Dive Brief:
- A review of California's electric vehicle integration strategy kicked off yesterday, with staff of the California Energy Commission (CEC) laying out several areas of focus, including economic potential, customer experience and cybersecurity.
- In a webinar with stakeholders, staff introduced a matrix of proposed Vehicle-to-Grid Integration goals and the challenges faced. Comments on the proposed goals are due Sept. 21.
- California Gov. Jerry Brown, D, wants to see 5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030, with an interim goal of 1.5 million by 2025. An electric vehicle charging infrastructure bill to give the CEC authority to issue statewide assessments of infrastructure needs is awaiting Brown's signature.
Dive Insight:
In order to meet Brown's aggressive electric vehicle goals, which could add up to 1 GW of power demand to the state's grid, according to a CEC report, California will need to add significant charging infrastructure and develop ways to securely integrate it with the state's larger grid. The CEC's review process, collaborating with several other regulatory agencies, will look at how that work is progressing.
Other agencies involved in the review effort include the California Independent System Operator, California Public Utilities Commission and the California Air Resources Board. The California ISO, in coordination with the Governor's office, CEC and CPUC, developed the California Vehicle-Grid Integration Roadmap in 2014.
The inter-agency work group says in its goals matrix that it wants to "estimate the economic potential for Vehicle-Grid Integration under medium (2030) and long term (2050) scenarios," but warned there is "limited information" on the value of varying levels of integration.
California utilities have been rolling out a number of pilots focused on EV deployment and integration, including new rate designs, smart charger buildout, public education efforts and more. But the working group warned that a comprehensive review of pilot results and other data will be needed to effectively estimate the value of vehicle-grid integration.
"Some pilots have been completed and others are underway, however, analysis is needed across user segments, across infrastructure design types, and under various policy scenarios for both direct beneficiaries and ratepayers at large," the group noted in the matrix's list of challenges.
Different levels of integration exist, from the simple connection of a single consuming vehicle with V1G, to the bidirectional power flows of V2G. Just how much value these differing capabilities bring to the grid has yet to be determined, however.
A primary economic goal of the group is to reduce the cost of electrification "by measuring how emerging opportunities can utilize vehicle-grid integration technologies."
Technology-focused goals include advancing "communication and hardware technology standardization and interoperability," improving cybersecurity and boosting technology transfer among stakeholders.
