For more than 75 years, SMUD’s delivered on our core commitment: Providing our customers and community with safe, reliable electricity at rates that remain among the lowest in California. Recognized as an industry and green energy pioneer, SMUD is a not-for-profit, community-owned organization that’s recognized for innovative energy efficiency initiatives, adoption of renewable power technologies and dedication to crafting sustainable solutions for a healthier environment.
Today, as communities face the challenges of climate change and we work to modernize the grid to meet the evolving energy landscape, we again stand at the forefront, championing a bold 2030 Clean Energy Vision. This vision accelerates decarbonization at an unprecedented pace, faster than all large utilities across the United States. This vision is also anchored on the foundation of continuing to provide safe, reliable and affordable power with equitable solutions that benefit all our customers and community. Distributed energy resources (DERs) play a pivotal role in a clean energy future, creating opportunities for SMUD to innovate, while remaining flexible as we progress toward our goals and address the equitable distribution of the benefits and impacts of our grid’s evolution.
At SMUD, we’re using a community-centric approach to modernizing our grid to address these opportunities and challenges of a clean energy future. Our goal is to best serve the needs of our customers and communities, delivering cleaner air for our entire region and unlocking the economic opportunities promised by a clean energy future.
SMUD's future energy grid is envisioned holistically through a comprehensive strategy that prioritizes community resiliency. This approach ensures a reliable power supply and also fosters stronger, more adaptive communities.
Through innovative technologies and fundamental changes to our power grid, we’re paving the way toward a future where resiliency and climate action are tangible realities for everyone we serve.
Track Record of Continuous Innovation and Adaptation Drives Grid Enhancements
As our grid evolves to meet the demands of a rapidly changing energy landscape, our Distribution System Operations (DSO) team has remained at the forefront of innovation. SMUD is continuously enhancing business processes and tools to ensure safety and reliability. Throughout our history, we’ve evolved and enhanced our operations and the services we offer our customers to complement the needs of the time and our communities.
Beginning with traditional paper maps and manual reporting methods, DSO has undergone a transformative journey, transitioning to real-time monitoring through SCADA systems, enabling a dynamic view of substation and feeder loading. Through a Department of Energy grant project, SMUD was on the forefront of implementing smart meters in our service area, and our DSO quickly embraced smart meter data to gain insights into localized system conditions, marking a significant advancement in grid management.
Currently, SMUD's DSO is improving our Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) to interact with more customer devices and support distributed energy resource programs. We're designing and developing a robust framework for DERMS to enhance the visualization, monitoring and control of diverse DERs. This leads to numerous grid benefits and a smoother integration processes for customers who are adopting DERs.
With the rapid expansion of significant electrification loads in the building and transportation sectors, our focus now is on gaining deeper visibility and even more control over these resources to avoid major grid impacts and optimize grid benefits by including their participation in virtual power plants (VPPs). Evolving and expanding our existing demand response programs and adding emerging battery and vehicle-to-grid applications have the potential to be used alongside shiftable electrification loads to create a robust VPP capability for the DERMS to operate.
To address concerns surrounding visibility and control, SMUD is implementing a comprehensive solution. This includes leveraging the Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) and DERMS to provide tightly linked operational insights and coordination with our Power System Operations and Energy Trading teams. This approach simplifies the management of a two-way distribution grid, ensuring operational efficiency.
Additionally, DERMS functionality will enable utility-scale energy storage systems and VPPs to be schedulable and controllable based on local grid conditions or scheduled into bulk grid services, maximizing grid flexibility and value of the assets.
We're enthusiastic about the potential of leveraging DERs to enhance load controllability, providing a valuable tool for our operators in their daily grid management activities.
Through load shaving and shifting, DERs offer the flexibility to adjust loading, potentially preventing outages during emergencies. Our operators are moving forward to use load modification techniques to optimize switching operations and minimize restoration times.
In our DERMS development efforts, we're integrating functionalities that utilize DERs to address distribution grid conditions such as overloads and abnormal voltages. This approach may reduce the need for additional equipment installations or upgrades, further enhancing grid resilience and efficiency.
In a world where DERs are everywhere, ensuring our distribution grid stays on track relies on our ability to maintain clear visibility and control. Detailed data from advanced meters becomes crucial in this scenario. SMUD approaches high DER penetration with confidence, knowing that with the right tools, we can effectively monitor and manage.
Our next-generation Advanced Metering Infrastructure deployment will enable grid-edge intelligence that can provide real-time alerts and new insights that can be used to craft solutions to overloads through our entire system.
Ultimately, maximizing the value of DERs requires a strategic approach that prioritizes customer satisfaction, while ensuring financial viability. Our aim is to strike the right balance between providing an exceptional customer experience and optimizing grid performance in a new era of clean energy.
Reimaging Customer-Centric Programs and Putting People First
At SMUD, our approach to grid operations and resiliency is simple: We prioritize our customers by ensuring that every decision and action we make is centered around their needs and experiences.
From electrifying buildings and transportation to fostering inclusive workforce and economic development, our foremost consideration is ensuring every customer and community is empowered to join us on our journey to a clean energy future, leaving no one behind.
SMUD’s My Energy Optimizer VPP program empowers customers with smart thermostats, batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) to aggregate and share controlled distributed resources. Giving SMUD control of these devices at certain times, specifically during peak energy demand during hot summer days, allows us to manage load more effectively, keeping energy more affordable and reliable.
Our managed charging pilot program, a partnership with Ford, General Motors, BMW and Tesla, helps EV customers align their charging needs to the time of day when it’s most affordable and is good for the grid.
In our pursuit of a modernized grid that’s capable of meeting the challenges of tomorrow, it's essential to consider not just the infrastructure itself, but also the workforce needed to bring these ambitious plans to fruition.
A key element of our 2030 Clean Energy Vision is a commitment to train people from within our own community for clean energy roles, providing opportunities for high-paying employment, with a particular focus on inclusivity and reaching those who have historically been underrepresented. This not only meets the immediate demand for skilled workers, supporting projects like substation construction, but also fosters long-term economic empowerment in our communities. Investing in workforce development ensures diverse participation in advancing our modern grid infrastructure and a clean energy future that benefits all.
Partnerships Lead to Innovative Grid Modernization Projects
At the end of 2023, SMUD was awarded a $50 million grant from the Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership program. This funding will support SMUD's ambitious Connected Clean PowerCity® project, aimed at enhancing the reliability, efficiency and flexibility of the grid.
A critical element of this work is our collaboration with the Wilton Rancheria Tribe of Miwok Indians to thoroughly evaluate building electrification opportunities and the integration of solar, storage and electrification on Tribal lands into the regional grid. There’s also an important workforce development component of the project, which includes training Tribe members in advanced smart meter and other electrification technologies to support our transition to a clean energy future.
The project, with a total investment of $150 million, will span over five years. It includes a range of technology-focused initiatives to accelerate the integration of renewables into the grid. These include:
- Deploying up to 200,000 next-generation smart meters and Distributed Intelligence applications to enable advanced grid-edge management.
- Implementing additional ADMS features to facilitate the transition to a decentralized grid. This involves deploying up to 100 miles of fiber optic cable for improved situational awareness and control.
- Upgrading our Outage Management System with advanced features to enhance operational efficiencies and customer experience through improved communication and grid automation.
- Deploying up to 22,500 intelligent, two-way load control switches/sensors to manage air conditioning load during grid emergencies.
The cutting-edge framework of advanced technologies is set to revolutionize our meters, boosting their capabilities and facilitating seamless integration into the grid. With these enhanced two-way technologies, SMUD will gain deeper visibility to manage DERs, especially during severe weather events, ensuring an even more reliable electric service. Collaborating with technical partners like Itron and Open Systems International, Inc., SMUD is accelerating the integration process.
Our roadmap toward decarbonization embraces partnerships and grants to scale emerging technologies, while maintaining affordable rates.
SMUD signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at accelerating the adoption of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies in collaboration with the Department of Energy, California state and local governing authorities such as the California Energy Commission and California Public Utilities Commission, as well as automakers and think tanks nationwide. Together, we are working to expedite the development, commercialization and deployment of V2X technologies to enhance grid integration.
In partnership with ESS, we installed six iron-flow, long-duration battery storage containers, each capable of storing approximately half a megawatt of power for up to seven hours. The batteries are located at our world-class training center, giving real-life training and workforce development opportunities on utility-scale long duration storage grid integration.
To continue our efforts in building a robust workforce pipeline and developing more inclusive pathways for all members of our community to participate in a clean energy future, our world-class lineworkers teamed up with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1245 to establish a first-of-its-kind workforce pipeline program. This year, following a rigorous selection process from a pool of hundreds of applicants, 25 participants successfully completed the four-week SMUD/IBEW Lineworker Training Scholarship program. Designed to cater to future and aspiring skilled trades workers, the program offers a comprehensive insight into the field to address the evolving demands of today's and tomorrow's grid.
SMUD continues to lead the charge toward a resilient and efficient electric grid for a carbon-free future. Through strategic partnerships, pioneering workforce development programs and cutting-edge grid modernization initiatives that put people first, we’re forging a path toward a cleaner, more equitable energy landscape, ensuring a brighter tomorrow for all.
Students celebrate completing the new SMUD/IBEW Lineworker Training Scholarship program, designed for aspiring skilled trades workers. They join SMUD’s world-class lineworkers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1245 in helping build a robust workforce pipeline to meet the needs of today and tomorrow’s grid.
As one of SMUD’s newest substations, Station G is a critical part of the network that powers downtown Sacramento with safe, clean, low-cost and reliable energy. The downtown network allows SMUD to provide reliable and affordable power to serve load in the expanding downtown area. The cutting-edge, 11,286-square-foot building sits on 1.17 acres and stands 50-feet high and includes a basement and two other floors.
In partnership with Energy Storage Systems (ESS), SMUD recently received 6 large energy storage containers, which house an iron-flow battery storage system. Once the electrolyte solution for the iron-flow battery is in place, these units will each weigh over 90,000 pounds and have capacity to store about half a megawatt of power for about 7 hours.
Commercial operation for SMUD’s Phase 4 of the Solano Wind Project is set for May 2024. The new turbines will add about 85.5 MW of carbon-free energy to the region’s grid.
Local elected officials, nonprofit leaders and community members joined together to celebrate the opening of the Green Tech Zero Emission Mobility Hub. The Hub brings innovative electric vehicle charging infrastructure to the Del Paso neighborhood.