Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Briefing Features City of Saint Paul and PG&E

PALO ALTO, California, April 28, 2011 – AltaTerra Research is pleased to announce the final speaker line-up for its online briefing, “Solutions for Sustainable Cities: Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Planning and Deployment,” on Thursday, May 12. During the 90-minute online session, participants will hear from representatives of the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The briefing will begin at 9:00 a.m. Pacific / 12:00 noon Eastern. Government employees are invited to register free-of-charge.

Anne Hunt, environmental policy director for the City of Saint Paul will discuss the business case for municipal investment in plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) infrastructure, including stakeholder buy-in and funding strategies. She will speak to the benefits of such an investment for city government, citizens, and the local economy, as well as the cost structure of the program Saint Paul adopted and how they were able to justify the expense.

Merritt Clapp-Smith, senior city planner for the City of Saint Paul, will discuss the practical steps for implementation, including urban planning issues, developing utility partnerships, and developing supporting permitting processes.

Reiko Takemasa, senior product manager at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), will discuss the impact of PEV charging infrastructure on the utility electric grid, the use of rates to influence charging behavior, how utilities will respond to PEVs, and other related issues, such as problems with clustering phenomena and challenges of installing chargers at multi-unit dwelling complexes.

Don Bray, president of AltaTerra Research, will open the session with a brief overview of PEV technology and trends; he will close the session with a moderated question-and-answer period.

“Consumer demand for plug-in electric vehicles is growing,” said Bray, “and we’re seeing a number of cities, such as Saint Paul, beginning to install charging stations to help support demand from their employees and citizens. Other cities are struggling with how to move forward in the current economic environment. In this briefing, we’ll walk through the decision-making process for municipalities interested in PEV infrastructure, and review key questions that must be answered along the way.”

Participants will come away from the session with an understanding of the key factors a municipality must examine in determining whether to invest in PEV charging stations, how to make the business case, which departments should be involved, planning requirements, permitting considerations, and impacts on the electric grid and utilities.

Participants will receive a compilation of presentations from the briefing, which will be useful in building the business case to key stakeholders.  An on-demand recording will be available after the event.

Further information about this online briefing and registration are available online at www.altaterra.net/event/evinfrastructure.

A limited number of press passes are available. Press pass requests may be submitted at www.altaterra.net/?presspass.

This online briefing is the third in the three-part series, "Solutions for Sustainable Cities: Clean Technologies in Municipal Practice." Information about the entire series is available online at www.altaterra.net/event/sustainablecities.