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Utility exec: Too many plug-ins will blow up the grid
Xcel Energy shows off its plug-in hybrid Ford Escape at an event highlighting Boulder's smart grid.
Having too many plug-in hybrid cars actually plugged in could blow up the grid — or at least knock out a few localized transformers.
That’s the message from one utility executive, anyway, speaking at the 2009 Plug In conference in California. But even if it’s true, Boulder’s transformation to the nation’s first smart-grid city will likely keep the local grid intact.
Here’s the story as reported in Scientific American:
“We have a lot of challenges before us to help make this market a reality,” said Ed Kjaer, director of Southern California Edison’s electric transportation advancement program.Chief among those challenges is how thousands of power-hungry vehicles would tax distribution transformers at the local level. Such transformers have historically handled electricity load for about 10 average-size homes each.
Adding a plug-in car to the grid is equal to about a third of a house, Kjaer said. And because early adopters are likely to spring up in geographic concentrations, that could mean overloaded transformers at the distribution level or plug-in cars potentially causing power outages.
“The worst imaginable situation you could have is your neighbor yelling at you because you blacked out the neighborhood,” Kjaer said.
Boulder, Colo., is a prime candidate to be a ”geographic concentration” full of early adopters (residents took to the non-plug-in Priuses like ducks to water). But even if every single Boulderite went out and bought the new Chevy Volt when it hits showrooms late next year, Boulder’s grid should not, theoretically, explode.
Read more about how Boulder’s grid will handle an influx of plug-ins after the jump, or read Scientific American’s story “Will Electric Cars Wreck the Grid?” here.
In the spring of 2008, Xcel Energy announced that they were going to make Boulder the country’s first “smart grid city.” When the smart grid is up and running, that means that owners of electric cars will be able to program cars to only charge from the grid at certain times — perhaps overnight when loads are otherwise low (all those TVs, clothes driers and Guitar Hero games being turned off).
And overnight, chances are good that more electricity from wind — and less from fossil fuels — will be on the grid, meanng the batteries would be charged with cleaner electrons.
Plug-ins like the Chevy Volt — which GM execs now claim will get 230 mpg — however, can only take electricity off the grid, not feed it back in. But when plug-in cars are able to give electricty back, a concept called vehicle-to-grid technology, then the smart grid will not only keep electric vehicles from overloading the grid or destroying transformers when energy demand is high, but it will also allow the cars to become storage devices for wind and solar energies. The car’s batteries can charge up, for example, when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, and then feed that electricity back to the grid when it’s needed, allowing utilities like Xcel to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels.
The smart grid, though, isn’t fully up and running yet. But Xcel is looking for Boulder households to be part of a smart-grid pilot project. Read more about participating in the study here. Read more about what the smart grid will mean for Boulder at the Daily Camera’s Web site, or below.
Boulder picked by Xcel for first smart grid
Company pledges $100 million in improvements to city system
By Ryan Morgan, Daily Camera
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Xcel Energy will spend as much as $100 million in the next two years to upgrade its system to make Boulder the nation’s first “Smart Grid” city, the company announced Wednesday.
The new technology could allow customers to see real-time data reflecting their energy use. Backers say the upgraded system could even let people use their hybrid-electric cars to power their houses during outages, or to avoid drawing on the power grid during peak-demand hours.
The move drew praise from environmental and elected leaders across the state.
Richard Kelly, the company’s CEO, said the first improvements could be online as soon as August. The first upgrades will mostly be behind the scenes, he said — but they’ll greatly increase Xcel’s ability to track power outages and prevent them from happening in the first place.
“In the first phase, they’re going to get better customer service,” he said. “We’ll be able to tell where outages are much more quickly, and we’ll be able to tell where the loads are.”
Kelly said Xcel officials settled onBoulder because of its size — the utility wanted a city with a population of about 100,000 — and because people who live in Boulder seem likely to take advantage of what the new system will offer.
“We were looking for a place where you’ve got technologically oriented people who are more likely to participate,” he said.
Waiting for the wind
Boulder City Councilman Ken Wilson, who’s an electrical engineer, called the news “huge.”
“I think it’s very exciting,” he said. “I look forward to working with Xcel and implementing this — I think it’s an exciting time to be on City Council and an exciting time to be in Boulder.”
Jonathan Koehn, Boulder’s environmental affairs manager, said the move will make it much easier for Boulder to meet its goal of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. The city has committed to cutting its emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels, or about 24 percent from today’s emissions.
If the first phase of Xcel’s upgrades meets the upper end of savings estimates, he said, it could help the city meet 25 percent of its emission-reduction goals nearly overnight.
And that’s before some of the most powerful tools get deployed, he said.
For example, energy customers might soon be able to install devices that tell them exactly how much electricity they’re using, and how much demand the grid is currently sustaining.
A customer looking at the display might decide to wait until demand on the grid is lower to do laundry, thereby helping to prevent backup power plants — which produce more pollution — from getting turned on.
The new system could also allow users to charge their hybrid-electric cars late at night, when demand is low, and then use their cars’ battery systems as a backup for the entire house during an outage, Koehn said.
A wind-power customer might also be able to use the system to avoid turning on the dishwasher until the wind turbines are turning.
‘Comprehensive snapshot’
Customers might also be able to tell Xcel their monthly energy budget, and get constant feedback on whether they’re on target, Koehn said.
They might even be able to turn over the control of certain appliances, such as air conditioning, to the system, so those appliances will not be turned on during times of peak demand, he said.
“If you have a choice on when perhaps to do loads of laundry or do things that do draw power, it allows you to get a really comprehensive snapshot of how you’re using your energy in your home and the impact that’s having,” he said.
Upgrades could also steer the city clear of roadblocks that could hinder the adoption of solar power as more consumers buy large solar systems and try to sell their surplus power back into the grid. As it’s now configured, the grid would have trouble accommodating too many of those systems.
The upgrades will change that, Koehn said.
“It really creates a platform for additional renewable-energy opportunities,” he said.
Amy Keegan, a spokeswoman for Environment Colorado, praised the announcement Wednesday because it will help consumers figure out exactly how they use their energy.
“Creating a smart grid allows consumers to make smart decisions and be more involved,” she said.
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