The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved $738 million worth of utility projects to electrify the transportation system, including programs aimed at residential charging and fast charging.
"I think the proposed decision overall is consistent with our guidance and balances well these competing aims of accelerating EV adoption, enabling competition, reducing costs and being sustainable and fair investments for EV drivers and for ratepayers," Commissioner Carla Peterman said at the CPUC's voting meeting.
Electric vehicles (EVs) could have an important impact on the California electric grid because vehicle charging could help suck up electricity during times of the day when the system is flooded with solar power and net demand is low. CPUC approved four infrastructure programs, including two aimed infrastructure to support charging of medium and heavy-duty vehicles. Pacific Gas and Electric will install equipment at 700 commercial and industrial sites to serve 6,500 vehicles, and Southern California Edison will install equipment at 870 sites to serve 8,500 vehicles, Peterman noted at the meeting.
As part of these programs, PG&E and SoCal Ed agreed to adopt price signals or other load management techniques to help ensure EV charging facilitates the integration of renewable generation, according to the decision.
CPUC also approved two programs aimed at light-duty vehicles, including San Diego Gas & Electric's plan to give rebates to install 60,000 residential chargers and PG&E's plan to install infrastructure to support 234 fast-charging stations at 52 publicly-accessible sites.
Fast chargers provide 50-70 miles of range per 20 minutes of charging. PG&E said these types of chargers reduce drivers' range anxiety and increase access for customers who lack home chargers or who need charging on longer trips.
CPUC decided to make implementation of the SDG&E rebate program optional, but a couple of commissioners urged the utility to move forward with the program. "This is an all hands on deck problem," Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen said at the meeting. "We are not going to get there only with utility investment, but it is going to be very hard to get there without the utilities being significant partners."
But CPUC President Michael Picker questioned the need to invest in residential charging. "I think it's an experiment, it's an expensive experiment," Picker said. "I think if we see a rapid uptake of autonomous vehicles we are going to be far more reliant on public charging so putting chargers in people's garages could ultimately be a mistake." SDG&E CLEARED FOR NEW BATTERY STORAGE
At the same meeting, the CPUC authorized SDG&E to procure 88 MW of capacity at a cost of $235 million. The projects include three third-party battery storage resources totaling 13.5 MW, two utility-owned battery energy storage resources totaling 70 MW and one demand response resource with 4.5 MW of capacity. The local capacity is needed due to the early retirement of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the decision said.
The CPUC also approved new rules in case a community choice aggregator goes out of business and its customers have to quickly return to the utility for service. The decision sets reentry fees and financial security requirements for CCAs.
The re-entry fees would pay for the administrative costs and six months of incremental procurement costs that utility would face if it was forced to reabsorb a CCA's customers, the decision said. The financial security requirements would ensure that CCAs could pay the reentry fees so that the utility's existing customers are not stuck with these costs. CCAs can meet this requirement through letters of credit, surety bonds or cash held by a third party, the CPUC said. -- Kate Winston
