January 10,2015
SAN FRANCISCO – PG&E and automaker BMW are teaming up to test the ability of electric vehicle batteries to provide valuable services to the electric grid. If successful, the pilot program could pave the way for significant utility payments that could stimulate further customer purchases of electric vehicles.
PG&E selected BMW after a competitive solicitation to manage a minimum of 100 kilowatts of electric demand on PG&E’s system, much as other large industrial and commercial customers do today as part of the utility’s demand response programs. Those programs improve reliability, lower costs and help the environment by incenting customers to cut usage during periods of high peak demand.
PG&E sponsored a test drive of electric vehicles, including the BMW i3, at the 2014 San Francisco International Auto Show.
Demand response programs can save money by delaying the need to upgrade power lines, transformers and other equipment to handle infrequent peaks in demand. They can reduce the need to buy expensive and polluting fossil-fueled power to meet such spikes in demand. And, with further refinement, they may help utilities manage and smooth out the intermittent flow of energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar generation.
BMW will help PG&E manage power demand on its grid in two ways. First, the automaker will create a large energy storage unit at the BMW Group Technology Office in Mountain View, using lithium-ion batteries that were once installed in MINI E demonstration vehicles. Like other storage systems, these “second life” batteries can absorb cheap surplus electrical energy when demand is low and release it on request when demand soars.
Second, BMW will enlist up to 100 customers of its new BMW i3 electric vehicles to take part in the BMW i ChargeForward Program. If PG&E needs to curb customer demand for whatever reason, it will send BMW an alert over the Internet, indicating how much load to cut and for how long. BMW then will signal the telemetry equipment in each participating vehicle, telling it to halt its charging for the duration of the event.