Next week the Chelan PUD is hosting an event with a guest speaker from PNNL (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) to discuss the benefits of Smart Transportation..........which of course includes adding electric vehicle demand to the grid. This is very interesting that this is happening. I personally feel the northwest grid operators are under immense pressure from the rapidly-lowering cost of California solar power. Hydro has been cheap in the NW for many years, but it still costs about $0.04/kwh to produce that power, which leaves generators and distributors dependent upon higher peak demand charges ($0.20/kwh+ and up) to be able to wheel and sell base power across the NW for around $0.08/kwh. Where the NW grid had traditionally been used to export power to California in years-past, as a result of solar growth and restored hydro-generation from California there is the beginning of a paradigm shift in the NW as the grid is now being used in both directions. What a concept - electricity flowing FROM the least expensive source. As California fills their demand needs they are now beginning to reach a NW market with excess solar that is less expensive than hydro.
It is my opinion that the Columbia Basin generators cannot cut there way into restored profitability.........they will need to 'grow into profitability' by creating new markets of large demand that can be supplied by hydro. Existing hydro generation costs and the subsequent mitigation programs that hydro is required to support will never get cheaper. But grid demand can be grown in a manner that will support a capacity to benefit from hydro and wind's ability to continue to generate at night. That will be battery storage. Without developing storage and distributed generation in the near future, I think the grid between the NW and California would eventually return to a one-way line........however it will be from California to the NW with a supply of solar and storage. So if the adoption of EV transportation will grow the grid by 30% or more as some of this board have suggested, then we may see the NW accelerating this concept sooner than later if California continues to accelerate its transition to solar.
Here is the copied link to the invitation:
You're invited to a special evening
Come take a test drive in an auto-pilot Tesla. Hear more about how Smart Transportation could work in Chelan County.
SMART TRANSPORTATION
What is it? Can it work here?
Advanced technologies could change the way we drive and the way we live. But are autonomous driving vehicles coming soon? Can electric vehicles reduce our carbon footprint?
Join Dr. Michael Kintner-Meyer, staff scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, for an evening of lively discussion around next-generation vehicles -- and why Chelan County could be an ideal proving ground.
Wednesday, Nov. 1 - 6:30-8 p.m.
Confluence Technology Center (CTC)
285 Technology Center Way (Olds Station)
Wenatchee
Immediately following Dr. Kintner-Meyer will be a chance for the community to ask more about Smart Transportation and what the future holds. A panel will answer questions and take your ideas for looking at our transportation future here in Chelan County.
Brought to you by the Port of Chelan County, Wenatchee Valley College, The Wenatchee World and Chelan County PUD.
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Dr. Michael Kintner-Meyer is the lead researcher at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for energy storage grid analysis, transportation electrification and smart transportation. Dr. Kintner-Meyer received a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and a master’s degree from the University of Aachen, Germany. He holds four patents related to grid-friendly technologies.
Take a spin in a self-driving Tesla!
See some auto-pilot Teslas from 5-6:15 p.m. before the discussion. Find them in the east parking lot of the CTC.
