Not really; the greentechmedia story misrepresents the facts, although of course some utilities do oppose solar however they can get away with it.
The California Independent System Operator’s data shows that Mr. Lowenthal’s assertion is more wishful thinking than fact. Charging during the day is more costly to everyone. Hopefully his assertion will be more accurate someday when solar dominates, but renewables’ contribution still isn’t large enough to shift the peak by enough to notice. Fortunately wind complements solar somewhat, so that at the peak load hour in late afternoon when solar is dropping off wind output is sometimes ramping up. But the peak is still late in the afternoon, when generating companies operate their least efficient and most expensive units. There is no “glut of power” at 2pm. Moreover, the cost of fuel is much higher than the 5 percent that Mr. Lowenthal’s claims. How much varies by utility. Of course Mr. Lowenthal would like to sell more charging stations, but no informed workplace will buy them based on his story. A better workplace investment is to install solar before PV module costs rise, which I fear they will. It is still the case that utilities’ time-of-use pricing largely reflects their costs. Electricity pricing at most workplaces is based on commercial, time-of-use rates, with prices highest on summer afternoons. Of course it’s more attractive for us drivers to get free electricity, but workplaces might not wish to subsidize workers at 25 cents when they can get it at home for 8 cents. The assertion that charging at work during the day is better than charging at home is untrue, as long as the home-charger waits until after 10 or 11 pm to plug in. That’s why some utilities offer attractive residential rates after midnight. We can take advantage by putting timers on our chargers. -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-The-Duck-Curve-is-good-for-EVs-and-EVs-are-good-for-the-Duck-tp4669168p4669174.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
