Permanent Load Shifting Load Impact

This evaluation documents the ex ante load impact analysis and results for the California Statewide Permanent Load Shifting (PLS) program at Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). The statewide PLS program design and rules were finalized and adopted by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) in May 2013. Because of the long lead time involved in moving from completing an application to actual PLS installations, there are no current program installations on which to base ex post impact estimates for the 2014 program year (PY2014). As such, this evaluation focuses on the 2015–2025 ex ante load impact estimates. Under the Statewide PLS program, utility customers are incentivized to install Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems, which either eliminate or reduce peak period electric load for cooling by shifting energy use to off-peak periods. Shifting daily cooling loads to off-peak periods benefits the grid and distribution systems for regions with peaking characteristics that mirror those of the grid, and can reduce customer bills relative to applicable time-varying rates. For installed TES technology, the total incentive is calculated as a multiple of the peak period load (kW) that is shifted to off-peak periods and equals $875/kW, with a cap of $1.5 million per project.