FEATURE STORY

from GCA Construction News Bulletin October 2022

NAWIC NEWS

ACCELERATING

FROM GAS TO ELECTRIC

By: P.L. Diego

On August 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, H.R. 5376, into law. In essence, the legislation is a scaled-down version of the Build Back Better Act proposed by the Biden administration in 2021. One major point in the legislation establishes policies designed to promote and support domestic energy and transmission projects, with a goal of lowering costs for consumers and helping the U.S. meet long-term emissions goals.

The largest investment made by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is for energy security and climate change over the next ten years. It totals $369 billion and consists of the following business incentives and tax credits:

• Incentives to businesses to deploy lower-carbon and carbon-free energy sources. • Tax credits for energy production and investments in wind, solar, and geothermal energies. • Tax credits for investment in battery storage and biogas. • Tax credits for investments in nuclear energy, hydrogen energy coming from clean sources, biofuels, and technology that captures carbon from fossil fuel power plants. • Bonuses for companies based on worker pay and the manufacture of steel, iron, and other components in the U.S.

This new law is considered to be the most significant legislation to accelerate transportation electrification in U.S. history. Section 13401 includes requirements that Electric Vehicles (EV) be made with a certain percentage of minerals mined or processed within the U.S. or in nations with U.S. free trade agreements or recycled in North America. Section 13402 includes a $7,500 credit for new electric vehicles purchased and a $4,000 tax credit for used ones. Altogether, it is also considered to be a major win for consumers and businesses, but does pose challenges that need to and should be researched in detail.

Transitioning from owning and driving a gas-powered car to an electric vehicle is a big step. Before you charge ahead and purchase a new EV, do your research, and ask a lot of questions. Your responsible due diligence as an energy consumer and stakeholder on Guam, should aim to help you understand what you need to know to make an informed decision.

As Guam’s stand-alone public power utility Guam Power Authority (GPA) has been planning to accommodate the influx of and the demand for electric power and considerations as to what its utility infrastructure is necessary to meet the demand for individual and commercial EV charging needs across Guam. According to GPA, its early-stage EV Roadmap planning is completed. The utility is currently working alongside EV trade allies and partners to ensure Guam’s power infrastructure can and will meet future EV demand. Work underway includes developing charging rates, incentives, customer rebates, GPA is committed to helping customers gain more knowledge in order to manage their home EV charging needs. Trading-off being the owner of a combustible gas vehicle to becoming an electric vehicle owner comes with costs, which consumers need to explore in detail.

(See 10 Questions to Ask Before You Buy an Electric Vehicle at https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/advice/questions-befor e-buying-an-electric-car)

Home owners who choose to become electric vehicle owners will need to build and bear the cost(s) to add infrastructure upgrades at home to support their electric vehicle charging activity. Some home electrical infrastructure improvement(s) will be absolutely necessary. Typically, a homeowner will hire and pay for a certified electrical engineer to design or draw up a plan that is specific to the home to accommodate EV charging.

Generally, EVs are charged on a single, dedicated circuit. There are two kinds of EV chargers geared toward use in the home-charging market. A Level 1 charger uses your typical 110-volt wall outlet circuit and requires 13-14 hours of charging. There is also a faster Level 2 charger that requires a 240-volt wall outlet and takes between 6-8 hours to fully charge. Ideally, customers will be empowered to choose, manage, and control their charging activities and achieve optimal results to fully enjoy the use of their electric vehicle.

GPA also must build new infrastructure to support individual and commercial electric vehicle charging brought onto its grid. GPA is in the process and will soon issue an RFP, to solicit for a partner, to test the Guam electric vehicle market needs. This provider will come to Guam, invest time, and build some of the initial infrastructure, wherein GPA will be able to test and determine how to make it work in the best way for all stakeholders.

According to John J. Cruz, P.E. and GPA Assistant General Manager of Engineering & Technical Services, GPA reached out to and is collaborating with Guam’s automobile industry and EV dealerships on and off-island, including charging servicers, to work together as a consortium with a common goal of success for all.

“Triple J Motors for example, has committed to installing 100 public chargers at business location parking lots or at shopping areas and GPA is committed to helping them to make sure that the infrastructure is there to support that. Triple J will put in the chargers and GPA will ensure that the utility puts in the (power) distribution infrastructure to make it all happen in the best possible way,” said Cruz.

Other private industries are seeing the addition of new EV infrastructure as a draw for customers and could consider installing EV charging stations in their parking lots as

public EV chargers in their parking lots could be a “perk” to draw customers to the shopping mall to complete their EV car charging while they shop. This will provide a level of convenience, as customers go about their daily-life business,” Cruz further added.

During the day, the islandwide power system is going to have a lot of renewable energy electricity being generated from solar photovoltaic plants, so GPA wants to push the charging of EVs to a time that is off-peak in the system. GPA is also looking at incentives that can be offered, to ensure customers can charge off-peak and benefit from it. Either in a preferential rate for certain times of day, under a time-of-use rate program wherein the utility sets a rate that is higher during peak power demand times and one that is less expensive during non-peak times so customers can save money. Additionally, there are applications available and GPA can build in controls into a customer’s meter, to optimize electrical vehicle charging so the customer will get the full charge needed, at the lowest pricing. GPA will likely use both approaches, so GPA builds more economy of efficiency in the way that it dispatches energy, ultimately benefitting the power system and all customers. “EV penetration will increase on Guam with or without GPA’s intervention. However, GPA and its customers have a vested interest to ensure that EV charging does not add to GPA’s peak resulting in GPA having to quickly build additional costly generation onto the power grid. GPA’s interest is in the managed growth of EVs and GPA’s control over EV charging. Therefore, Guam’s power utility will manage the opportunities for cost savings on both the utility side and the customer side. GPA aims for a triple win including the win for customers, a win for our EV partners, and a win for the affordability, stability, and reliability of the GPA grid,” concluded Cruz.