Innovation at BC Hydro: An Interview with Alec Tsang

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What is your role at BC Hydro?
As part of the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) team, my role is to integrate emerging technologies into the organization. Technologies come in two flavours: the kind that impacts our business and the kind that benefits our business. Currently, I look after the electric vehicle (EV) portfolio, which would be an "impacting" technology for BC Hydro.

How does the electric vehicle portfolio impact BC Hydro?
The EV work can be categorized into two areas: preparing our system and organization for the impact of a new load that will come from electrifying the transportation sector and supporting the government's electric transportation program. The first involves distribution impact studies and exploring mitigation options as an alternate to simply upgrading the distribution system. The questions I'm trying to address for BC Hydro are:

• How many cars will we have and how fast will they arrive;
• What incremental load will it represent;
• Where will they appear on our system; and
• How will this affect our relationships with our customers?

The question regarding our relationships with our customers surfaced after a year of working on the electric vehicle portfolio. Electrification of transportation could redefine our relationship with our customers, particularly within the residential sector as BC Hydro will be taking on the role of transportation fuel supplier. Unlike the current gas station model, EV charging can take place at home, work and public locations including coffee shops, shopping malls and fuelling stations. BC Hydro could sit back and let the private sector develop the charging infrastructure in most of these cases, but there is at least one regulatory barrier to public space charging. You cannot resell electricity unless you are a registered utility like the City of New Westminster or if you are in a landlord/tenant situation. This may impede some business models regarding public space charging.

Supporting the government requires BC Hydro to step outside of its traditional role of delivering electricity to our customers, including involvement in activity on the customer side of the meter. My activities enter into the customer side of the meter and beyond. For example, I put considerable efforts toward marketing the region to automakers as an attractive place for early deployment of plug-in electric vehicles. In an attempt to understand BC Hydro's role in developing charging infrastructure, I have commissioned work to develop charging infrastructure guidelines for B.C., and I have plans to showcase aspects of the guidelines through charging demonstrations.

Why do you think that innovation is important to BC Hydro?
Innovation is important for endless reasons. At BC Hydro we have so many constraints with the way in which we can operate to keep costs low for customers whilst trying to fill the supply/demand gap. We have to find innovative ways to fill the gap.

Innovation is also an advantage in attracting new talent, especially within the engineering field. The high degree of latitude I have in my role, which I attribute mostly to my manager, allows me to build relationships with local, post-secondary institutions such as the University of Victoria (UVic) and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). I've facilitated a BC Hydro project for UVic's fourth-year engineering design course, and have recruited an internship for a Master's of Engineering student. This intern is doing some very relevant modelling work for our Distribution Planning group on the impact of EVs on our distribution system.

Why do you feel that now is the right time to relaunch the electric car?
There was a first wave of electric cars in the 1990s as a result of California's stringent tailpipe emission standard. The electric cars at that time were not up to the standards people were used to in terms of driving performance and range, and charge times were long. Simply put, the battery technology was not ready. The fact that California caved under auto industry lobbying and rescinded their stringent standards may have also contributed to the demise of EVs in the 90s.

There is a combination of reasons why it's now the right time to relaunch the electric car. There have been significant technology advancements, mainly on the batteries, peak oil and climate change. More important though is the mainstream acceptance of climate change. It was almost the perfect storm until the economic downturn – now it is the perfect storm. Oil prices may have dropped dramatically from its peak of $147 per barrel, but the economic stimulus packages doled out by governments, specifically in the US, have more than made up for the drop in oil prices. In addition to a $7,500 tax credit for purchasing plug-in electric vehicles, the Obama administration has committed $24 billion toward the development of clean automotive technologies. The scope of the funding includes the deployment of large EV pilots and associated charging infrastructure.

The battery industry has advanced through several battery chemistries and has increased the energy density fourfold. They have also made headway on lowering costs and decreasing charge times. Hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius, have allowed the industry to advance many of the electric components through commercial deployment.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
Throughout my career and my five years with BC Hydro, this is best job I have ever had. The diversity, the room for creativity and the requirement for relationship management on sensitive issues are just a few of the reasons why I love my job. On a typical day I am dealing with technology, business and politics – and not just office politics.

What are some of the challenges of your job?
As I mentioned earlier, my work requires me to step out of the typical role that BC Hydro has as an electric utility in B.C. I will be glad when the vehicles arrive in numbers and I can see the fruits of my labour or, more importantly, others can benefit from the fruits of my labour.