Other Smart Grid Activities In Idaho Falls

One of the problems with renewable energy is that it’s intermittent – the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day, of course, and the wind doesn’t blow constantly. Another hurdle to incorporating renewable energy into the nation’s electric grid has been the absence of a way to store it; the energy must be used as it’s produced.

All things considered, it’s easy to see why renewable energy provides only a fraction of the electricity generated and consumed in the United States. IFP’s Battery/Solar/Vehicle Test could help change that.

As part of the smart grid project, IFP has installed a 10kW battery that will be used to store power generated through a solar array located at IFP headquarters. When production is at its peak – when the sun is shining – the electricity will be used to charge the battery, which will serve as a storage unit until the power is needed. The plan is to use that power to charge a small fleet of plug-in hybrid vehicles – four Chevrolet Volts – and to help offset the demand for power during periods of heavy use. The goal is to develop a strategy for converting a generation source that’s intermittent into a resource that can be deployed when needed.

As part of the test, an automated data collection system will allow IFP to measure the impact of the renewable resources in its portfolio – we’ll be able to clearly see how the battery/storage system helped smooth peaks in demand without affecting customers. The test will also show whether battery/storage systems could offset a potential increase in demand for electricity tied to the advent of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. As these cars become more prevalent across the US, there are concerns that they will drive up the demand for electricity on an electric grid that’s already at capacity thanks to a 400 percent increase in electricity use in the last half-century. If everyone plugged in their vehicles at the same time – upon returning from work, for example – it could lead to a “peak power event” that could stress or overload the grid and lead to blackouts. With a battery/storage system, however, the electricity needed to charge those vehicles could be taken from the grid when the demand for power is low.

Here is how IFP intends to use the Volts:

• As a municipality and power provider, it is prudent that the City understand the potential impact of these vehicles on both our electric system and our budgets (related to fuel savings).
• The City acquired the four Volts through the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project.  The grant paid for 50 percent of the cost.  Staff time for connecting the Volts, and for collecting and analyzing data on the vehicles is also being reimbursed at 50 percent. Essentially, this means that the cars are being paid for by the grant once you consider reimbursement for staff time.
• The City bought the Volts off of the state bid contract at a cost of $36,712 each.  Council authorized this purchase on January 26.
• As part of the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, testing of the Volts includes solar charging the vehiclesthrough a solar network and small scale battery system located at Idaho Falls Power to eliminate or reduce impact on power resources, testing various vehicle charging scenarios to understand impact on the grid, testing technology to time the charging to avoid exacerbating our daily peak use times and understanding broad impact on our distribution system (are our transformers sized to handle electric vehicle adoption at various percentage rates, for example).
• The City will be participating with the Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity by providing cold-weather data to a test that is being conducted elsewhere in the Country.  This data will include impact of charging times on battery chemistry and impact of cold weather conditions on battery life and charging needs.  INL has provided the wall-mount charging stations at no cost.
• In addition to the two testing projects, the City will spend much time studying the impact on our electric distribution system and policies that need to be established to minimize impact to our power supply and rates as adoption of electric vehicles move forward.  This includes things like the need for charging stations, how to bill from charging stations, how to structure charging times to minimize impacts and what technology will be required, specifications for improvements for in-home and “public” charging stations, and how to size transformers and distribution systems in the future.  We will also be analyzing cost/benefits of having alternatively fueled vehicles in our fleet.