{"id":1526,"date":"2011-08-16T21:18:21","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T21:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=1526"},"modified":"2015-12-21T12:46:26","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T18:46:26","slug":"california-smart-grid-plans-expect-significant-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2011\/08\/16\/california-smart-grid-plans-expect-significant-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"California Smart Grid Plans Expect Significant Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

But Missing Metrics and Milestones to Achieve\u00a0Them <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the course of the next 10 years, California\u2019s electric grid is getting a 21st<\/sup> century facelift. Last month, the three biggest utilities, PG&E, SDG&E and SCE (with more than 11 million customer accounts) released smart grid deployment plans outlining roughly between $2.4 and $3.6 billion of new investments to make the smart grid a reality.<\/p>\n

These plans were required by a 2009 law passed by the State legislature (SB 17<\/a>), and the investments they outline are critical to helping California meet new infrastructure, efficiency and environmental policies. The state policies of note include reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, increasing renewable electricity use from 20 percent to 33 percent by 2020 and installing 1,940 megawatts (MW) of solar energy by 2017.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Last January, EDF began developing a framework for evaluation<\/a>. The framework determines how close a plan is to achieving the full range of smart grid benefits. In particular, it looks at whether plans have clear visions, effective deployment strategies, meaningful metrics, accurate baselines, and demonstrable roadmaps for success.<\/p>\n

After nearly 1,000 pages of smart grid plans were released by the utilities in June and July, EDF energy experts used the framework to evaluate them and filed comments<\/a> to the California Public Utilities Commission (\u201cCPUC\u201d).<\/p>\n

What we found was dramatic. Most importantly, according to the plans, if California deploys the smart grid in an effective way, utilities are going to significantly reduce air pollution, eliminate massive inefficiencies in the system, dramatically increase California\u2019s reliance on renewable energy (including “distributed” energy generated in communities’ own backyard), accommodate hundreds of thousands of zero-emission electric vehicles, and empower consumers to manage their energy use, footprint and bills.<\/p>\n

These benefits, if realized, will be significant. PG&E<\/a>, for example, estimated that it will cut costs by up to $2 billion and reduce up to 2.1 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>) <\/sub>emissions. SCE<\/a> estimated it will be able to charge 1 million electric vehicles by 2020 and avoid up to 1,900 (MW) of peak demand by 2014 (peak demand is typically the most costly to deliver and often the most polluting). SDG&E<\/a> estimated that it will cut 6.8 MMT of different types of global warming pollution and cut fuel costs by $615 million.<\/p>\n

Smart Grid Plan Evaluations and Scores<\/strong><\/p>\n

EDF evaluated plans on the individual pieces\u2014their vision, strategy, metrics, baseline, and roadmaps\u2014and also as a whole.\u00a0 What we found was that while utilities are visionary and openly strategic about how the smart grid will be deployed, they are missing some key ingredients to overall success \u2013 such as quantifiable goals and numerous metrics\u00a0which progress can be tracked. No utility plan scored above a B- because data was lacking.<\/p>\n

EDF gave SDG&E and SCE the highest cumulative grades of a \u2018B-\u2018; though SDG&E edged ahead of SCE with a higher overall points score (32.3 out of 40 for SDG&E compared to 31.8 out of 40 for SCE).\u00a0 PG&E\u2019s plan earned a \u2018C\u2019 (with 28.9 points out of 40). SDG&E earned the most overall points by working with numerous stakeholders and digging into ways to provide the full range of expected benefits.<\/p>\n

From the beginning of this process, we advised utilities that these plans should be viewed as roadmaps that will guide a multi-year journey toward a modernized grid. The public, however, and the state\u2019s elected and appointed officials need more information to gauge whether the state\u2019s on the right track.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EDF views the scores as mid-term grades, with room for improvement. Luckily, the smart grid planning process is still underway at the California Public Utilities Commission so utilities can improve their plans and raise their overall scores before they become final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But Missing Metrics and Milestones to Achieve\u00a0Them Over the course of the next 10 years, California\u2019s electric grid is getting a 21st century facelift. Last month, the three biggest utilities, PG&E, SDG&E and SCE (with more than 11 million customer accounts) released smart grid deployment plans outlining roughly between $2.4 and $3.6 billion of new …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":919,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,84830],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","category-grid-modernization"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia Smart Grid Plans Expect Significant Benefits - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2011\/08\/16\/california-smart-grid-plans-expect-significant-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California Smart Grid Plans Expect Significant Benefits - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"But Missing Metrics and Milestones to Achieve\u00a0Them Over the course of the next 10 years, California\u2019s electric grid is getting a 21st century facelift. 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