https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-10/california-s-green-dreams-mean-adding-more-evs-to-a-rickety-grid?
California's Green Dreams Mean Adding More EVs to a Rickety Grid
Despite verging on blackouts, the state wants to electrify everything — fast
“The state’s ambitions are way ahead of reality,” said Gary Ackerman, founder of the Western Power Trading Forum, a coalition of more than 100 companies advocating for competition in Western electricity markets. “You can glorify a zero-carbon world, but the reality is going to be much different and the timeline is going much slower.”
New solar and wind farms plus large-scale batteries are being plugged into the grid as fast as supply chains will allow, with renewables last year supplying a third of California’s electricity. Modeling from the Energy Innovation Policy & Technology research firm shows electricity demand could grow 18% from 2020 levels by 2030, as vehicles and buildings start to electrify.
As for those electric cars, they could become a powerful tool for stabilizing the grid, rather than crushing it. Their batteries could supply power back to the grid in times of need, then recharge later, when electricity supplies rise.
The drive to electrify everything still carries risks. While EV charging can be shifted to the middle of the night, much of the electricity needed for air conditioning or heating can’t. Californians will still need to use those systems at the same time, and they’ll need them more in an era of extreme temperatures, said Severin Borenstein, an energy economist at the University of California at Berkeley. He serves on the board of governors of the California Independent System Operator, which runs most of the state’s grid.