The California Public Utilities Commission issued a proposed decision last week that would speed the interconnection of microgrids to utility distribution systems in anticipation of the state’s upcoming fire season and the public safety power shutoffs (PSPSs) that will likely accompany it.
The proposal, issued April 28, would order utilities to prioritize microgrids and resilience projects that could be put in place by Sept. 1. It is intended to “rapidly develop and deploy projects that could keep electricity on for critical facilities and other customers during power outages,” the CPUC said.
“Wildfire season will begin soon and, if like last year, it will surge this fall, bringing public safety power shutoffs and other outages,” Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma said in a statement. “Microgrids using independent energy supply can provide essential backup and resiliency for communities affected.”
The proposed decision makes recommendations to reduce the time it takes to connect microgrids and distributed energy resources to the grid starting with this fall’s fire season. Among its provisions, the proposal would require the state’s big three investor-owned utilities to standardize application processes for project approvals, expedite utility sign-off on projects, and accelerate interconnection of projects for key locations, customers and facilities.
It would conditionally approve projects by Pacific Gas and Electric to upgrade substations that can be quickly energized with local power sources. It also would allow PG&E to procure temporary, portable generators to use at substations and “key locations of public benefit” for the 2020 wildfire season, which typically starts in summer and worsens in the fall.
Under the proposal, San Diego Gas & Electric would be authorized to move ahead with software and hardware upgrades to “enhance microgrid operations and to augment and interoperate with SDG&E’s existing advanced distribution management system and microgrid projects.”
The rulemaking falls under Senate Bill 1339, passed in 2018, that directed the CPUC to “facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations” by Dec. 1.
It gained momentum after the decision by PG&E to cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers last fall angered public officials including Gov. Gavin Newsom and CPUC President Marybel Batjer, who called the utility’s actions “unacceptable.”
“This cannot be the new normal,” Batjer said in a commission meeting in October. (See Calif. Regulators Bash PG&E’s Power Shutoffs.)
The proposal is the latest in a series of actions taken by the CPUC to mitigate the effects of PSPSs. In January, the commission approved $830 million in new funding to subsidize self-generation in fire-prone areas, bringing its total funding for self-generation projects to $1.2 billion. (See CPUC Proposes New Power Shutoff Guidelines.)
The CPUC is accepting public comment on the proposal and plans to vote on it June 11.