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Early evening electricity demand is only expected to grow as the world moves away from fossil fuels, with more people buying induction stoves, heat pumps and electric vehicles. That’s a challenge for utilities, which are already managing creaky grids across the United States, all while trying to meet a growing demand for power.
So they’re now trying to turn EVs from a burden into a boon.One idea showing promise is using algorithms stagger when EVs charge, instead of them all drawing energy as soon as their owners plug in. The idea is for some people to charge later, but still have a full battery when they leave for work in the morning.If you’re a typical American, you get home from work and start flipping switches and turning knobs — doing laundry, cooking dinner, watching TV. With so many other folks doing the same, the strain on the electrical grid in residential areas is highest at this time. That demand will only grow as the world moves away from fossil fuels, with more people buying induction stoves, heat pumps and electric vehicles.This article was originally published by Grist, an LAist partner newsroom. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org. Sign up for That’s a challenge for utilities, which are already managing creaky grids across the United States, all while trying to meet a growing demand for power. So they’re now trying to turn EVs from a burden into a boon. More and more models, for instance, feature “vehicle-to-grid,” or V2G, capabilities, meaning they can send power to the grid as needed. Others are experimenting with what’s called active managed charging, in which algorithms stagger when EVs charge, instead of them all drawing energy as soon as their owners plug in. The idea is for some people to charge later, but still have a full battery when they leave for work in the morning. A new report from the Brattle Group, an economic and energy consultancy, done for EnergyHub, which develops such technology, has used real-world data from EV owners in Washington state to demonstrate the potential of this approach, both for utilities and drivers. They found that an active managed charging program saves up to $400 per EV each year, and the vehicles were still always fully charged in the morning. Utilities, too, seem to benefit, as the redistributed demand results in less of a spike in the early evening. That, in turn, would mean that a utility can delay costly upgrades — which they need in order to accommodate increased electrification — saving ratepayers money.Active managed charging works in conjunction with something called “time of use,” in which a utility charges different rates depending on the time of day. Between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., when demand is high, rates are also high. But after 9 p.m., they fall. EV owners who wait until later in the evening to charge pay less for the same electricity. Time-of-use pricing discourages energy use when demand is highest, lightening the load and reducing how much electricity utilities need to generate. But there’s nothing stopping everyone from plugging in as soon as cheaper rates kick in at 9 p.m. As EV adoption grows, that coordination problem can create a new spike in demand. “An EV can be, on its own, twice the peak load of a typical home,” said Akhilesh Ramakrishnan, managing energy associate at the Brattle Group. “You get to the point where they start needing to be managed differently.” That’s where active managed charging comes in. Using an app, an EV owner indicates when they need their car to be charged, and how much charge their battery needs for the day. When the owner gets home at 6 p.m., the owner can plug in, but the car won’t begin to charge. Instead, the system waits until some point in the night to turn on the juice, leaving enough time to fully charge the vehicle by the indicated hour. “If customers don’t believe that we’re going to get them there, then they’re not going to allow us to control their vehicle effectively,” said Freddie Hall, a data scientist at EnergyHub. The typical driver goes only 30 miles in a day, Hall added, requiring about two hours of charging each night. By actively managing many cars across neighborhoods, the system can more evenly distribute demand throughout the night: Folks will leave for work earlier or later than their neighbors, vehicles with bigger batteries will need more time to charge, and some will be almost empty while others may need to top up. They’re all still getting the lower prices with time of use rates, but they’re not taxing the grid by all charging at 9 p.m. “The results are actually very, very promising in terms of reducing the peak loads,” said Jan Kleissl, the director of the Center for Energy Research at UC San Diego who wasn’t involved in the report. “It shows big potential for reducing costs of EV charging in general.” Active managed charging would allow the grid to accommodate twice the number of EVs before a utility has to start upgrading the system to handle the added load, according to the report. Those costs inevitably get passed down to all ratepayers. But, the report notes, active managed charging could delay those upgrades by up to a decade. “As EVs grow, if you don’t implement these solutions, there’s going to be a lot more upgrades, and that’s going to lead to rate impacts for everyone,” Ramakrishnan said.At the same time, EVs could help reduce those rates in the long term, thanks to V2G, a separate emerging technology. It allows a utility to call on EVs sitting in garages as a vast network of backup power. So when demand surges, those vehicles can send power to the grid for others to use, or just power the house they’re sitting in, essentially removing the structure from the grid and lowering demand. With all that backup energy, utilities might not need to build as many costly battery facilities of their own, projects that ratepayers wouldn’t need to foot the bill for. Active managed charging and V2G could work in concert, with some batteries draining at 6 p.m. as they provide energy, then recharging later at night. But that ballet will require more large-scale experimentation. “How are we going to fit in discharging a battery, as well as charging it overnight?” Hall said. “Because you do want it available the next day.” To cut greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible, the world needs more EVs. Now it’s just a matter of making them benefit the grid instead of taxing it.A mostly cloudy day with highs in the mid 60s around the coast up to the low 70s for the valleys.A low pressure system is bringing a chance of light to moderate rain to SoCal for the next few days.The mostly cloudy skies today are courtesy of a low-pressure system that brings a 30 to 50% chance of showers to the region. It will be dry today, but we can't rule out a slight chance of showers tonight. Today's temperatures will be cooler, with highs mostly in the mid- to upper 60s for the beaches and coastal communities. The valleys will see temperatures between 68 to 73 degrees and up to 74 degrees over in the Inland Empire. High temperatures in the Coachella Valley will reach 70 to 75 degrees. Meanwhile, in the Antelope Valley, temperatures there will remain between 58 to 66 degrees.Next month Los Angeles Unified School District leaders will vote on layoffs at central offices and school sites as part of a plan to save $1.4 billion over the next two years.LAUSD is spending more money than it brings in. There are more than 40% fewer students compared to the early 2000s and the district has not closed schools or significantly reduced staff as. LAUSD hired more staff to support students during the pandemic, but the federal relief dollars that initially funded those positionsThe district’s fiscal stabilization plan outlines three categories where layoffs are likely: central office , unfunded positions and the Student Equity Needs Index, or “SENI” which. District staff said the exact number and types of positions will be provided to the board in the coming weeks.The Board is scheduled to vote on the layoffs at its Feb. 10 meeting and impacted staff will be notified by March 15 as required by California law. “It is not a foregone conclusion that people will lose jobs,” said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. For example, he said staff may be reassigned to vacant positions or given the opportunity to transfer to another school.Next month, Los Angeles Unified School District leaders will vote on layoffs at central offices and school sites as part of a plan to save $1.4 billion over the next two years.outlines three categories where layoffs are likely: central office , unfunded positions and the Student Equity Needs Index, or “SENI,” , which. District staff said the exact number and types of positions will be provided to the board in the coming weeks. “It is not a forgone conclusion that people will lose jobs,” said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. For example, he said staff may be reassigned to vacant positions or given the opportunity to transfer to another school.. LAUSD hired more staff to support students during the pandemic, but the federal relief dollars that initially funded those positions“Every available reserve of the district is being used to either offset reductions that otherwise would've happened or to pay for cost increases that we're expecting over the coming years,” said chief financial officer Saman Bravo-Karimi.If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.A court hearing for Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price got underway Tuesday, with a focus on allegations Price was married to another woman when he collected city health insurance benefits for his wife — which prosecutors say amounted to embezzlement of city funds.In addition to facing five counts of grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, Price faces four counts of conflict of interest related to votes he took on projects connected to his wife’s business and three counts of perjury by declaration related to allegations he failed to disclose financial interests related to his wife’s business.Price has pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court. At the end of the preliminary hearing, which is expected to run several days, a judge will be asked to determine whether there’s enough evidence for the case to go to trial. If convicted on all charges, he faces up to 11 years behind bars.A court hearing for Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price got underway Tuesday, with a focus on allegations Price was married to another woman when he collected city health insurance benefits for his wife — which prosecutors say amounted to embezzlement of city funds. In addition to facing five counts of grand theft by embezzlement of public funds, Price faces four counts of conflict of interest related to votes he took on projects connected to his wife’s business and three counts of perjury by declaration related to allegations he failed to disclose financial interests related to his wife’s business. Price has pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court. At the end of the preliminary hearing, which is expected to run several days, a judge will be asked to determine whether there’s enough evidence for the case to go to trial.On Tuesday, prosecutors called an analyst with the city’s Personnel Department to testify and presented him with documents that showed Price placed his current wife Del Richardson on his city-issued healthcare plan from 2013 to 2017, before they were legally married. Deputy District Attorney Casey Higgins then showed the analyst a 1981 marriage certificate showing Price’s marriage to Suzette Price. The analyst said his office never saw the certificate. “We most likely would have asked questions,” said Paul Makowski, chief benefits analyst with the city’s Personnel Department. Prosecutors say Price bilked the city out of tens of thousands of dollars in health benefits for Richardson. Price has said he thought he was divorced from his wife when he signed Richardson up for the benefit. He and Suzette Price had been separated since 2002. His attorney Michael Schafler noted Price never sought benefits for both women at the same time. Prosecutors say the conflict of interest and perjury charges relate to Price failing to recuse himself from votes on projects that benefited his wife’s business, which provides relocation services and community engagement on big projects. For example, the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles paid Richardson & Associates more than $600,000 over two years from 2019 to 2020. During that same time, Price voted to support a $35 million federal grant and a state grant application for $252 million for the agency, according to prosecutors. In addition, LA Metro paid Richardson & Associates about $219,000 over two years from 2020 to 2021. Prosecutors say during that time, Price introduced and voted for a motion to award $30 million to Metro. Price’s staff allegedly alerted Price about both transactions as potential conflicts of interest, according to prosecutors.Los Angeles officials gathered Tuesday for a media event to launch the county’s newest department. The new entity faces a daunting mandate: solve the region’s deeply entrenched homelessness crisis.The new L.A. County Homeless Services and Housing department takes the mantle from the embattled L.A. Homeless Services Authority, which until now has overseen the funding and administration of homeless services across a county where more than 72,000 people experience homelessness on any given night.County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said transferring responsibilities from LAHSA — a joint powers authority created in 1993 by the city and county of L.A. — to one centralized agency will reduce finger-pointing. “For a long time, it is LAHSA blames the county, the county blames the city, the city blames LAHSA — we all blame each other,” Barger said. “Accountability now ends with the . ... The buck is going to stop with us.”The new L.A. County Homeless Services and Housing department takes the mantle from the embattled regional L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, which until now has overseen the funding and administration of homeless services across a county where County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said transferring responsibilities from LAHSA — a joint powers authority created in 1993 by the city and county of L.A. — to one centralized agency will reduce finger-pointing. “For a long time, it is LAHSA blames the county, the county blames the city, the city blames LAHSA — we all blame each other,” Barger said. “Accountability now ends with the . ... The buck is going to stop with us.”at the agency. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said she hoped reducing LAHSA’s responsibilities would help the agency better execute its core duties, such as the annual homeless count. “Now that the focus and scope of what they're doing has been narrowed, hopefully that's where they've been focusing their time, effort and energy,” Horvath said. Sarah Mahin speaks about the launch of the new county homelessness department she will direct. Standing behind her are L.A. County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath.Despite the increased sales tax revenue, officials say overall funding is down because of federal and state funding losses, plus“Cuts are painful for everyone, but we are making thoughtful and responsible decisions,” said Sarah Mahin, the new county department’s director. “We are prioritizing the most vulnerable people and the programs that we know work. And we're actively working with our partners to secure other funding and solutions to fill gaps.” One program that will see cuts is Pathway Home, which clears encampments and offers residents spots in interim housing. Mahin said spending on the motels that serve as that interim housing will go down, dropping the number of annual encampment clearances involving motels from 30 to 10.
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