Cruise, the self driving car company that is part of General Motors, launched a new initiative called Farm to Fleet. This will enable the company to source solar energy from farms in California's Central Valley. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported that Cruise was purchasing renewable energy credits directly from Sundale Vineyards, Moonlight Companies in order to power its all-electric autonomous vehicles.
Cruise was recently granted a permit to transport passengers in its test vehicles without the need for a safety operator. With a $5 billion credit line from GM Financial, Cruise is continuing to accelerate its march towards commercialization. This will allow the company to purchase hundreds of autonomous and electric Origin vehicles. Cruise is not running a charity, but this partnership with California farmers will undoubtedly be a boon for the state's work in developing renewable energies and providing financial opportunities to local businesses.
In anticipation of heat waves, the California Independent System Operator is asking power producers from the west to sell more megawatts this summer to California. Due to delays, droughts, and outages in bringing new energy sources to the grid, power supplies are already lower than anticipated. This has resulted in reduced hydroelectric generation. The company must find creative ways to boost the grid to ensure California's grid can cope with the huge increase in fleet size Cruise plans. Cruise insists that it has higher goals than just securing energy from all sources.
It is all about doing the right things for our communities and fundamentally changing transportation for the better. Ray Wert, a Cruise spokesperson told TechCrunch.
According to Nature Conservancy, the conversion of farmland into solar farms could be a way for California to meet its climate change goals. Cruise recognized the logic behind approaching Central Valley farmers right now.
In a blog post, Rob Grant, Cruises vice-president of social affairs, stated that Farm to Fleet can be used to reduce the emissions from urban transport and generate new revenue for California's farmers involved in renewable energy.
Cruise is paying the farm owners negotiated rates through BTR Energy, its clean energy partner. Although the company won't disclose costs, it claims that it is paying no more than what it would for other forms of renewable electricity credits (RECs). RECs are created when a renewable energy source produces one megawatt-hours of electricity and then passes it onto the grid. Cruise reports that Sundale has 2 megawatts of solar power to power its 200,000 square feet of cold storage. Moonlight, on the other hand, has installed a combined 3.9 MW of solar arrays, two-battery storage systems for sorting and storage. Cruise can claim that certain amounts of its electricity came from renewable sources when it purchases credits from these farms. RECs can be tracked and are unique. It is easy to see where the credits came from, how much energy they used, and where they went. Cruise didn't share the number of RECs that it planned to buy from the farms but said it would be enough to power its San Francisco fleet.
Cruise buys and then eventually retires renewable energy credits from the farms that generate solar power, even though the electricity still flows through the same grid. We retire RECs equal to the amount of electricity used to charge our vehicles using data we submit to California Air Resources Board every quarter.
Cruise is also working closely with BTR Energy in order to obtain RECs for Arizona operations, including the pilot delivery with Walmart.
Cruise can use 100% renewable power in California because of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. This standard is intended to reduce the state's carbon intensity and offer more low-carbon alternatives. Cruise has its own EV charging stations and can generate credits based upon the amount of electricity delivered and the carbon intensity score. The credits can be sold to other companies that want to reduce their carbon footprint and comply with regulations.
Cruise's goal is not only practical, but also to establish a standard in the industry and to increase demand for renewable energy. This will encourage more people and businesses create it.
Aram Shumavon is the CEO of grid analytics startup Kevala and he believes that Cruise deserves to be commended for his partnership.
Cruise seems to recognize that electricity they consume has a carbon intensity. TechCrunch is able to offset that by Shumavon stating. Scope 3 is a category of carbon accounting that aims to determine how much carbon your supply chain actually contains. Cruise may be taking advantage of this Scope 3 requirement.
Shumavon stated that companies can be more accountable by quantifying their total carbon intensity and then ask suppliers to source from renewables. An automaker might request that their aluminum supplier source from areas with hydroelectric power rather than coal power. This would reduce the automakers carbon intensity.
We believe transportation is responsible for more than 40% of greenhouse gas emissions. That is why we launched our Clean Mile Challenge in February. In it, we asked the rest of AV industry to report the number of miles they drive on renewable energy each year. Wert said. We hope others will follow our example.
This article has been updated with new information from Cruise and expert commentary by Aram Shumavon (CEO of Kevala).
