Steven Letendre

ELECTRIC VEHICLES AS A NEW POWER SOURCE FOR ELECTRIC UTILITIES

Abstract Electric-drive vehicles, whether fueled by batteries or by liquid or gaseous fuels generating electricity on-board, will have value to electric utilities as power resources. The power capacity of the current internal combustion passenger vehicle fleet is enormous and under-utilized. In the United States, for example, the vehicle fleet has over 10 times the mechanical power of all current U.S. electrical generating plants and is idle over 95% of the day. Electric utilities could use battery vehicles as storage, or fuel cell and hybrid vehicles as generation. This paper analyzes vehicle battery storage in greatest detail, comparing three electric vehicle configurations over a range of driving requirements and electric utility demand conditions. Even when making unfavorable assumptions about the cost and lifetime of batteries, over a wide range of conditions the value to the utility of tapping vehicle electrical storage exceeds the cost of the two-way hook-up and reduced vehicle battery life. For example, even a currently-available electric vehicle, in a utility with medium value of peak power, could provide power at a net present cost to the vehicle owner of

Evaluating the economics of photovoltaics in a demand-side management role

955 and net present value to the utility of

Commercial building integrated photovoltaics: market and policy implications

2370. As an incentive to the vehicle owner, the utility might offer a vehicle purchase subsidy, lower electric rates, or purchase and maintenance of successive vehicle batteries. For a utility tapping vehicle power, the increased storage would provide system benefits such as reliability and lower costs, and would later facilitate large-scale integration of intermittent-renewable energy resources.

Characterizing the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Building-Stock Age in Poultney, Vermont: A GIS-Based Approach to Improve Thermal Efficiency in Historical Buildings

This paper examines current efforts to assess the economic viability of photovoltaics (PV) from a demand-side management (DSM) perspective. The benefits associated with dispatchable peak shaving PV DSM systems are discussed along with recent modelling efforts. Preliminary analysis, conducted at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) together with Delmarva Power and Light, indicates that PV is closer to cost effectiveness, when assessed as a DSM option, than previously thought. PV DSM systems under investigation by CEEP include rooftop, non-dispatchable PV DSM and the integration of PV arrays and storage to provide dispatchable peak shaving capabilities. Analysis to date, on five case study utilities, shows that PV DSM systems can offer substantial value to utilities and their customers. Several policy options for promoting PV DSM are described along with a unique utility-customer partnership for the purpose of purchasing PV DSM systems.

Intelligent Vehicle Charging Benefits Assessment Using EV Project Data

In this study, the authors assess the market for dual-function PV power systems designed to serve the peak-shaving and emergency power needs of the commercial buildings sector. They use these market assessment results to investigate policy options for promoting the adoption of dual-function PV power systems within the commercial buildings sector.

Vehicle-to-Grid Power: Battery, Hybrid, and Fuel Cell Vehicles as Resources for Distributed Electric Power in California

Many industrialized countries are exploring ways to facilitate the prioritization of efforts targeting improved thermal efficiency in an aging building stock. Older buildings, typically, have inefficient building envelopes and higher energy-consumption patterns relative to new construction, which contributes to higher overall energy consumption at the local and regional scale. Reducing energy consumption by increasing the efficiency of older buildings will result in lower anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and help address the growing issues related to climate change. To address these concerns a GIS-based approach is developed to evaluate building-stock age in rural communities with limited access to historical parcel data. This approach involves georeferencing historical Sanborn insurance maps, digitizing building footprints for each year. This methodology is applied to a small town in rural Vermont and a map is produced depicting the spatiotemporal evolution of building construction over the years 1885–1940. 1091 structures built prior to 1941 are identified and it is argued that weatherization efforts should focus on the oldest buildings first and sequentially address younger structures, lowering both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the least-efficient building stock.

Evaluating potential renewable energy resources in Poultney, Vermont: A GIS-based approach to supporting rural community energy planning

PEVs can represent a significant power resource for the grid. An IVCI with bi-direction V2G capabilities would allow PEVs to provide grid support services and thus generate a source of revenue for PEV owners. The fleet of EV Project vehicles represents a power resource between 30 MW and 90 MW, depending on the power rating of the grid connection (5-15 kW). Aggregation of vehicle capacity would allow PEVs to participate in wholesale reserve capacity markets. One of the key insights from EV Project data is the fact that vehicles are connected to an EVSE much longer than is necessary to deliver a full charge. During these hours when the vehicles are not charging, they can be participating in wholesale power markets providing the high-value services of regulation and spinning reserves. The annual gross revenue potential for providing these services using the fleet of EV Project vehicles is several hundred thousands of dollars to several million dollars annually depending on the power rating of the grid interface, the number of hours providing grid services, and the market being served. On a per vehicle basis, providing grid services can generate several thousands of dollars over the life of the vehicle.