Energy Exchange

Living in New York City through a week of Sandy and her aftermath was a reminder of just how critical electricity is to our lives.

Electricity is the difference between feeling safe in well-lit buildings and streets, or vulnerable in the dark. Between food kept well-preserved in refrigerators and water pumping through pipes, or dinner spoiling and taps gone dry. Between communications and productivity, or isolation and economic losses — which are now forecasted, from Sandy alone, to reach $50 billion.

For some, electric power is literally life or death: heat on

(Credit: Master Sgt. Mark Olsen/U.S. Air Force)

a cold night, access to vital medical services.

The responsibility for providing these essential services rests on utilities. And the gravity of that responsibility – along with a reliance on long-lived and costly assets – has led to a culture of caution. One that has given the power industry pause in moving away from the tried and true methods it has used to generate and deliver power for the past 100 years.

But what the increasingly intense storms rolling across the country reveal is that – sometimes – what seems the cautious path is in fact the most risky.

With an estimated 9.5 million homes and businesses having lost power thanks to Sandy, the utilities faring best at restoring their customers to warmth and safety are those that have begun modernizing their grids with advanced information technologies, and using those “smart grids” to build resilience and reliance on community-based energy resources. I spoke with Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this week to discuss our outdated grid and the crucial need for modernization.

We’re already seeing proof these investments can reduce recovery time, keep crews and customers safer, and save lots of money. Thanks in part to federal stimulus grants, a number of utilities are embedding sensors, communications and controls across their networks. On the power lines that it has helped prevent cascading disasters like the one that knocked out power to 55 million people in 2003, when a single Ohio tree fell on a power line. Automated systems can detect a fault, cordon it off and reroute power flow around it.

Digital “smart” meters, capable of two-way communications, have also proved their worth: providing utilities real-time, granular visibility into their networks, without resorting to (often failing) phones or trucks dispatched on wild goose chases.  Programmed to send a “last gasp” signal when they lose power, those meters have enabled rapid diagnostics – pinpointing exactly which homes or blocks were out, where the break had occurred – and expedited repairs.

Baltimore Gas and Electric, for instance, has installed about 10 percent of its planned 1.3 million smart meters. Linked to a “smart command center” borrowed from sister utility ComEd of Illinois (with whom EDF has been working on developing a set of performance metrics for its grid investments), the meters are telling them when their power restoration efforts have been successful or when further troubleshooting is needed. Without smart meters, they’d have to phone customers to ask if the power is back on. In storm conditions, according to Jeannette Mills, BG&E’s VP of Customer Operations, two-thirds of those calls go unanswered, which means they have to dispatch crews block by block across the region. This time, they’ve been able to ping the meters, asking “are you on?” Mills reports “a much higher rate of success getting through to smart meters than we do reaching customers by phone” enabling far more efficient dispatch of crews.

Utilities with smart grids have also kept customers better informed. A Pennsylvania Power and Light customer described to Smart Grid News how the real time tracking enabled by smart meters allowed him not only “to check on repair status for my own home (with crew on site info and estimated time to repair) … but also remotely online check the status of our two rental houses without having to physically drive to each to check them out.”

One of the first utilities to demonstrate a smart grid’s resilience was Alabama Power, which was slammed in April 2011 by 30 tornadoes across 70 miles with winds up to 190 mph. The twisters left 400,000 without power and thousands of poles, wires and substations damaged or destroyed. But by using its 1.4m smart meters to locate the outages and prioritize repairs, the utility restored all of its customers within a week. It also drives 4 million fewer miles each year.

The security benefits of a smarter, more resilient grid have caught the attention of the U.S. military. It has begun installing smart grid technologies on bases so they can function as “microgrids”: decoupling from the commercial grid in the case of a natural or manmade disaster and maintaining vital homeland security operations. The bases will also become reliability resources themselves, capable of supplying power to the grid, or reducing demand, at times when the grid is stressed.

Most importantly, these smart grids will enable the military to meet its aggressive goals for shifting to low-carbon, domestic energy resources, particularly renewable energy on or near bases. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has set a goal for the service to get half its power from renewable resources by 2015. A smart grid will be absolutely critical to enabling the integration of millions of smaller, regional resources, and for managing the on-again, off-again character of the wind and sun.

The Secretary’s leadership reflects his recognition of the greatest risks that come from sticking to our tried and true ways of making and delivering power:  the national security threats posed by climate change. These include the threats we’ve seen this last week, again, from rising seas and extreme weather, as well as the casualties incurred by troops having to protect vulnerable fuel supplies, and the acceleration of instability and conflict warned of in a 2010 DOD report. When it comes to power, the greatest risks will come from failing to be bold.

We launched a compelling video today that illustrates how clean energy is strengthening our economy, creating American jobs, allowing for energy independence and lessening our carbon footprint.

This video shows how clean energy is thriving and seeks to arm policymakers, entrepreneurs and clean energy advocates with success stories to back that statement up. The video features interviews with Helen Brauner, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Planning for Green Mountain Energy; Congressman Lloyd Doggett, U.S. Representative for Texas’ 25th Congressional District; and Stephen Frank, Electrical Engineer for Xtreme Power.

Like innovations in medicine and telecom, energy innovation shouldn’t be a political issue. But clean energy has suffered from some expensive negative attacks recently.  Not surprisingly, these attacks have mainly come from those who stand to profit from today’s fossil fuel industry – which receives 75 times more subsidies than clean energy sources.

Despite the fact that clean energy has become the “modern-day whipping boy,” it is indeed alive and thriving.  The clean energy sector now creates more jobs than the fossil fuel industry and, just last year, grew nearly twice as fast as the overall economy.

Earlier this year, EDF launched the Energy Innovation Series to promote the role innovation has played in the energy industry and highlight clean energy technologies and new business models that hold the promise of revolutionizing the way we create, transport, manage and use energy.  Throughout 2012, we have highlighted innovations across a broad range of energy categories, including smart grid and renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency financing, and progressive utilities, among others.

See the video and learn more at edf.org/energyinnovation.

After you’ve watched the video, please click here to ask EDF Clean Energy Analyst Colin Meehan any questions you may have. Colin will answer you via Facebook tomorrow, October 23^rd, from 4:30-5 pm Eastern Time.

Like most legislative sessions in California’s recent history, the session that ended last Friday at midnight included a flurry of activity up until the final minute. For California’s AB 32 though, Friday’s closing moments were not just exciting, they were groundbreaking for climate policy.

After nearly 2 years of deliberation – the Legislature charted a clear path toward full implementation of the state’s landmark cap-and-trade regulation by resolving a contentious debate over whether and how to wisely invest the proceeds of the regulation’s permit auction. That debate, whether cap-and-trade should raise money in a greenhouse gas (GHG) permit auction process, was brought back to life when a letter from 56 prominent economists to Governor Brown urging him to not delay or scale back the auction was met with a similar letter from several state legislators taking the opposite position. Friday’s legislative action appears to have resolved that issue – meaning all signs are go for launch of the state’s comprehensive climate change regulation in November.

The legislature passed two bills, AB 1532 and SB 535, establishing a framework for deciding how to distribute the proceeds from the state’s upcoming auction of GHG permits. A core part of the approach, laid out in detail in AB 1532, is ensuring that all money raised in the auction be used to further the goals of the law (to reduce climate change pollution), and that spending decisions be made transparently, and in consultation with state agencies. SB 535 stipulates that some of the money must be used to the benefit of disadvantaged communities who already share the large brunt of California’s degraded air quality.

Though any legislative proposal is potentially subject to veto by the governor, EDF expects and is actively urging Governor Brown to sign both AB 1532 and SB 535 into law as quickly as possible.

By passing a comprehensive bill package that sets out how expenditure decisions are developed and made, and also ensuring that those decisions be in compliance with established legal standards, the legislature has put to rest the question over whether to move forward with the program as planned. Now, with AB1532 and SB535, the legislature has decided how to move forward with the program – giving a clear signal that cap-and-trade is intended to proceed in November 2012.

More detail on AB 1532, SB 535 and use of AB 32 auction proceeds:

AB 1532, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Perez, establishes a 3-year investment plan process for investing auction proceeds in projects that reduce GHGs through activities like renewable energy and energy efficiency, advanced vehicles, water and natural resource conservation, and waste reduction. These investments are scheduled to start in the 2013-14 fiscal year. The bill requires the investment plan be developed though a specified agency consultation process that includes public participation.

SB 535, sponsored by Senator De Leon, requires a minimum of 25% of CARB’s auction proceeds to be used in ways that benefit disadvantaged communities, either directly or indirectly. It also requires a minimum of 10% of auction proceeds directly fund projects within those communities.

Use of AB 32 auction proceeds – Wise investment of cap-and-trade auction proceeds can be an integral part of achieving these AB 32 emission reduction goals. As detailed in our June 2012 report, Invest to Grow, targeted investment of AB 32 proceeds can bolster California’s green energy economy, creating jobs and providing a new wave of customers to California businesses operating in sectors providing clean energy solutions. In addition, investment of auction proceeds into energy efficiency and clean energy will reduce air pollution, thereby improving health and air quality, fill gaps created by reduced state and federal funding, accelerate energy independence, and save businesses money by reducing energy demand.

With only two and a half months remaining until North America’s largest carbon market goes “live,” it’s no surprise that economic experts from around the nation are standing up and voicing support for California’s program. Just last weekend, 56 economists from both in-state and out-of-state academic institutions, and some NGOs, sent a letter to Governor Brown commending him for his leadership and recommending the state move forward with the planned auction component of cap-and-trade.

The Air Resources Board’s currently adopted regulation distributes most allowances for free, but does auction some as well, thus taking into consideration the needs of both California consumers and California businesses. In the first two years of the program, businesses will receive approximately 90% of allowances for free. After that, the amount auctioned increases, though CARB has committed to continuing to study this option to protect businesses from foreign competition.

In the letter, economists from 34 different colleges and universities, along with several from NGOs and think tank organizations, reiterated an important point: regardless of whether emissions permits are sold or given away for free, regulated businesses are likely going to pass through costs and change the price of the products they sell. And, while it might be appropriate to give some allowances away to protect businesses from foreign competition, polluters should not be able to profit from the program without making real reductions. It’s also important, the economists noted, to preserve the state’s ability to put the revenue to beneficial use cutting climate change pollution.

The legislature, the governor’s office, and many stakeholders, including EDF, have been considering what beneficial uses of proceeds from the allowance auction might look like. EDF’s report Invest to Grow covers this subject in detail.

State law already requires that the money from the auction be spent in ways that further the purpose of AB 32 – cutting climate change pollution – and there are many opportunities within that constraint. Further, the budget passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor in July calls for a large portion of proceeds to relieve pressure on the state’s much strained budget. Several other bills are also being considered in this final week of the legislative session that aim to address priorities and guidelines for auction revenue investments.

EDF will continue to explore the win-win opportunities that auction proceeds creates in more depth with a series of upcoming blog posts.