AGL toys with idea of electric vehicles for customers

One of the more intriguing developments in the Australian energy industry is the Jekyll and Hyde transformation of AGL Energy.

The company that just months ago argued for the small scale renewable energy target to be killed off is now – under new management – pinning its brand on a big push into household solar.

The company that just last year completed its $4 billion spending binge on massive coal fire plants is now – under new management – leading the utility push into energy storage, a technology that will help turn the economics of coal fired generation on its head.

Whatever is next? Well, in keeping with the mandate by new managing director Andrew Vesey for its new energy division to challenge its traditional businesses, the most likely move will be into electric vehicles.

The energy world got a brief glimpse into the thinking of AGL when its “connected mobility specialist” Kristian Handberg gave a presentation at the Australian Energy Storage Conference.

Handberg did not actually give away much about AGL Energy’s plans, and whether you will get an EV in the driveway when you sign up for one of their home energy management contracts.

But the fact that AGL Energy has a connected mobility specialist, and lets him out in public, should be a fair indication that they are taking the issue of EVs seriously.

Handberg was one of the key architects of the electric vehicle trial in Victoria, and a specialist in the design of micro grids.

He told the conference that AGL New Energy is changing the way the utility does business, moving towards the “customer-centric model” for fear that if they don’t, then they won’t be able to hang on to customers.

“If we can integrate these and make them work, that gives us the business model for the future.”

Those components include the solar power purchase agreements it rolled out earlier this year, and the storage component that it will fast-track in the wake of the Tesla announcement. It will offer a 6kWh battery to its household customers.

Electric vehicles are appealing to utilities for two reasons. One, their adoption in the mass market may help reverse the fall in demand that has helped undercut their earnings.

The second reason is that it is very likely their consumers will want one. And a home with solar, stationary storage and an electric vehicle is going to be an interesting prospect for the tech-savvy energy management specialists. If the utilities don’t act soon, they risk losing that market.

Either way, it is a trend that utilities cannot ignore. And it is one of the reasons why AGL is investing heavily in its New Energy division, and hired some of brightest minds that would not normally be associated with the traditional utility model.

In a recent report on AGL Energy, investment bank Morgan Stanley wrote that “we do think that EVs will happen.” But it noted there are less than 1,000 EVs on the road in Australia, and even with 10,000 EVs by 2018, that would require just 5MW of baseload capacity and 12MW of renewable capacity to meet that demand.

A total of 450,000 EVs by 2025 would justify an extra 214MW of base load capacity and 410MW of renewable capacity. Morgan Stanley noted that if EVs were mandated to source power from renewable energy (doesn’t make a lot of sense to plug them into brown coal generators), then that could be an opportunity for “2 to 3 new large wind and/or solar farms of 150-200MW each”.

Handberg’s presentation gave no specifics on AGL’s plans, but it did contain some interesting graphs of some of the trends and the opportunities.

agl energy

The first is that the market for electric vehicles is pretty much on the doorstep, or in the garage. And using EVs to  boost home energy resources, and buildings, is not far away.

But it will be a while, Handberg reckoned, before EVs are used in what was once considered the “nirvana” of EV use, as vehicle to grid, selling electricity back into the networks at times of peak demand and high prices.

evs agl

Electric vehicles are expensive, he noted, but that’s because they have a big battery. While AGL and other companies are going to offer storage at around 6kWh, the battery arrays of various EVs and hybrids are way bigger, from 12kWh in the , to 85kWh for the top-range Tesla Model S. And electric bikes, trucks and buses offer even more options. That, Handberg noted, is potentially a lot of storage driving around the streets.

 

Comments

9 responses to “AGL toys with idea of electric vehicles for customers”

  1. Chris Fraser Avatar
    Chris Fraser

    Great ! Provided the EVs are not powered by either Loy Yang A, Lidell, or Bayswater …

  2. john Avatar
    john

    There is a light that is going to shine on the fact that EV is actually very efficient at converting stored energy into power to transport a mass a distance.
    Not only the tech savvy will realise this but the every day person when they realise that yes for commute this electric vehicle is so much cheaper than using FF there is going to be a huge demand, then we have a problem how to charge these transport vehicles up and yes it is going to be during the night.
    Unless a consumer has stored power which will not happen in the short term it will be off peak FF that will power these vehicles.
    So in the short term I do see FF being used to charge EV for every day commute.
    Even now the figures are compelling buy a low distance EV which only has to travel at most 80 Km per day.

    1. Calamity_Jean Avatar
      Calamity_Jean

      Build more wind farms, charge EVs with overnight wind.

    2. Derrp Avatar
      Derrp

      what is to stop the EV being charged during the day? Aren’t most commuter cars in underground/secure carparks?

      1. john Avatar
        john

        very true and in fact smart companies will begin to provide this facility to attract good employees.
        I would think the first place this will happen is high tech companies followed by supermarkets who realise they have a huge covered car park that is able to provide this service and will attract customers.
        This is not apparent now but will be shortly.

    3. Vic Avatar
      Vic

      “…we have a problem how to charge these transport vehicles up and yes it is going to be during the night.”

      Agreed. Wouldn’t it be good to have a few of those new Tesla powerwall batteries that you could just unclick from the wall and plug into slots on the side of the EV. The car could still have its main battery, or maybe even not. You’d have the choice of using the battery either to help power the house, or power the car for perhaps 30 or 40 kms? Not bad.

      It’d also be good if we could exchange discharged batteries for fully charged ones at supermarkets or somewhere. Imagine the bizarre twist of fate of pulling into a petrol station to pick up fresh batteries for your EV.

      Maybe we should just rent the things and allow advertisers to help pay. I’m sure our carport walls would have to be prime advertising real estate.

      Similar business models might also apply to Toyota’s much maligned fuel cell vehicle, by using a home-scaled hydrogen production system with storage in Scuba sized gas bottles. Bottles that would be way, way cheaper than Li Ion batteries. Hmmm.

  3. Goldie444 Avatar
    Goldie444

    If AGL would like to grow their business with EVs, they should start with building an electric highway network of charging points.
    I have only ever charged my hybrid plug-in at home in country Victoria since buying it in June 2014.
    My daily electricity use went from 6 to 8 kwhs up to 18 kwhs.
    And while most of my charging in overnight, I am using far less FF with a comparison of brown coal generation versus petrol. And our electricity grid is getting greener all the time.

  4. Miles Harding Avatar
    Miles Harding

    AGL may be thinking the opposite to most of us:

    While we think of batteries for smoothing out the lumpy supply to meet the consistent demand, they are likely thinking the opposite; That of smoothing out the lumpy demand to meet the smooth coal fired supply.

    Of course, a battery is a battery and doesn’t care what energy it buffers, although the AGL strings attached may strangle some of the batteries.

  5. adam Avatar
    adam

    hmm that’s intersting – metro delivery trucks. If they could conveniently recharge/batery swap during the day and do it at lower net cost than petrol, that’d be an interesting proposal. Charge the banks at night time at off peak rates and away you go next day.

    Couple it with clean air initiative, algin with city council schemes (they seem to be doing a lot these days).

    If networks would pay for short term support from the unused banks then additional revenue stream.

    Maybe something in it…

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