GM says when an EV battery reaches the end of its car life only 30% or less real life is used. This can be used for powering homes or businesses before the battery is recycled.
Southern California Edison issued a white paper today claiming – with abundant self interest – that it wants to accelerate a clean, reliable energy future that relies on a high penetration of distributed energy resources through its grid. The utility company – in the midst of a rate increase fight – says that its customers are adopting clean-energy technologies, such as rooftop solar, onsite energy storage, electric vehicles and energy management systems, at “an accelerated pace, creating the opportunity for more choice and control over their use and supply of energy.”
The goal of an as yet undetermined number of people is to get off the grid entirely, of course.
“By working together with customers, regulators and technology providers, companies like SCE are positioned to drive this energy evolution to create a more reliable, safe and clean energy future that will help California achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals,” said SCE President Ron Nichols.
SCE says it is modernizing and reinforcing the power grid “to improve safety and reliability while supporting the integration and use of distributed energy resources.” Translation: It’s business model is potentially threatened by companies, municipalities and people pulling the plug on it.
“Grid operators need information on the operations of the distributed energy resources, the ability to control the distribution grid and systems to create market platforms to transact with distributed energy resources providers, said SCE. “This will require greater automation and the installation of advanced sensors and communication devices. This smarter energy infrastructure will also enhance safety, minimize disruptions, and increase reliability.”
SCE 2018 General Rate Case Filing
On 1 September 2016, Southern California Edison (“SCE”), filed its 2018 General Rate Case (“GRC”) application for the three-year period 2018 – 2020, according to an SEC filing. SCE is requesting that the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) authorize SCE’s Test Year 2018 revenue requirement of $5.885 billion – an increase of $222 million over the 2017 GRC authorized revenue requirement. SCE also wants $48 million in one-time balancing and memorandum account recoveries. This is a 2.7% increase over presently authorized total rates.
SCE’s 2018 GRC request also includes proposed revenue requirement increases of $533 million in 2019 and $570 million in 2020. For 2019 and 2020, respectively, these represent 4.2% and 5.2% increases over presently authorized total rates.
SCE’s 2018 GRC request says it needs to make significant investment in the electric infrastructure to replace aging equipment, add capacity to address customer and load growth, improve safety and reliability, and enhance capabilities to integrate increasing amounts of Distributed Energy Resources (“DER”).
An Edison International (NYSE:EIX) company, Southern California Edison is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities, serving a population of nearly 15 million with 5 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.
“The Emerging Clean Energy Economy: Customer-Driven. Modernized. Reliable.” is available at www.edison.com/TransformingtheGrid.
