By GUEST AUTHOR Mariana Gerzanych CEO | 350Green
Electricity providers and consumers have had a good marriage since the 1800s, small breakdowns here and there, sometimes scandals, regulation and deregulation but overall it’s been even keeled. That is until consumers decided they want more, demanding more electricity for their new toys: Electric Cars. Utilities ignored the whim for a decade but are starting to take notice. A study of EV impact on the grid done by ISO/RTO (ummm Power Companies) shows a positive outlook of what’s to come.
The report is unprintable 120 pages, here is the gist of it:
* Spread out EV charging would reduce the impact on electric load
* Power companies will need new tools to manage the demand from EVs
EVs will follow Prius sales, clustering by geographical areas, mainly North East and West coasts. This will put more strain on some Utilities and not the others, especially if all those EVs will charge at the same time. Assuming Obama gets his wish for 1 million EVs in 5 years, and everyone plugged in simultaneously: 3,800 MW of additional electricity will be needed, spread the charging over 12 hours and the demand drops to 500 MW. Here is the link to the research study: http://bit.ly/bkCGUg.
The report isn’t earth shattering, it does validate other studies and shows that Electricity providers are starting to think about EVs. It’s a bit on the conservative side though, most analysts project 1 mill EVs by 2015, whereas the report predicts a million by 2017–the Grid better be ready.
Mariana Gerzanych is CEO of 350Green LLC, a Company that will be installing charging station infrastructure for Electric Cars. 350Green is a partner in the eTec $99.8 mill DOE grant award to electrify the EV infrastructure in 5 markets: San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix/Tucson and Nashville. “It took us all 5 seconds to decide which city to move the headquarters to” and San Diego has extended a warm welcome. You can find Mariana on Twitter @ukr50 and read more of her musings on www.350Green.com/news.