Regulating Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage

The California Public Utilities Commission is one of the bodies charged with finding answers to these complex questions. CPUC Commissioner Carla Peterman, an authority on energy policy in the state who previously served on the California Energy Commission, speaks to electric-vehicle and energy-storage regulation. She offers an optimistic outlook on both of these topics, taking into account market responses to CPUC initiatives:

"We as a state, through the CPUC, adopted first-in-the-nation targets for energy storage—1.325 gigawatts by 2020 last fall. When we first set out the proposal, there were questions about whether it would be possible and whether there would be market interest. We’ve seen tremendous interest already. We’re in the process of working through the utility applications for the first solicitations this fall. Southern California Edison, as an example, has already done a solicitation for 50 megawatts of energy storage, on the commission’s orders. They had over 500 bids, which is a lot of industry response."

She goes on to discuss ZEVs: "We’ll have at least 100,000 electric vehicles by September in California. We’re in the nineties now. That will be an exciting marker. Watching the sales trends is my favorite part. Compared to last year, are sales increasing continuously? We’re seeing that. In 2015, a number of automakers are planning to have a next-generation version of their cars. Going forward, I think we’ll be seeing more models and more choice for customers."