Grid Condition Accuracy Requires Monthly Reporting & Assurances

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Gwendolyn Brown, vice president of communications at the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) in San Francisco, reached out to me at CleanTechnica. She wanted me to be aware of a pending decision before the California Public Utilities Commission regarding access to accurate information about the conditions on the electric grid. Without this data, it will be very challenging to meet California’s clean energy, electric vehicle, and climate change goals, according to Brown.

The Commission has released a Proposed Decision that outlines its current thinking about the particulars within its formal ruling later this month. The Proposed Decision orders a working group process to address accuracy issues that have long plagued California’s public grid data, but it fails to include any deadline for these improvements to be completed — which Brown argues is “a significant shortcoming.” There is still time, she says, for the Commission to modify the ruling before the vote, which is likely to happen on October 17 or 24, 2024.

California is a role model leader in clean energy, as it is one of the nation’s leading producers of renewable energy. The state has pioneered groundbreaking clean energy and transportation policies.

But, as IREC explains it, this leadership is threatened by inaccuracies in key electric grid data published by the state’s utilities, and those inaccuracies have been ongoing for multiple years.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is expected to issue a ruling soon that could remedy these issues and pave the way for more efficient and affordable clean energy and electric vehicle adoption in the state. However, without any deadlines for these improvements to be incorporated, challenges have persisted for many years and will likely continue to do so. IREC is advocating for the Commission to impose meaningful objectives, timelines, and accountability measures. The public record in this proceeding is filled with examples of resistance to these efforts on the part of the state’s investor-owned utilities and failures to tangibly improve the ICA, despite multiple efforts similar to the one the Commission is now recommending.

If the Commission does not build more concrete objectives into this decision, IREC anticipates that the outcome will be another several years of process without results.

What’s working for electric grid data transparency in California? Public interest advocates have prodded California utilities have been required to develop some of the nation’s best electric grid data transparency tools, called “Integration Capacity Analyses” or ICAs.

What is an ICA? An ICA is a model of the electric grid in map form that shows how much electricity generation or demand (“load”) can be added in different areas without costly upgrades.

What’s the problem with current ICAs? Since their original publication in 2019, numerous issues with the accuracy, completeness, and recency of ICA data published by California’s investor-owned utilities (PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E) have been identified. These issues limit the ability of clean energy developers and other stakeholders to use the ICA as intended.

For example, PG&E’s map was so inaccurate it indicated that its entire grid was unable to accept any new electricity generation (e.g., solar, etc.) and 30% of its system was not even displayed. SDG&E and SCE’s map also had issues. The maps also had questionable data on capacity for new load (such as that needed for electric vehicle charging). Initially, all three utility maps showed zero capacity for new load across the vast majority of their systems, defying common sense.

Why do ICAs matter for clean energy? ICAs offer important benefits for the development and siting of clean energy, including:

Helping developers choose optimal locations for clean energy and EV charging projects where they are less likely to require expensive grid upgrades. These upgrades can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and add months or years to the timeline of a project.
Providing utilities with valuable data to inform and prioritize infrastructure investments on the electric grid.
Improving the efficiency of decisions about whether clean energy projects can be approved to connect to the electric grid. Since 2022, the CPUC has required the utilities to use ICA data in interconnection review processes for certain DERs, taking the place of more time-consuming reviews.
Enabling DERs to operate based on an export schedule that supports grid needs and reduces costs. California made clean energy history in March by becoming the first state to enable clean energy systems to propose an operating schedule when applying to connect to the grid. Under this approach, approved projects can connect without requiring grid upgrades that might otherwise be needed, because they restrict power output at times when the grid is constrained in its ability to accept additional electric generation. This saves time and money and allows more clean energy on the grid.

All of these applications are only possible, however, if the data in the ICA is accurate and kept up to date.

What issues have arisen since ICAs were released in 2015 under a pilot program?

SCE continues to make significant errors that result in delayed or erroneous data;
SDG&E has repeatedly violated Commission orders by not displaying required data;
SCE and PG&E continue to fail to update their maps at the required frequency: when an ICA is out of date, the accuracy of the data it shows cannot be trusted.
While the Commission has slowly required fixes to some of these problems, five years after the ICAs were first released, many of these issues are still ongoing.
ICA development is not simple, and a learning curve is expected. But after nearly a decade of work by the utilities and millions of ratepayer dollars spent, it is reasonable to expect that these potentially game-changing tools should be fully functional.

What additional grid changes does IREC recommend?

Utilities should update their ICA maps on a monthly basis now.
The Commission should institute a requirement for utilities to promptly notify both it and the public when accuracy issues with the ICAs are identified.
Utilities should be required to communicate when these problems are expected to be resolved and any other relevant information.

The IREC works in response to the urgent need to transition to clean energy—to mitigate climate change, improve the resiliency of communities, and ensure all people benefit from a just transition to a clean energy future.