In tune with the new Washington administration, the PJM Interconnection has its hands in the electric vehicle arena. It is a member of and has been working with Magicc to develop communication protocols that will enable plug-in EVs to receive information from the power system and react to changes in electricity demand, i.e., to become a real part of the wholesale grid. Magicc is the Mid-Atlantic Grid Interactive Car Consortium.
PJM could not find a more enthusiastic champion than its very own regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, whose new chairman, Jon Wellinghoff, has been a vocal advocate for the plug-in electric vehicle cause. He participated in a summit not long ago with PJM, the Electric Power Research Institute and Magicc, where he said a PEV could nearly pay for itself over 10 years by selling the power during the day that it had stored at night.
Of course, in the East, the wind tends to blow at night, and vehicles could store wind-generated power; they would be able to sell it back into the grid during the day as needed. PJM and others are exploring market-operation possibilities. Aggregators could pool PEV customers and sell their energy in PJM's regulation market, which is needed for minute-to-minute fluctuations in demand. PJM pointed out that (assuming it all works out as envisioned) a PEV can respond in less than a second to a call for its power, while traditional regulation-market sources, like power plants, take minutes.
PJM President and CEO Terry Boston has said there is capacity to add 25 million PEVs to the regional grid organization's system for charging in non-peak hours. On the list of things that have to be done, though, are standards interconnections, so that a car can plug in at night in one utility service territory and plug in during the day in another.
Then, too, small-infrastructure issues have to be addressed. Fewer than 5% of the region's customers have access to the 5-10-amp dedicated circuit recommended for PEVs, PJM said. On a positive note, though – and illustrating the kind of granular matters that have to be dealt with – PJM found that 74% have a 120-volt plug within 20 feet of where they park at home. So we have to get the right circuit, and then get the car. Or should we get the car first? I guess not. And if we urban creatures have to park on the street, what about those extension cords running out over the sidewalk? Are we doomed to hydrocarbons forever? Doubtless consortia are working on that very problem right now.
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