The chair of an ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry into electric vehicle adaptation is optimistic the city can adapt its electricity network and infrastructure to accommodate more EVs, after hearing this morning from the network’s owner and operator, Evoenergy.
Jo Clay MLA, speaking as the ACT Greens spokesperson for transport, said: “The ACT’s electricity grid certainly looks like we will be able to meet increased demand.”
The ACT Government announced last year that no new petrol or diesel vehicles would be sold here from 2035, and that by 2030, 80 to 90 per cent of new vehicles sold will be zero emissions vehicles. Already, Ms Clay noted, uptake is increasing rapidly: one in five new vehicle registrations in the ACT is electric.
“I’m delighted to be part of a government with a pathway to electrification and a goal for no new petrol or diesel cars by 2035,” Ms Clay said. “The ACT is leading the country on this, but Australia is a long way behind the rest of the world. It may be hard to find a factory making petrol or diesel cars in 2035. I’m glad we’re doing a phase-out as these changes are easiest and cheapest to make over time.”
But Evoenergy warned in its submission last year: “The phase-out of light internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 will drive customer interest and uptake, and we must ensure our electricity network is planned and managed accordingly.” EV charging, coupled with the transition from gas to electricity, would “have a material impact” on the ACT electricity network.
Evoenergy general manager Peter Billing told the Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services today that the network could double in the next 20 years. The size of the network depended on peak demand, he explained, and it would come down to how and when Canberrans charged their EVs – “a substantial load” compared to dishwashers or refrigerators. (Most EVs need 35 to 60 kilowatt hours to charge, while a fridge uses one to two kilowatt hours per day.)
“Evoenergy is actively planning for increasing network peak demand that may result from co-incident EV charging which could put pressure on the grid,” last year’s report stated.
By ‘pressure’, Mr Billing explained, Evoenergy referred to its own infrastructure: poles, underground wires and cables, transformers, and the 14 zone substations that supply electricity.
To augment the network for the increased load, Evoenergy asked the Australian Energy Regulator for an additional $90 million. Most of that money would be associated with zone substations. Evoenergy will build a new substation in Molonglo, while two others might need to be built in the north and south.
“Evoenergy expects network augmentation will be required if mass EV charging occurs at time of the day when the ACT network typically experiences peaks in demand (i.e., evening periods in residential areas),” their submission stated.
In total, Evoenergy requested $521 million in capital funding in their regulatory submission for 2024 to 2029. (Total capital funding for 2019–24 was $360 million.)
“The piece that we’re trying to balance is to understand what that growth is going to be in a period so that we have the funding to be able to build the network to stay in front of the demand,” Mr Billing told the inquiry.
He believes the regulatory submission balances the impact on those least able to afford increases in electricity bills, and invests money to meet demand that is likely to come.
“Nobody wants to see their bills go up, but the reality is there is investment during that time,” Mr Billing said.
In fact, while the network augmentation will result in higher network costs, Mr Billing expects that bills will not rise greatly by 2045: only by $7 (not including CPI) for residential electricity. (Evoenergy accounts for one-third of electricity bills.) The energy provider announced last year that it would implement tariff reforms “to provide fair and equitable network pricing to ACT residents”.
Nor would residents have to pay gas or fuel bills – fossil fuels are to be phased out by 2045.
Conversely, Mr Billing predicted a much higher uptake in batteries and solar.
Ms Clay agrees. “Rooftop solar is very popular in Canberra. The rollout of the Big Battery and trials like Vehicle to Grid are helping manage when we use electricity and how we store it. Community grids and using an EV as the battery for your house are in the early days of adoption here, but they look like they will become more significant…
“Many EVs are charged slowly and at off-peak times. There’s also increasing maturity in our battery network, more and more panels and smart devices to help manage demand.”
Based on consumer behaviour and the impact of additional load on the network, Mr Billing said: “We’ll continue to adjust what we need to do relative to what we see come over the next few years.”