California utility eyeing power grid plan to boost electric cars (with wind power)

[jpak]

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=134850&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28

SAN FRANCISCO: California’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co, is considering a plan to charge fleets of battery-powered cars overnight with wind energy and let consumers sell back some of the stored electricity during the day.

In addition to reducing oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from standard cars, the plan could help stoke production of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and give power managers more energy capacity on the grid for hot summer afternoons, speakers said at a “clean technology” investment conference in San Francisco this week.

The utility, a subsidiary of PG&E Corp, “could recharge car batteries through electric outlets during the off-peak overnight hours and recharge the grid from the batteries during critical peak demand periods,” Hal LaFlash, director of energy policy and planning at PG&E, said. In California, wind power is the biggest renewable source, with more than 2,500MW. Some 4,600MW of wind are projected to be added to meet the state’s goal for renewable supplies, LaFlash said.

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy also is studying smart-grid technologies and recharging hybrid electric vehicles and feeding excess power back to the grid. A six-month study in Colorado found that electric cars may reduce the overall cost of owning a car, and with new grid technology, cut harmful vehicle emissions by up to 50%.

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[robinlynne]

1. I can't wait for us to have electric cars!

[wtmusic]

2. How the hell is Exxon supposed to keep their profits on the rise

with this kind of crap? Do you realize some billionaires are going to have to sell their boats??

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Yachts, dahling. They're called yachts.

[phantom power]

4. So all we need...

is a million people to buy electric cars....

charge them up at night...

and not drive them.