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Thurs., June 27

A recent white paper  from the Edison Foundation asserts that more than five million electric vehicles (EVs) will be on U.S. roads by 2035. Depending on battery technology advances and the price of oil, that number could reach up to 30 million. As consumers get a wider choice in EV models and adoption rates climb, utilities will be facing a significant new residential load. Now is the time to start preparing for plug-in electric vehicles, and the considerable energy management challenges they represent for electric utilities.

The third annual Electric Vehicles Virtual Summit  on Thursday, June 27, is a one-day, online conference that will delve into the challenges and issues surrounding the successful implementation of intelligent charging infrastructure for the emerging EV market. Speakers will discuss the latest advances in EV battery capabilities, consumer uptake and behavior, and correctly designing intelligent support and charging infrastructure for EVs. This event can help utility executives, smart grid managers, planners and engineers for an emerging technology that promises to have a big  impact on their systems.

The difficult task of explaining load management to someone outside the utility industry is one you have to tackle if your utility plans to market a peak-shaving, demand response program to customers. A recent article in Energy Pulse , by Energy Consultant Sarah Battaglia of Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc.  , makes it a little easier. Battaglia’s list of Top 10 questions about demand response programs speaks to the customer’s concerns, but utilities should pay attention to her answers.

Demand response is a tried-and-true measure to most utility professionals but your customers may not be familiar with it. Before large key accounts enroll in a program, they need to understand how the strategy helps the utility—and helps them—including how their businesses might be affected by brownouts or blackouts. They will want to know when and how often events occur, who will notify the company and how, what kind of hardware they need and who pays for it and installs it. Member services representatives should be prepared to offer customers different ways to curtail their energy use based on the type of business.

Utility programs are more likely to succeed when you look at your services through the customers’ eyes and treat them like partners, rather than passive receivers. This article provides insight into the business owners’ point of view and can help program managers be ready with straightforward explanations that will earn the customer’s participation and trust.

The Cooperative Research Network (CRN), the research arm of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), is receiving $2.1 million of a $9 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to the North Carolina State University FREEDM Systems Center  to develop a “plug and play” photovoltaic (PV) system.

CRN’s role in the project will be to coordinate demonstrations with at least two cooperatives to evaluate the PV systems and test the utility interconnection. In addition to assisting in the design of the project, CRN will also ensure the standards comply with the MultiSpeak specification, the de facto common interface model electric utilities use worldwide.

NRECA Research, Engineering & Technical Services Vice President John Hewa said, “CRN will be focusing on the integration of residential level solar resources on reliability and developing a system that works for both the consumer and the utility, simplifying the installation process without compromising safety or electric reliability.”

More than a dozen cooperatives across the country are developing community solar farms to meet the growing demand from consumer members for solar energy systems. This project will enable cooperatives to offer members more simple, safe and reliable options to add their own renewable energy generators.

The grant is part of DOE’s SunShot Initiative, which seeks to make solar energy cost-competitive with other sources of energy by 2020.

The Cooperative Research Network conducts original, collaborative research for the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives.

In pursuit of a smart grid, many utilities have focused solely on deploying and integrating advanced metering infrastructure. Consumer outreach supporting the technology has been uneven at best.

In late 2011, utilities asked DEFG EcoAlign for research focused on smart grid communications. In response, the marketing agency has published Meta Analysis and Utility Case Studies on Smart Grid Communications, DETech Research Consortium .

The report presents a high level summary of detailed analysis of the issues. Researchers drew on case studies from five utilities and a survey of industry experts to establish a baseline of consumer knowledge and identify best practices.

You can download the report  free of charge; however, registration is required.

DEFG EcoAlign manages a research consortium of North American energy utilities that seek solutions for energy efficiency, demand response, distributed renewable energy generation initiatives, and optimal use of smart grid assets.

Western is taking a leadership role in transitioning to a more resilient and flexible electric grid and to achieving much greater coordination among system operators. If we can take greater advantage of clean energy resources, while at the same time reducing costs to customers, we can bring the benefits of increased connectivity and enhanced reliability to more Americans. You can learn more about in Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu’s May 30, 2012 blog post.

We need your input

Your leadership and participation will help guide this effort to transform our transmission grid into a 21st century system, stimulate job creation, take greater advantage of new technologies and existing resources, reduce price and supply risk and advance our international competitiveness. We look forward to working closely with you throughout the process.

Please register for one of our events. Registration will end two weeks before each event:

July 17—Rapid City, S.D.
July 18—Billings, Mont. (listening session only)
July 24—Phoenix, Ariz.
July 26—Sacramento/Folsom, Calif. (held in Rancho Cordova)
July 31—Loveland, Colo.
Aug. 2—Sioux Falls, S.D.

If you can’t attend a meeting, you can still comment via email. Please provide your name and identify your organizational affiliation in your submission. Your comments will be most useful to the team if submitted by Aug. 3; however, we will accept comments until Aug. 17. The team will review all comments submitted, but you should not expect a response to your comments.

 May 30, 2012
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. MDT

Utilities’ generation portfolios are changing—often faster than the infrastructure that supports it—and power providers now face the challenge of integrating new generation and demand (load) response technologies into a grid that was designed to operate a different way. Western, the U.S. DOE Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs and the DOE Tribal Energy Program invite tribal utility managers and resource engineers to Today’s Energy Supply – Yesterday’s Grid, a free, informative webinar May 30 to explore strategies for meeting these demands.

Speakers include experts from the DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the Western Grid Group. Presentations will cover:

1. Key findings in the MIT Energy Initiative Report on the changes needed in the US Grid to handle expected challenges such as the influx of electric cars and wind and solar generation
2. Western Grid Group’s Clean Energy Vision Project, which charts a sustained, orderly transition from the carbon intensive electricity system of today to a cleaner, smarter and healthier electricity system of the future.

There is no charge to attend the webinar, however you must register to participate.

How to talk to customers, if you have to   is a story in Intelligent Utility on Jan. 15 that suggests utilities are not using the resources available to them to prepare their customers for smart grid adoption.

Part of the problem, author Phil Carson acknowledges, is that “smart grid” means different things to different utilities, and often something else entirely to consumers. This has made it easy for opponents to co-opt the term and claim the technology is controversial without having to explain themselves.

But utilities should not use this lack of clarity as an excuse not to engage customers and regulators about what the smart grid means in their specific circumstances.  In addition to a past story mentioned in the article and a reference to the Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid , readers will find links to more related reading listed to the right of the story. These resources offer utilities the building blocks they need to communicate the value propositions smart grid represents to different types of consumers—whatever the technology and stage of deployment.  

Perhaps the most important point in the story is that if utilities don’t talk to consumers, others will take control of the story. The smart grid promises to fundamentally change the way power providers do business. Utilities that don’t clearly explain all the implications to their customers, Carson warns, could be writing their own epitaphs.

There is still time to contribute your views to a national survey on the effectiveness of smart grid communications being conducted by Distributed Energy Financial Group, LLC . Each respondent will receive the analysis report.

The survey assesses the electric sector from diverse perspectives. So far, every U.S. state and several Canadian provinces are represented, with respondents from vertically integrated utilities to competitive suppliers to public interest organizations to consultants.

You will answer questions about smart grid activities in different stages of development. Some utilities are taking a “slow build” approach, while others are “flying under the radar”; some are relying on “active engagement” of consumers. You will be asked about different approaches regarding consumer education and engagement, lessons learned, and how utilities can save time, reduce costs, engage consumers, and achieve their goals.

DEFG LLC always shares its summary report with everyone who takes the survey. Last year, nearly 600 people responded to a survey on prepaid energy, and this topic — smart grid communications — is similarly timely and vital.

Take the survey today, and while you are at it, drop Energy Services a line and share your thoughts and experiences on smart grid communications.

Utilities, local governments and communities are eligible to apply for $8 million in funding to create programs that empower consumers to better manage their electricity use through greater access to their own electricity consumption data.

The Department of Energy is providing the funding as part of the administration’s goals to promote a clean energy future. “Providing consumers with easy access to their own consumption data is another important step in helping Americans make more informed decisions about their electricity consumption and become more energy-efficient,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “As a result, we will see more innovation by entrepreneurs and other third-party providers as they develop valuable applications and services for the consumer.” 

New smart grid technologies are generating unprecedented amounts of electricity use data that could give homes and businesses more control over their electricity choices.  However, consumers need convenient and user-friendly tools and software products that help them readily understand the data, and realize the full capabilities of the smart grid. 

The “Smart Grid Data Access” Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) addresses the major steps communities need to take to better leverage their smart grid assets on behalf of consumers: creating policies that give consumers and authorized third-parties (such as app developers) access to customer data; and demonstrating the value of these apps and services across communities.

See the FOA at Grants.gov and FedConnect.net for additional information, including cost-sharing requirements for government-industry cooperation. The deadline for submitting applications is March 2, 2012.

The American Public Power Association’s 2011 Customer Connections Conference,  Nov. 6 to 9 in Savannah, Ga., will feature a full track of sessions devoted to energy services topics.

The conference will cover:

• Low-cost ways to deliver Smart Grid benefits to your community
• Smart grid stories: sharing smart practices
• Justifying your utility’s energy-efficiency programs
• Energy-efficiency technologies for C&I customers
• Programs to meet your energy-efficiency and renewable portfolio standards
• Changing infrastructure developments

The Customer Connections Conference also offers sessions on key accounts, public communications, marketing and customer service, as well as roundtable discussions, networking breakfasts, receptions and other opportunities for networking and information exchange.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to attend a full-day pre-conference seminar on Sunday, Nov. 6, on “Energy Services that Work: Commercial Energy-efficiency Programs.” This in-depth seminar will focus on commercial energy-efficiency activities, energy audit programs and the importance of evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V) of results. It has close ties to the new APPA publication, Energy Services That Work, produced with the association’s Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments program.

Conference fees are $645 for APPA members and $1,290 for non-members who register before Oct. 14. Pre-conference seminars require a separate registration fee.