By now, you’ve probably heard that tons of new renewable energy projects are “stuck in the interconnection queues,” unable to connect to the grid until grid operators get around to approving them. What are these queues & why are they so slow? I called an expert to talk it out.
According to PG&E CEO Patti Poppe, In PG&E’s service area alone, which spans from Northern California to the Central Valley, there are already enough electric vehicles (parked or) on the road to return roughly 9,000 megawatts of power to the grid — nearly the equivalent of five Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plants. In August 2023, Poppe said, “We see great potential (in widely distributed V2G charging). The grid needs those electric vehicles (batteries). We need to make it available and it can be a huge resource.” Her words.
PG&E’s indirect message appears to be:
“Install on-site parking lot canopy solar +integrated stationary batteries +V2G fleet chargers to provide your business, tenants, employees & customers with reliable, uninterrupted renewable power ASAP. Don’t wait for PG&E transmission,.….it’ll be a long wait. And don’t waste money on fossil fuel generators…..start using those IRA tax incentives to create a reliable matrix of widely distributed (sub)urban parking lot micro grids right there in your own neighborhoods, right now.”
Great talk about transmission difficulties. The problem appears to be large government without transparency, added to huge subsidies to fossil fuel companies at all levels of energy drilling and oil and gas transport and refining. The public needs to know why rates are rising dramatically at the same time grid reliability falters and all of the players in the old guard continue to rake in money. Storage locally is key and Virtual Power plants will hopefully speed the process along and obviate some of the backlog issues for regional transmission. It would be great to have a podcast which speaks to virtual power plants and how these can be encouraged. I am sure the lobbyist will dig in their heels. As I have said for years, Lobbying was illegal in the Original Constitution and should still be illegal!
For a different and more grassroot look at interconnection fees and how it plays out as an extension to fossil fuel interests. From a local, community and neighborhood level in Georgia, I am a community supporter for a Solarize campaign (bulk buy community based solar opportunity for residential and commercial) in Gwinnett County. Gwinnett is on track to soon by the largest county in Ga and is one of the most diverse counties in the U.S. Gwinnett is served by multiple utility providers from the Ga Power (investor utility), multiple Electrical COOPS and MEAG (municipally owned utilities). The issue I am dealing with is an Electrical COOP (Walton EMC) who intentionally raised its interconnection charge for residential solar from $500 to $800 (highest i can find that is typically $100) to "claim" IRA tax incentive that benefits its user. This is a disincentive and is problematic for our campaign. They also charge a high fixed fee (customer service fee) to claim low "volumetric charges" and subsidize high residential energy users by charging lower energy users (generally low income users) with high a high fixed fee. We are working on and including a Social REC program for solar users to gift/donate RECs to finance low income users in energy efficiency, electrification and solar but the high interconnection fees (along disallowing new metering and a low buy back for excess generation ($.04 KWH) are impediments. Walton does have a community solar but takes advantages of it members by charging more for the pleasure while the EMC receives the benefits of low cost generation adds additionally injury. Add in a lack of transparency in both posting true tariff and rates plans and cost and how it is reflected in its bills.. Breaking into the coop is on my agenda but will be tough go...
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/08/08/pgs-ceo-wants-electric-vehicles-to-save-californias-power-grid/
According to PG&E CEO Patti Poppe, In PG&E’s service area alone, which spans from Northern California to the Central Valley, there are already enough electric vehicles (parked or) on the road to return roughly 9,000 megawatts of power to the grid — nearly the equivalent of five Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plants. In August 2023, Poppe said, “We see great potential (in widely distributed V2G charging). The grid needs those electric vehicles (batteries). We need to make it available and it can be a huge resource.” Her words.
PG&E’s indirect message appears to be:
“Install on-site parking lot canopy solar +integrated stationary batteries +V2G fleet chargers to provide your business, tenants, employees & customers with reliable, uninterrupted renewable power ASAP. Don’t wait for PG&E transmission,.….it’ll be a long wait. And don’t waste money on fossil fuel generators…..start using those IRA tax incentives to create a reliable matrix of widely distributed (sub)urban parking lot micro grids right there in your own neighborhoods, right now.”
CREZ--Competitive Renewable Energy Zones
Great talk about transmission difficulties. The problem appears to be large government without transparency, added to huge subsidies to fossil fuel companies at all levels of energy drilling and oil and gas transport and refining. The public needs to know why rates are rising dramatically at the same time grid reliability falters and all of the players in the old guard continue to rake in money. Storage locally is key and Virtual Power plants will hopefully speed the process along and obviate some of the backlog issues for regional transmission. It would be great to have a podcast which speaks to virtual power plants and how these can be encouraged. I am sure the lobbyist will dig in their heels. As I have said for years, Lobbying was illegal in the Original Constitution and should still be illegal!
For a different and more grassroot look at interconnection fees and how it plays out as an extension to fossil fuel interests. From a local, community and neighborhood level in Georgia, I am a community supporter for a Solarize campaign (bulk buy community based solar opportunity for residential and commercial) in Gwinnett County. Gwinnett is on track to soon by the largest county in Ga and is one of the most diverse counties in the U.S. Gwinnett is served by multiple utility providers from the Ga Power (investor utility), multiple Electrical COOPS and MEAG (municipally owned utilities). The issue I am dealing with is an Electrical COOP (Walton EMC) who intentionally raised its interconnection charge for residential solar from $500 to $800 (highest i can find that is typically $100) to "claim" IRA tax incentive that benefits its user. This is a disincentive and is problematic for our campaign. They also charge a high fixed fee (customer service fee) to claim low "volumetric charges" and subsidize high residential energy users by charging lower energy users (generally low income users) with high a high fixed fee. We are working on and including a Social REC program for solar users to gift/donate RECs to finance low income users in energy efficiency, electrification and solar but the high interconnection fees (along disallowing new metering and a low buy back for excess generation ($.04 KWH) are impediments. Walton does have a community solar but takes advantages of it members by charging more for the pleasure while the EMC receives the benefits of low cost generation adds additionally injury. Add in a lack of transparency in both posting true tariff and rates plans and cost and how it is reflected in its bills.. Breaking into the coop is on my agenda but will be tough go...