.
The new $96 million opportunity complements the $5 billion made available under the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to build out a national electric vehicle charging network.
The DOE also said it is committed to developing solutions in underserved areas and for drivers who do not have access to charging at home and would invest in projects that create regional refueling infrastructure plans for zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles powered by electricity and hydrogen fuel.
The DOE is also seeking to fund projects to develop novel multi-functional materials for electric vehicles and improve powertrain performance in electric vehicles for increased functionality and reliability.
New materials and advanced electric drive systems are key to developing next-generation electrified vehicle platforms, including full battery electric and fuel cell electric vehicles with smaller, more affordable electric systems for improved performance and durability, the DOE said.
Applicants for the new funding opportunity must submit a concept paper by Aug. 25 and register and submit application materials through the DOE online application portal by Nov. 10.
U.S. Power Grid Added 15 GW Of Utility-Scale Generating Capacity In First Half Of 2022
August 4, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 4, 2022
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) on August 3 reported that 15 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric generating capacity came online in the United States during the first half of 2022.
Based on the most recently reported plans, developers could add another 29 GW of capacity in the second half of the year, it said.
EIA’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory compiles information on all U.S. utility-scale power plants — plants with a nameplate capacity of at least 1 megawatt (MW) — that are currently operating, planning to come online, or retired. The inventory includes all utility-scale plants that have retired since 2002.
EIA updates this inventory once a month with preliminary data and then finalizes that data annually with a survey that provides additional information about the power plants.
With respect to operating capacity, EIA reported that wind generation accounts for the largest share, 34%, of the 15.1 GW of capacity that came online in the United States during the first half of 2022, followed by natural gas, solar, and battery storage.
More than 40% of the wind capacity added so far in 2022 is located in Texas, 2.2 GW of the 5.2 GW wind total.
In terms of planned capacity, developers and project planners reported plans to add 29.4 GW of new capacity in the United States in the second half of 2022. Nearly half of that planned capacity is from solar (13.6 GW), followed by wind (6.0 GW). As in previous years, many projects plan to come online in December because of tax incentives.
Respondents to EIA’s survey currently plan to add 3.7 GW less solar capacity in 2022 than what they had expected at the beginning of the year. Pandemic-related challenges in supply chains and a U.S. Department of Commerce tariff investigation are likely causes for this decrease, the agency said.
As for retired capacity, of the 15.1 GW of electric generating capacity that U.S. operators plan to retire during 2022, more than half (8.8 GW) was retired in the first half of the year. Coal-fired power plants will account for 76% of the retirements this year, followed by natural gas (12%) and nuclear (9%).
Federal Nuclear Regulators Authorize Fuel Loading And Operation At New Georgia Unit
August 4, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 4, 2022
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authorized Southern Nuclear Operating Company to load nuclear fuel and begin operation at Vogtle Unit 3 in Georgia, the first reactor to reach this point in the agency’s combined license process.
The NRC’s decision moves Vogtle Unit 3, adjacent to the operating Units 1 and 2, near Waynesboro, Georgia, out of the construction reactor oversight program and into the operating reactor oversight process.
Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 are two 1,100-megawatt Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors being constructed in Burke County, Ga.
“The team at the site continues working diligently to make final preparations for Unit 3 fuel load, initiate startup testing and bring the unit online,” Southern, an investor-owned utility, noted on Aug. 3.
“Over the next several weeks, well-trained and highly qualified nuclear technicians will continue work required to support loading fuel, which is already onsite, into the unit’s reactor. This will be followed by several months of startup testing and operations,” the utility said.
Startup testing is designed to demonstrate the integrated operation of the primary coolant system and steam supply system at design temperature and pressure with fuel inside the reactor. Operators will also bring the plant from cold shutdown to initial criticality, synchronize the unit to the grid and systematically raise power to 100%.
Florida public power utility JEA, the City of Jacksonville and the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) in 2020 announced a settlement of all disputed issues relating to the new Units 3 and 4 of the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant and an amended and restated power purchase agreement.
The Vogtle Electric Generating Plant is jointly owned by Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corporation (30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (22.7%) and Dalton Utilities (1.6%).
Additional information about Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 is available here.
DOE Issues Notice Of Intent For Potential Hydrogen Research Funding
August 4, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
August 4, 2022
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently issued a notice of intent for a potential funding opportunity to accelerate the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of clean-hydrogen technologies and grid resilience.
The potential funding would advance the DOE’s goal of reducing the cost of clean hydrogen to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade that is central to the agency’s Hydrogen Shot initiative. It would also support the DOE’s H2@Scale initiative to develop clean and affordable hydrogen across multiple sectors in the economy and improve energy resilience.
The DOE said the goals would be advanced through RD&D efforts in several areas, including advanced pathways for solar-based hydrogen fuel production; technologies for high-resolution hydrogen sensing; demonstrations of materials-based hydrogen storage and transport systems; and development of high-performance, durable, low-cost fuel cell components for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
The potential funding opportunity would also seek to establish a grid resilience university consortium with agreements between universities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico to foster information sharing on best practices and cross-border dependencies. The consortium would work collaboratively with tribes, states, regions, industry, utilities, and other stakeholders to support grid resilience planning and pilot projects that can serve as a model for others.
In the Notice of Intent, the DOE said it envisions awarding multiple financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements, with the performance period running from two to four years. DOE is encouraging applicants that include stakeholders in academia, industry, and national laboratories across multiple technical disciplines.
Teams are also encouraged to include representation from diverse entities such as minority-serving institutions or through linkages with Opportunity Zones.
The DOE said the potential funding opportunity would advance the Biden administration’s goals of achieving carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions across the entire economy by 2050.
In February, the DOE announced two requests for information to collect feedback from stakeholders to inform the implementation and design of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Regional Hydrogen Hub and the Electrolysis and Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling Programs.
In June, the DOE closed on a $504.4 million loan guarantee to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in Utah.
Florida Senator Introduces Legislation That Addresses Utility Sector Supply Chain Challenges
August 4, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
August 4, 2022
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., recently introduced legislation that would establish an energy grid product manufacturing loan program at the U.S. Department of Energy to expand domestic production as a way in which to address ongoing electric utility sector supply chain challenges.
The new loan program would be fully paid for by the rescission of unused appropriations, as recommended by the Government Accountability Office.
The program would finance $8 billion in loan guarantees for the re-equipping, expansion, or establishment of domestic energy grid product and component manufacturing facilities in the United States.
“Due to international supply chain backlogs, electric utilities in the U.S. are struggling to receive ordered electric grid products in a timely manner, especially transformers,” Rubio’s office said in an Aug. 2 news release related to the legislation. “These delays are resulting in dangerously low stockpiles for new developments and replacement equipment, which threaten preparedness throughout the country, but especially in a state like Florida where hurricanes can severely disrupt the electric grid,” the news release said.
The Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) “has been diligently working this issue since March and applauds Sen. Rubio for his efforts to address the significant issues we have been raising with our federal and state officials,” said Amy Zubaly, Executive Director of FMEA.
A group of federal lawmakers from Florida on June 10 sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that highlighted “the dangerous supply chain shortages affecting Florida’s electric cooperatives and municipalities.”
APPA Moves To Address Supply Chain Challenges
The American Public Power Association (APPA) is taking a number of actions to address ongoing supply chain challenges.
APPA recently rolled out an additional feature to its eReliability Tracker that is available to all public power utilities and allows for voluntary equipment sharing by matching systems with the same distribution voltages.
In a speech in June at APPA’s National Conference in Nashville, Tenn., Ditto urged member utilities to share their supply chain challenges with APPA so that the trade group can relay details on these challenges to federal partners and discuss how critical burdens on the sector can be alleviated.
In May, APPA convened a supply chain summit that included participation from public power utility officials who discussed their supply chain challenges and mitigation strategies.
APPA also recently finalized a new supply chain issue brief. APPA members can download the issue brief here.
Berkeley Lab Study Looks At Battery Storage And Net Billing
August 4, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
August 4, 2022
Using battery storage to manage solar self consumption is not efficient from the perspective of an individual consumer or the wholesale power grid, according to a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Berkeley Lab study, Private vs. public value of U.S. residential battery storage operated for solar self-consumption, set out to quantify the value of using residential battery storage to maximize solar self-consumption from the individual solar customer and the larger power system standpoint.
The impetus of the study is the growing popularity of net billing schemes that are being put in place to replace net metering schemes that are being phased out in many states.
Net energy metering (NEM), in which residential solar exports to the grid are credited against consumption at full retail electricity price, has been the dominant compensation structure, but it has raised several concerns, including the potential for cost-shifting from solar to non-solar customers.
As the use of net metering dwindles, net billing has become the de-facto NEM successor in many states, the study said. Net billing allows customers to offset consumption with contemporaneous solar generation, but any surplus generation exported to the grid is credited at a grid export rate below the full retail electricity price, often tied to a utility’s avoided costs.
Currently, some variation of net billing has been adopted in 10 states and has been proposed in at least five others.
Using metered data from 1,800 residential customers across six utilities, the study found that batteries operated solely for self-consumption provided “customer bill savings up to $20–30 per kWh of storage capacity annually, but virtually no grid value.”
Even though net billing may save customers money on their electricity bills, it is still inefficient overall for individual customers, the Berkeley researchers found.
Nonetheless, they said, private bill savings may be enough to drive adoption when combined with the resilience value from backup power or other revenue streams.
Compared with market-based dispatch, self-consumption dispatch will likely become more severe over time, insofar as increased renewable energy penetration leads to more volatile wholesale prices, the study found.
“Storage used for solar self-consumption yields virtually no value to the bulk power system in terms of reduced wholesale energy costs,” primarily because of a misalignment between the temporal profiles of storage dispatch and wholesale energy prices, the researchers aid.
Even in “a future with high solar penetration, where wholesale prices resemble the proverbial “duck curve”, the energy value of storage dispatched for solar self-consumption remains highly suboptimal,” they added.
Storage used for solar self-consumption also yields virtually no value in terms of reduced peak-related costs, such as those related to generation, transmission, and distribution system capacity, the study found, because almost all solar generation on peak-load days is used to directly serve onsite customer load, resulting in little surplus solar energy available to fuel storage discharge during peak-load hours later in the day. As a result, battery storage largely sits idle on those days, barring some other incentive to operate for system-peak reduction purposes.
Alternatively, incentivizing storage customers to respond to market prices, particularly on peak days, would enhance both private and public value. “Compensating customers for operating storage in response to market prices can create a win-win, providing benefits to the power system while offering commensurate financial returns to PV+ storage adopters (or their aggregators) that exceed what they would receive from simply maximizing solar self-consumption,” the study’s authors wrote.
The authors noted, however, that outcome is conditional on customers being allowed to discharge storage to the grid. Unrestricted market response would significantly increase exports, which could impose stress on the local distribution network under certain conditions, but a significant portion of the potential market value could be achieved without significantly increasing exports, by relying on pricing or programmatic incentives that target storage discharge during narrow peak demand periods, the study concluded.
Easton Utilities Awarded $3.5 Million To Close County’s Broadband Gap
August 3, 2022
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
August 3, 2022
Maryland public power utility Easton Utilities has been awarded a $3.5 million grant to finish building out broadband infrastructure in Talbot County, Md.
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development awarded the grant in response to a solicitation to which Easton Utilities responded to earlier this year.
The grant is being used to extend broadband to the remaining unserved locations in Talbot County, specifically in the western part of the county including parts of St. Michaels, Bozman, McDaniel, Neavitt, Sherwood, Tilghman, and Wittman, as well as several other isolated areas in Easton and Oxford.
The grant will enable Easton Utilities to extend broadband service to the remaining 8 percent of the Talbot County population that do not yet have broadband service, Easton Utilities spokeswoman Kelly Simonsen said.
When the Connect Talbot project is completed, expected in 2026, it will provide broadband service to some unserved 3,600 locations throughout the county.
“Throughout this initiative, we have focused on securing funding to ensure all residents without access to broadband service will have the opportunity to obtain high-speed internet if desired,” Hugh Grunden, president and CEO of Easton Utilities, said in a statement.
In 2017, the Maryland General Assembly established the Task Force on Rural Internet, Broadband, Wireless and Cellular Service to help address broadband inequities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and in other rural parts of the state. Gov. Larry Hogan appointed Easton Utilities’ Grunden to serve on the task force.
Around the same time, the Talbot County Council issued a solicitation to help close the gap on broadband access. In December 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its ReConnect Program with $600 million in funding for broadband. Easton Utilities applied and in July 2020, USDA awarded Easton Utilities a $13.1 million grant to fund the extension of broadband into underserved portions of Talbot County.
An additional $13 million of funding for the project came from a combination of funding from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the State of Maryland, and Talbot County.
The state of Maryland contributed about $6.2 million. Talbot County contributed $3 million in matching funds and in March the county contributed another $1.75 million to the project, which eliminated funds that were originally slated to come from the project’s newly served customers. Easton Utilities is contributing a total of $4.25 million to the Connect Talbot project.
Easton Utilities has offered cable service to customers in its greater Easton metropolitan service territory since 1984 and began offering broadband service in 1998. Easton created Easton Velocity in 2016 with the merger of Easton Cable and Easton Online. Easton Velocity now serves 4,600 cable customers, more than 9,000 internet customers, and 1,600 digital voice customers.
In addition to providing the basis for internet service to an underserved community, the Connect Talbot project will also allow for Easton Velocity to offer services to new subscribers.
Separately, Easton Utilities is converting its current subscriber base in Easton to fiber optic cable, using $5 million of the Town of Easton’s American Rescue Plan funds and $10 million of its own funds to bolster the backbone of its broadband service and bring fiber optic cable from the curb to customers’ houses.