ISO New England’s control room in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Photo courtesy of ISO New England New England’s grid operators are expecting the demand for electricity to grow by more than 20% in the coming decade, and they attribute much of that growth to new electric vehicles hitting the road, according to a new report. In fact, electric vehicles are likely to contribute more to the growth in electrical demand than any other factor, according to a new forecast by ISO New England, the nonprofit organization that operates the interconnected electric grid in all six New England states.  Overall, grid operators expect New England’s electricity consumption to grow by about 23% in the next decade, or about 2.4% per year. They assume some of the growth will be offset by solar arrays on the consumer’s side of the grid, and by increased efficiency measures — for example, insulating a home.  More electric heat pumps and other changes in the heating sector are also likely to increase electrical demand, according to the report. The forecasted growth in electricity demand comes largely from policy changes. Local, state and federal leaders are urging and incentivizing people to electrify their cars, homes and businesses in an effort to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, which cause climate change.  “Every state has roadmaps and mandates,” said Victoria Rojo, a lead data scientist with ISO New England. “It really runs the gamut. And then there’s specific municipalities that have goals, you know, for X number of school buses or whatever. There’s a lot of different things out there.” One of the biggest policies driving the change is Advanced Clean Cars II, a rule first adopted by California, which requires all passenger cars and light-duty trucks delivered by manufacturers to sell in the state be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. Vermont and 16 other states have also adopted the regulation, according to California’s Air Resources Board.  While the policies are in place to reduce climate change-causing emissions, much of New England’s power is still generated by natural gas.  On Friday morning, real-time data on ISO New England’s website showed that the grid’s power sources included 47% natural gas and 31% nuclear power. Renewable energy (which ISO New England defines as solar, wind, refuse, wood and landfill gas) made up 17% of the mix, and hydro accounted for another 5%.  Most utilities in Vermont purchase a large percentage of their power from renewable sources, but not all of those sources plug directly into the New England grid.  In order to increase renewable energy within New England’s grid, utilities will need to find ways to store more power, Rojo said.  Renewable energy sources have “inherent variability in their energy production, so then having sufficient battery resources or energy storage resources to balance all of that is crucial,” she said. “Those pieces have to work together in order to overall reduce or to meet the decarbonization goals.” Kristin Carlson, a spokesperson for Green Mountain Power, Vermont’s largest electric utility, said the company is already working to build out its battery storage — and that wider adoption of electric vehicles could actually help the cause.  “Electric vehicles, they are the solution for the grid, because more electrification through electric vehicles lowers costs for everybody, and they are a highly manageable new load,” she said. She called electric vehicles “batteries on wheels,” and said the company has a program that provides reduced charging rates to the equivalent of $1.20 per gallon in exchange for allowing the utility to turn chargers off during peak energy usage periods. (Participants are notified in advance through text and can opt out, but Carlson said the utility tries to make sure the timing is convenient for most people, and the opt-out rate is low).  In the future, the utility is planning to launch a program to borrow energy from electric vehicles batteries during high usage times — something it’s already doing with school buses in South Burlington.  So far, Green Mountain Power has set up a “virtual power plant” with a combination of batteries that includes utility-scale systems, batteries in homes and electric vehicles, Carlson said. It adds up to 55 megawatts, roughly enough to power more than 15,000 homes.  Battery storage helps mitigate climate change by supporting renewable energy, she said. It also helps residents stay resilient during storms by creating back-up power systems.  “What’s important to have as we face climate change — as we address the changing climate and more severe weather that’s causing more outages and putting people at risk — is energy generated closer to where it’s used, paired with battery storage,” she said. “It’s the way to keep everyone connected.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Grid operators expect electric demand to increase by 23% in the next 10 years.