
Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC)
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) established the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) to assist the development of non-commercialized new and emerging clean energy technologies in California while providing assistance to commercially viable projects. EPIC consists of three program areas: (1) Applied research and development; (2) Technology demonstration and deployment; and (3) Market facilitation, consisting of market research, regulatory permitting and streamlining, and workforce development activities. EPIC activities must be designed to produce electricity ratepayer benefits for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and Southern California Edison (SCE) customers. The annual EPIC budget of $162 million is collected from customers in electric utility bills at the following levels: PG&E (50.1%), SCE (41.1%), and SDG&E (8.8%).
The California Energy Commission (CEC) administers 80% of the funding with the ability to invest in all of the approved EPIC activities; SDG&E, PG&E and SCE administer 20% of the funding with funding shares proportional to their respective collections and are limited to investing only in pre-commercial technology demonstrations. The following are links to each of the EPIC investment plans and the CPUC Decisions authorizing their execution and establishing programmatic requirements:
EPIC Applications
EPIC Decisions
EPIC Projects: Completed or in Progress
Project ID |
EPIC Project Title |
---|---|
EPIC-1 Project 1 |
Smart Grid Architecture Demonstrations |
EPIC-1 Project 2 |
Visualization & Situational Awareness Demonstrations |
EPIC-1 Project 3 |
Distributed Control for Smart Grids |
EPIC-1 Project 4 |
Demonstration of Grid Support Functions of Distributed Energy Resources (“DER”) |
EPIC-1 Project 5 |
Smart Distribution Circuit Demonstrations |
EPIC-2 Project 1 |
Modernization of Distribution System & Integration of Distributed Generation and Storage |
EPIC-2 Project 2 |
Data Analytics in Support of Advanced Planning and System Operations |
EPIC-2 Project 3 |
Monitoring, Communications, and Control Infrastructure for Power System Modernization |
EPIC-2 Project 4 |
System Operations Development and Advancement |
EPIC-2 Project 5 |
Integration of Customer Systems into Electric Utility Infrastructure |
EPIC-2 Project 6 | Collaborative Programs in RD&D Consortia |
EPIC-3 Project 3 | Application of Advanced Metering Infrastructure Data to Advanced Utility System Operations |
EPIC-3 Project 4 | Safety Training Simulators with Augmented Visualization |
EPIC-3 Project 5 | Unmanned Aircraft Systems with Advanced Image Processing for Electric Utility Inspection and Operations |
EPIC-3 Project 7 | Demonstration of Multipurpose Mobile Battery for Port of San Diego and/or Other Applications |
Presentations and Reports
- SDG&E EPIC Annual Reports
- SDG&E EPIC Final Project Reports
- EPIC Workshop and Symposium Presentations
- 2016 EPIC Summer Workshop - June 22 - Westminster
- 2016 EPIC Symposium - December 1 - Sacramento
- 2017 EPIC Fall Symposium - October 18 – La Jolla/San Diego
- 2018 EPIC Symposium - February 7 - Sacramento
- 2018 EPIC Fall Workshop - November 9 - Fresno
- 2019 EPIC Symposium - February 19 - Sacramento
- 2019 EPIC Fall Workshop – November 8 – San Diego
- 2020 EPIC Symposium - October 19-21 - Virtual
- 2020 EPIC PICG UAS Presentation - December 2 - Virtual
SDG&E EPIC Annual Reports
Key EPIC contacts
SDG&E EPIC Program Manager
Frank Goodman
[email protected]
SDG&E EPIC Support Team
Donna Miyasako-Blanco
[email protected]
Other EPIC Related Sites
- California Energy Commission
- California Energy Commission EPIC
- California Energy Commission EPIC Workshops, Notices and Documents
- California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Energy Research, Development and Deployment
- Office of Ratepayer Advocates
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)
- Southern California Edison Company (SCE)