California PUC opens new proceeding on ZEVs

[jlhodges]

The California Public Utilities Commission has issued an Order Instituting Rulemaking (OIR) "To Consider Alternative Vehicle Programs, Tariffs, and Policies.

"Summary
The Commission opens this rulemaking to address issues relating to the
expanding use of alternative-fueled vehicles (AFV) in California. In particular,
the Commission is continuing the work it started in Rulemaking (R.) 09-08-009,
to support California Executive Order B-16-2012, which set a target of 1.5 million
zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on the roads in California by 2025. The
Governor’s Office has also developed a “ZEV Action Plan” for state agencies to
support the ZEV target, and this Commission was identified as the lead agency
on several action items."

"Consistent with the ZEV Action Plan and California’s policies on
alternative-fueled vehicles, and to support the Commission’s achievement of its
action items, this proceeding may broadly consider all issues related to
alternative-fueled vehicle adoption. The proceeding will primarily focus on
specific ongoing issues such as financing options, appropriate rate design and
development of new policies related to AFVs."

".....this may include new rate designs for plug-in electric
and natural gas vehicles, including light-duty and medium/heavy-duty vehicles,
and policies for residential, multi-family, workplace and fleet plug-in electric
vehicles (PEVs). Throughout these tracks, this proceeding will also explore how
financing opportunities can unlock long-term value in PEVs or reduce upfront
costs as a means of accelerating PEV adoption and infrastructure deployment,
including medium- and heavy-duty vehicle infrastructure. "

Full text available here:

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/SearchRes.aspx?docformat=ALL&DocID=81996327

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/SearchRes.aspx?docformat=ALL&docid=81788141

 

[jlhodges]

Among the topics of the CPUC's ZEV OIR: Vehicle-Grid Integration (VGI) (pg. 15)

"We will evaluate utility activities that can support VGI initiatives and seek to establish rules that allow utilities, PEV drivers, and the grid to capture safely and reliably the benefits of PEV battery storage for the managed charging, and for providing demand response ancillary services to the grid and power markets. The ZEV Action Plan includes VGI as an action item to help reduce the negative impacts of peak-time charging and an opportunity to integrate renewables into the grid. Among other things, the ZEV Action Plan designates the Commission to consider the demand impacts of PEVs and the potential benefits of controlled charging. VGI includes strategic PEV battery charging or discharging, which allows the PEV battery to serve as a form of grid storage and demand response.
A car charging unit can, by varying charging rate or charging time, enable electrical vehicles to provide several benefits to the grid, including:
o Responding to ramping needs.
o Providing load to absorb renewable energy during times of over-generation.
o Avoiding local distribution impacts by minimizing charging when the local system is overloaded.
o Providing wholesale ancillary services to help harmonize the transmission system.
The ZEV Action Plan also recognizes the storage potential for vehicle batteries after they are no longer considered useful for transportation. Developing a method to use these batteries as grid storage after they are removed from the vehicle would 'unlock' this future value to vehicle owners, increasing the total value of electric vehicle ownership. The ZEV Action Plan directed the Commission to explore utility actions that could enable vehicle battery second-life use."