IEEE Electrification - June 2019 - 4

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

The comprehensive electrification of port operations in the United States dovetails with the
multivector vision of energy flexibility being pursued in the Eastern
Hemisphere. In "Flexibility in Sustainable Electricity Systems," by
Eduardo Alejandro Martínez Ceseña, Mathaios Panteli, and Mathaios
Panteli of the University of Manchester; Nicholas Good of Upside
Energy Ltd.; and Pierluigi Mancarella of the University of Melbourne, a
holistic approach to combining
energy carriers with an existing
energy infrastructure is described.
This article is a call to action to
rethink the role and value of flexibility in the operation of the energy
sector to leverage available resources and strategic investments for the
provision of services.
The remainder of the issue is
focused on another key electrification front: EVs that charge from an
increasingly clean electric grid to
help decarbonize the transportation sector. An assessment of the
electrification of light-duty EVs in
developing economies is offered in
"Electric Vehicles in Latin America" by Jairo Quirós-Tortós and Luis
Victor-Gallardo, both of the University of Costa Rica, and Luis (Nando)
Ochoa of the University of Melbourne. This article provides an overview of financial and nonfinancial
incentives for EVs in Latin America,
hurdles for the deployment of a public charging infrastructure, and
quantification of public charging
stations available in Mexico, Central America, and South America.
The authors also present a methodology developed in Costa Rica to
define locations for fast-charging
stations and the results of an economic assessment that sheds light
on why the pace of EV adoption in
Latin America is so slow.
Latin American countries may
tap into the accelerating vehicle
electrification efforts taking place in
California to develop their own

4

I E E E E l e c t r i f i cati o n M agaz ine / J UN E 2019

pathway to decarbonize the transportation sector. For example, in
"Electric Vehicles and Climate
Change," Hamidreza Nazaripouya of
the University of California, Riverside, and Bin Wang and Doug Black
of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory describe the potential value
streams of EVs for owners, fleet
aggregators, electric utilities, and
transmission system operators.
Their article investigates the economic justification of EVs and their
deployment, taking into consideration the grid services provided by
EVs to improve reliability, security,
and resilience.
The potential benefits of vehicleto-grid (V2G) technology for California's customers are examined in
"Potential Benefits of Vehicle-to-Grid
Technology in California" by Jonathan Donadee and Liang Min of the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Robbie Shaw, Oliver Garnett,
and Eric Cutter of Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. The
results of their modeling indicate
that the grid value of deploying EVs
with bidirectional charging and discharging capabilities can be more
than four times that of one-directional flow EVs at specific locations.
This article finds that relaxing limits
on discharging the battery of EVs
would increase the electric grid value
of V2G by 32%, but the energy discharged would also increase by 47%.
The findings encourage more
research and analysis to determine
whether the additional battery wear
and tear offsets the benefits of V2G
for vehicle owners.
Support for electrification in transportation should also be evaluated
through the lens of the electric utility. This is the perspective of "Will
Electric Vehicles Drive Distribution
Grid Upgrades?" by Jonathan Coignard
and Evangelos Vrettos of Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, Pamela MacDougall of the Natural Re_
sources Defense Council, and Franz
Stadtmueller of Pacific Gas and

Electric Company. The article offers a
thorough analysis of the impact of EV
charging on 39 real-world distribution feeders in Northern California.
The results are then extrapolated for
a larger set of more than 1,000 residential feeders within the service
area of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and used to determine whether
the increase in EV load will require
system upgrades, e.g., direct control
measures or indirect control mechanisms, such as economic incentives. The analyses are based on
actual distribution feeder models
used in regular utility operations.
This issue is rounded out with
the "Viewpoint" column, "Southern
California Edison's Blueprint for Integrated Electrification" by Manuel
Avendaño and Devin Rauss of
Southern California Edison. The column outlines the utility's integrated
approach to decarbonize the electric
power sector and transition fossilfuel-dependent sectors to clean
electric power in California. This
systematic approach, known as the
Clean Power and Electrification
Pathway, calls for the following by
2030: 80% carbon-free electricity,
more than 7 million EVs (including
light, medium, and heavy duty) in
use, and the electrification of space
and water heating for almost a third
of buildings. This blueprint, if followed, will help reduce the threat of
climate change and improve public
health related to air quality.
This issue on electrifying to decarbonize would not have been possible
without the hard work from the
dedicated authors who developed
insightful and well-written articles.
Special thanks to Editor-in-Chief
Iqbal Husain for his kind guidance
and unwavering support. We trust
this special issue of IEEE Electrification Magazine will excite readers
about the endless opportunities
for integrated electrification and
motivate them to join the cleanenergy revolution.
IEEE Electrification - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification - June 2019
