POWER May 2020 - 45

ELECTRIFICATION
just regionally but also locally, may be
quite uneven thanks to the electrification
of vehicles in fleets, as well as the tendency
of depots themselves to be clustered.
This will create new stresses on
the distribution system that will have to
be considered in utility planning.
No longer will utilities depend on analysis
of coincident peaks to determine
their system loading conditions-system
load factors are likely to get worse, and
peaks may increase, but local system usage
patterns may become much less uniform
geographically. Depot charging will
provide one example, possibly the first,
of a strongly geographically concentrated
load with a characteristic idiosyncratic
profile. Contingency planning and analysis
may need to be more extensively
analyzed on the distribution grid.
Depot charging load will drive the installation
of new distributed technologies
on the utility system such as:
■ Additional utility storage and distribution
system upgrades to help manage
the electrical stresses on the grid and
store energy locally to smooth local
load spikes.
■ Additional monitoring equipment
to provide grid operators situational
awareness of the demands on the
systems.
■ Local reactive compensation for direct-current
charger loads.
■ Behind-the-meter storage for depot
owners in deregulated states to take
advantage of low-priced " belly-of-theduck "
energy and to manage demand
charges.
■ Advanced distribution management
systems to help manage distributed
renewables and distributed energy
resources-rooftop PV or rooftop
wind-to fill the storage and provide
the additional green electric supply
that customers particularly desire in
growth pockets.
Utilities will also be able to adopt new
operational practices that have been under
discussion for other purposes but
have had limited traction. Vehicle owners
may be leery of the impact on battery
life of " vehicle-to-grid " programs, using
them as system bulk energy storage, but
more willing to allow curtailment of their
charging load for short-term operational
needs. They may even be willing to allow
more frequent low-intensity discharge/
recharge of partially charged batteries if
the focus is on mitigating grid issues that
affect the depots.
May 2020 | POWER
2. Electric vehicles are becoming more common
throughout the world. This phenomenon
will cause power demand to increase. It may
be wise for utilities to start planning now for
the surge. Courtesy: PA Consulting
It will also be important for utilities
to update their outage restoration plans
and maintenance procedures to factor in
these new large load centers and their
particular load shapes. For example,
outage planning for system upgrades,
or even tree trimming operations, will
need to take into consideration delivery
vehicle charging points, which may have
very specific charging needs during certain
parts of the day. The hours when
utilities are planning to do work with
minimal disruptions to the customer will
likely be during different parts of the day
than traditional hours.
Changes to operational practice will
lead to the use of even more new technologies.
The geographic concentration
of depot charging load-and the possibility
of enlisting the help of depot
owners-could create a need for decentralized
and cooperative distribution
management systems. These systems
would be able to autonomously manage
to the level of a single substation or feeder
while communicating with a depot's
charger management system to anticipate
load and request mitigation.
A Change in Plans
Therefore, it is important for utilities to
actively change the way they plan their
distribution systems. Utilities will benefit
from taking the following actions:
■ Identify Current and Potential Depot
Locations in Service Territories. Electric
utilities have detailed information
about their commercial and industrial
customers. Between their own customer
records and mapping tools,
such as Google Maps, they should be
able to locate current delivery depots
that may be electrified as well as areas
in their systems that are likely to
host new depots.
■ Study and Project Depot Charging
www.powermag.com
Behaviors and Delivery Operators'
Operational Needs. As chargers are introduced,
utilities can learn how they
tend to be used and the difference in
use patterns between different locations.
They can work with customers
to understand their behavior, so as to
better serve those customers.
■ Develop Programs to Support and
Manage Charger Development. Policymakers
are generally supportive of
vehicle electrification to improve air
quality, control carbon emissions, and
reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Utilities
can support this by facilitating
access to chargers. In so doing, they
can gain information about charger
locations and have the opportunity
either to protect the grid by influencing
charger siting or ensuring that the
distribution system is reinforced to
anticipate local needs.
■ Forecast Locational Electrification Potential
and Timing of Charging Load
Growth. This is just the development
of quantitative projections based on
information gathering described in the
previous three bullets.
■ Identify Interconnection and Distribution
Upgrade Requirements. This is
fundamental distribution planning but
aimed at specific reliability and system
security issues associated with
concentrated charging loads.
■ Estimate Cost Impacts. Utilities can
design rates to collect costs imposed
by depot charging while not impeding
growth.
Revving Up Toward a Brighter Future
The time to start planning is now, as
once this shift to wide-scale EV adoption
occurs, there will be a large effect on
utility load, grid topology, and ultimately,
investment, as concentrated demands
will be placed on distribution system networks.
Utilities should not wait for regulators
to order changes to distribution
planning, as some did to accommodate
distributed energy resources.
Utilities should take the lead in
preparing the distribution grid for EV
charging in depots and retail charging
stations, as well as homes and workplaces.
EV charging can provide significant
upside for utilities. Many are facing
load loss and struggling to grow, and
thus, vehicle electrification stands to be
an opportunity for utilities to revitalize
their grids and maintain their long-term
financial health. ■
-Jonathan Jacobs is an energy and
utilities expert at PA Consulting.
45
http://www.powermag.com
POWER May 2020

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