Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • April 20, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS ENERGY Q&A State lawmakers pushing electric vehicle use Q&A talks with State Rep. James Albis (D-East Haven), who is co-sponsoring legisla- tion that would lay the ground- work for electric vehicle expan- sion in Connecticut. Q: What does House Bill 7009 do for electric vehicles? A: House Bill 7009 provides regulations and requirements for towns, businesses, electric contractors and distribution com- panies that will help prepare Connecticut for more electric vehi- cles to be on the road. The bill will also require a change in state building codes to ensure that all newly- built homes and com- mercial buildings have electric circuits capa- ble of supporting elec- tric vehicle charging equipment. To encourage more people to purchase electric vehicles, the state must ensure that it has the proper infrastructure in place to allow for more of these cars to be on the road. The legisla- tion also pro- vides incen- tives for people to buy elec- tric vehicles. Besides reduc- ing their car- bon footprint, electric vehicle owners can use high-occu- pancy vehicle lanes with no o c c u p a n c y requirement. The hope here is that by mak- ing sure Connecticut is ready for electric vehicles, and by offering perks for driving these cars, more people will be encouraged to go green and use electric vehicles. Q: Why do electric vehicles need this type of support from the state? A: Consumers want to know that driving an electric vehicle will be just as simple as driving any car they have ever owned. They want to know that there will be charging stations read - ily available so they do not find themselves stranded somewhere and that rates and cost of service will be effectively regulated by an agency the same way that gasoline and gas stations are regulated. Q: What is the future for elec- tric vehicles in Connecticut? A: Electric vehicles will hope- fully become as ubiquitous as the traditional gas-powered car most of us drive today. As we continue to build more charg- ing stations and build up the infrastructure to support more of these cars being on the road, more people will purchase them, and help drive down costs. Q: Do you drive an electric vehicle? A: I do not drive an electric vehicle but I hope to own one soon. I am currently pursu- ing a master's degree, so buying a new car does not make a lot of financial sense for me right now and I know this is the case for a lot of other people of my generation. I am opti- mistic that in the near future when more peo- ple start buying elec- tric cars and prices decline I will purchase one, as I expect many others will. Q: What should businesses do to encourage more electric vehicle use? A: I think that in the future, we will begin to see a lot more in the way of private-public pa r t ner sh ip s in support of greener tech - nologies. The state should be making it easier for businesses to do the right thing by way of the environ- ment or their local communi- ty. I'd like to see us help businesses set up more charging stations in their parking lots. Q: Could similar benefits eventually be extended to other alternative vehicles, such as fuel cell cars? A: The type of incentives and infrastructure improvements this legislation implements could also be extended to apply to fuel cell cars. Just like electric vehicles, fuel cell cars need the proper fuel- ing stations to make these cars a viable option for consumers. Connecticut has already start- ed to move in the direction of fuel cell cars. We have fuel cell energy production facilities in Danbury and Torrington. Some of Hart- ford's transit buses are hydrogen- powered as well. This bill does make mention of hydrogen fuel in regards to fuel station regulations, acknowledging that hydrogen fuel is beginning to break into the mar- ket as well. n JAMES ALBIS State Rep. (D-East Haven) ▶ ▶ Electric vehicles will hopefully become as ubiquitous as the traditional gas- powered car most of us drive today. Winter power costs dropped 45% By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com N ew England's 2014-15 winter was snowy, but its wholesale electricity prices from December through February were significantly lower than the previous winter, according to new data from region- al power grid administrator ISO New England. The total cost of wholesale electricity was about $2.8 billion, 45 percent less than the nearly $5.1 billion tab accrued during the same three months in 2013-14, ISO said. "A lot of factors came together to help moderate the prices over this past winter," said ISO spokeswoman Marcia Blomberg. "The largest would be the prices of fuel, which is the largest component of energy costs. The ones that had an effect this winter were the low prices of oil and natural gas." Natural gas is a major energy source for power plants that produce electricity in Connecticut, so when gas and oil prices fall, they can generate cheaper power. That's what helped keep wholesale prices in check this winter. Total energy use peaked in February when tempera- tures hit record lows; December was mild and January was average, ISO said. New England used 33,654 gigawatt-hours of electric- ity from December to February, just less than 33,991 gigawatt-hours in the same period a year earlier, ISO reported. The highest power demand was Jan. 8 at 20,556 megawatts versus the previous winter's peak on Dec. 17 of 21,453 megawatts. While weather played a part in this winter's dropping wholesale prices, oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices played a huge role, said Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association. Global LNG prices fell dramatically as Japan restarted nuclear plants and Australia began exporting LNG. "All of a sudden, New England and the Northeast U.S. became much more attractive [than the Pacific basin] to LNG cargos coming in … in response to our prior winter and the higher gas prices here," Dolan said. LNG imports to New England totaled about 31 billion cubic feet, nearly double last year's total. That supply surge increased competition in the wholesale fuels mar- ket, moderating the cost of pipeline gas and LNG, said ISO chief economist Matthew White. Additionally, low oil prices made oil-fired generation plants more economical to run, Dolan said. To control pricing and help ensure adequate power this winter, ISO's Winter Reliability Program incentiv- ized power generators to have adequate oil on site, or access to LNG before winter started. Power genera- tors were paid to offset some of their carrying costs for unused oil or LNG. The program cost less than $50 mil- lion this winter, down from $66 million a year earlier, ISO said. Also affecting prices this winter, Dolan said, was a change in the New England market structure that allowed generators to more immediately reflect the price of the fuel they were using within the wholesale electricity bids they put into ISO's clearing market. Easing gas congestion While this winter's power generation system ran smoothly, pipeline gas supply to power plants remains con- strained. Regional pipelines supplying gas to New England plants are maxed out and much of the gas is used to heat homes and businesses. That became an issue in winter 2013-14 when cold temperatures, combined with overreli- ance on natural gas, pinched supplies. When that happened, ISO called on plants burning oil Regional grid administrator ISO New England monitors the real-time wholesale electricity prices, based on the region's demand and the power supply. Middletown's GenConn power plant is powered by natural gas. Continued on page 11 P H O T O | H B J F I L E P H O T O | H B J F I L E

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