KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Public Service Commission has ordered energy utilities such as Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. to come up with a new grid framework to deal with the increase in electricity demand from buildings and vehicles.
In a press release, the commission said Central Hudson, as well as other utilities, need to submit the first of those plans within three months and the remainder in four.
The agency ordered the utilities to develop a framework for “proactively planning for infrastructure needs driven by transportation and building electrification, and to determine how to address today’s urgent infrastructure needs,” the commission said.
The order is part of a proceeding “to evaluate new energy loads from transportation and building electrification to proactively identify and develop future grid infrastructure needs” the PSC said in a statement.
“The Commission is establishing a statewide, collaborative planning framework to ensure that the utilities are ready to support New Yorkers who are increasingly choosing electric vehicles and heating for their homes, business and transportation needs,” said Commission Chair Rory M. Christian in a press release
“The purpose of this effort is to identify timely electric grid upgrades to support electrification across a number of sectors of the economy.”
In typical infrastructure planning studies, each utility identifies potential needs as they arise in their territory, either from new service requests or load letters — requests for new or increased electrical service — from new or existing customers or through their planning processes based on forecasted load, the PSC said.
“However, the rate at which consumers are electrifying buildings and vehicles has the potential to outpace the existing grid planning processes,” the PSC said. “The new planning framework directed by the Commission is designed to proactively identify grid infrastructure needs to ensure the utilities expand the system in the most cost effective and timely manner.”
Central Hudson spokesman Joseph Jenkins said the utility is well on the way to meeting climate change goals mandated by the state.
“Transitioning transportation and building heating away from fossil fuels and onto the electric grid is a key component to reducing carbon emissions,” Jenkins said in an email. “Understanding our critical role in this transition, Central Hudson’s team of experts has been making investments and planning projects to add additional capacity to the grid since the CLCPA (Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act) was passed into law in 2019.”
“Our current rate proposal calls for projects that would unlock an additional 449 megawatts of capacity aimed at interconnecting more EV charging stations and electric heat pumps onto the system,” Jenkins added. “We will provide any and all information the Public Service Commission requires to help achieve a pragmatic and affordable path toward emission reduction within the timeframe requested.”
The new planning framework will also ensure that the utilities leverage shared, “best-in-class” information and techniques to ensure that each utility is coordinating across geographies and service territories, the PSC said.
“An important part of the new equation is accounting for the increased load related to the electrification of vehicles, which will be significant and is expected to be a major driver of the load forecasts used to identify transmission and distribution upgrades in the newly established Coordinated Grid Planning Process (CGPP),” the PSC said. “The more granular and local load forecasting process developed in the proactive planning framework will complement and integrate with the CGPP, resulting in a more efficient integrated resource plan for the state’s transmission and distribution systems.”
Ultimately merging granular electric vehicle planning with the grid process will enable the commission to “evaluate the totality of upgrades necessary to meet the clean energy and greenhouse gas emission targets in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act),” the PSC said.
The commission added that the largest and most complex utility upgrades take over seven years to complete, while the speed at which fleet owners can order electric cars and trucks that drive such upgrades can happen in a matter of months. “The Commission finds that a proactive planning process is necessary, to ensure the grid is ready for the future needs of our utility customers, and the infrastructure is developed in the most cost effective and timely manner,” the PSC said. “The development of an innovative electrification planning process will not only lower utility bills, but also enable the significant levels of electrification anticipated through consumer choice and in pursuit of the Climate Act goals.”
In this proposal, the agency said, the utilities will account for new electrification loads beyond the transportation sector, including, but not limited to, electrification of buildings, such as housing or industrial related to economic development that can similarly drive system upgrade needs.
The Commission has found that there is a need to address urgent upgrade projects on an earlier time frame, while a statewide proactive planning framework is developed.
“Specifically, the Commission directs the major utilities to submit filings in three months outlining the urgent upgrades required in their territories, and a filing in four months describing the needed long-term planning processes,” the press release said.
Originally Published: