Inequitable access to distributed energy resources due to grid infrastructure limits in California

Abstract

Persistent social disparities in the adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) have prompted calls for enabling more equitable uptake. However, there are indications that limits inherent to grid infrastructure may hinder DER adoption. In this study we analysed grid limits to new DER integration across California's two largest utility territories. We found that grid limits reduce access to solar photovoltaics to less than half of households served by these two utilities, and may hinder California's electric vehicle adoption and residential load electrification goals. We connected these results to demographic characteristics and found that grid limits also exacerbate existing inequities: households in increasingly Black-identifying and disadvantaged census block groups have disproportionately less access to new solar photovoltaic capacity based on circuit hosting capacity. Our results illuminate the need for equity goals to be an input in the design of policies for prioritizing grid upgrades.

Can distribution grid infrastructure accommodate residential electrification and electric vehicle adoption in Northern California?

“…Because home heating and EV charging will create demands for electricity that vary spatially and temporally, estimating distribution grid impacts due to electrification requires spatially and temporally explicit models of electricity consumption. The characteristics of distribution grid infrastructure also vary spatially: research on distribution grid substations (Allen et al 2016, Burillo et al 2018, Sathaye et al 2011 and circuits (Brockway et al 2021) has identified correlations with geography and demographics, including the vulnerability of substations to climate change (Burillo et al 2018) and the ability of distribution circuits to accommodate distributed energy resources (Brockway et al 2021). Investigating the distribution grid impacts of electrification in a spatially and temporally coarse manner, then, is insufficient given the importance of the timing and location of new electric loads as well as the timing and location of the distribution grid's ability to serve them.…”

Improving Solar and Solar+Storage Screening Techniques to Reduce Utility Interconnection Time and Costs (Final Technical Report)

“…Data-driven secondary modeling and screening techniques can help utilities assess customer applications more quickly and with greater certainty. Additionally, screening guidelines based on common distribution network attributes can be used to identify inequities in the grid that prevent customers from benefiting from solar (Brockway, Conde and Callaway 2021).…”

Navigating tensions between rapid and just low-carbon transitions

“…Debates on low-carbon transitions increasingly pay attention to questions of justice and equity [1,2], highlighting important dimensions that technoeconomic analyses, which have long dominated these debates, ignore. Mapping different justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, epistemic), as others have done, is an important first step [3][4][5].…”