Coalition for Community Solar Access’ Post

good to know: #BESS 50 states of grid modernization North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center’s recent report looks at how states are doing with legislative and regulatory action related to shoring up the power grid. https://lnkd.in/gf-piDec

Hot take of the week: VPP’s without financing and infrastructure will fail to provide meaningful and equitable benefit to the grid. When you think about a virtual power plant, you may think of bidirectional EV charging and coordinated home batteries, but most VPP programs to date are built on smart thermostats. Thermostats are cheap, and can shift load for an hour or two, but they also see peak demand exactly when the grid is under the most stress. Greater grid benefits require more expensive infrastructure, and that investment can be prohibitive for low-income communities, threatening to leave them behind. However, designing financing programs around this infrastructure can help bridge this gap. If you want to learn more about the state of VPP’s in the U.S., we recommend catching up with the DoE's impact report, here: https://lnkd.in/eQYgkB8B U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

How energy gets to Michigan homes and businesses is just as important as from where it comes. Check out my article with Citizens Utility Board of Michigan on the benefits of transmission expansion! ⚡

Every state faces unique challenges to their #decarbonization efforts. Whether it’s learning about the requirements of new technologies, addressing concerns about equity and affordability, or how to navigate local regulatory conditions, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is always willing to help our partners in progress at the state level. Through DOE’s State Technical Assistance to Public Utility Commissions program, we’re helping the states you live in to #decarbonize the electricity you rely on. Here's how we’re doing it: https://bit.ly/3sBlryv

A new bill heading to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore promises to catalyze energy market innovation, by requiring electric utilities to speed up opportunities for two-way EVSE interconnections and consumer-based virtual power plants (VPPs). Electric vehicles and other #batterystorage-equipped resources, such as home power walls and some fast chargers, represent an exciting opportunity to store energy when the electrical grid is at its cleanest and reuse it when renewable generation is weaker. Maryland's bill aims to pursue these opportunities at a faster pace. The bill's lead sponsor sums up what the state hopes to achieve with this legislation: “Pairing battery storage with renewable generation will help Maryland achieve its clean energy goals, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change.” Read details via the links below. #batteryenergystorage #bess #energymanagement

"Transmission is one of the least recognized parts of our energy system, but also one of the most important." Later this year, the MPSC will be considering around 100 miles of planned transmission buildout in the state, as part of MISO's Long-Range Transmission Plan. Michigan's share of savings from the new lines is estimated at $3.4 billion over 20 years. The lines will also help to reduce congestion, opening up opportunities to bring new sources of clean energy online and ultimately lowering electric bills across the region. Read our Sustainable Business Associate, Natalie Lyijynen's, and Citizens Utility Board of Michigan Amy Bandyk's piece: https://lnkd.in/gH7nc8r7

Electrification is ramping up in MD as we speak, and Sen. Hester has a bill to make sure the state’s grid is ready for this challenge! Take a look at my recent blog post to learn about this issue, and why we need this legislation today!

Often in the clean energy space we get so specialized in our technology silos, be it EVs, wind, solar, utility planning, etc, that we forget about other ways of looking at the solution. That's why this is such a cool bill! Why? Because it explicitly acknowledges the value in conducting bottom-up forecast on where EVs and other big energy loads are coming and works to locate distributed generation (i.e. small scale solar storage) nearby. Maryland has big plans to get to 100% clean, and this process will bring down the overall costs of that transition through simple planned efficiency - but it requires us to bring all our technologies to the problem in coordination. Forward thinking by Senator Hester, and hopefully soon the Maryland legislature.

We continue to move forward with our efforts to municipalize the electrical grid in the City of Ann Arbor. We have proposed "the establishment of a public utility to be governed by the Ann Arbor Municipal Electric Board" consisting of "of nine members, five of whom shall be elected and four of whom shall be nominated by the Mayor and appointed by the City Council". It is time to move away from the exploitative practices of DTE Energy and work towards more reliable, just, and democratic governance of our energy systems. This ensures that ratepayer dollars are invested locally in resilience and clean energy rather than enriching shareholders on Wall St. #publicpower #energydemocracy #energyjustice