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California plans to shift 3 GW of load from dirtier, more expensive times of day to cleaner, cheaper ones by establishing flexible demand standards for many types of electrical appliances. Global interest in Californias work is high, a state agency commissioner said.
New flexible demand appliance standards “are coming” in California for water heaters, behind-the-meter batteries and electric vehicle chargers, California Energy Commission (CEC) Commissioner Andrew McAllister said. at a CalFlexHub symposium.
CalFlexHub is a CEC-funded flexible charging technology testing ground at Berkeley Lab that is evaluating 12 flexible demand technologies, in collaboration with manufacturers.
After establishing rules on flexible demand devices for pool controls last month, the CEC hopes to open a dialogue on a new category of devices every six months, a spokesman said.
McAllister expects electric water heater regulation to be “in full swing” by the end of 2024. Ten of the largest heat pump manufacturers have committed to helping California reach its goal of 6 million heat pumps to heat water or spaces in 2030, he said.
Californias pool controls rules, which McAllister said have created a template for future rules, will require new equipment to default to flexible demand, but will allow the customer to override that setting. Maintaining the default flexible demand setting will save customers money on their electric bills as the appliance will run more often on lower-cost renewable generation.
Mary Ann Piette, who runs CalFlexHub, said one concern is whether that lower cost of operation will encourage adoption of flexible demand devices. She suggested that adding an emergency demand response capability with customer compensation “would bring the most value.”
Piette said: “We believe that flexible charging in many cases will be more cost-effective than installing a battery.” He also noted that CalFlexHub is exploring heat pumps with thermal storage.
While the CEC sets standards for devices that can respond to flexible rates — such as lower rates when renewable generation is high — the California Public Utilities Commission is working with the states utilities to develop flexible rates. According to a slide presented by McAllister, the CPUCs goal is for state utilities to offer rates and programs based on hourly marginal cost by January 2027.
McAllister noted that for California to reach its goal of 7 GW of charging flexibility, the state aims to combine 3 GW of price-responsive device demand with 4 GW of traditional demand response, in which some customers "drop the load” during the 100 hours of greatest demand of the year.
Global interest
“People are excited around the world about what we are doing with freight flexibility,” McAllister says. “The word spreads and the light bulb goes on.” People decide, “Of course were doing it; It makes sense, and we really want to learn from what California is doing.”
The CEC envisions a future that goes beyond flexible demand to reach “transactive energy.” While flexible demand involves one-way communication of electricity company rates, through a state database known as MIDAS, to devices, transactional energy would involve devices with two-way communication capabilities, allowing electric vehicles, for example, sending the energy stored in the battery to the grid.
McAllister noted that Californias grid will be carbon-free by 2045 and that, in the short term, “load flexibility will help decarbonize” and, in the long term, “load flexibility will help us manage the network optimally when it is 100% free of carbon emissions.”
Californias work on flexible rates is based on analytical support provided by a white paper from CPUC Energy Division staff and an analysis of potential cost savings from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Recordings and slides from the CalFlexHub symposium are expected to be available later this month, a Berkeley Lab spokesperson said. |
