A new paper outlines strategies for utilities to get ahead of the coming EV boom.
That utilities have a lot to gain from the electric vehicle transition is common knowledge. But if they don’t act, they could also have a lot to lose.
The potential problems are clear in a recent estimate from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). Highlighted in a new EV charging report, the utility forecasted that EV-related overloads could necessitate replacing 17%, or 12,000, of its transformers at an average cost of $7,400 each.
That’s only one municipal utility, and the impacts on the entire U.S. grid scale accordingly. The 580,000 EVs on the road in the U.S. today represent 1 TWh of consumption, but by 2040, that could grow to 551 TWh, according to a recent report from the Smart Electric Power Alliance.
Whether those EVs turn into a blessing or a curse for utility companies depends on what they do today, said Erika H. Myers, the SEPA research director and author of the report “Utilities and Electric Vehicles; The Case For Managed Charging.”
“Utilities are waiting until EV penetrations rise but they should be at the table now to impact decisions now being made,” she said.
The paper urges utilities to be proactive in decisions that can “modulate charging so that it coincides with grid needs instead of becoming a stressor on the grid,” Myers said.
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