Electric Infrastructure Upgrades Alternatives Study for Manufactured Housing

The project team proposes to conduct a field demonstration project that will seek to install intelligent power management technologies (IPMTs) (e.g., smart electrical panels, smart circuit breakers/relays) in manufactured housing with limitations in both customer-side and utility-side electric infrastructure to facilitate electrification of end uses that otherwise could not be done without an electrical service infrastructure upgrade. Electrifying home appliances— such as space and water heating, cooking, clothes drying, and EV charging – may require more electric capacity than is currently available to the home. This is especially true in mobile home parks in California, which typically have electrical service of 100-amps or less to individual lots, and where park ownership has decision-making authority regarding service upgrades. While IPMTs are commercially available today, there is limited deployment due to inexperience with the technologies by local permitting and inspection authorities. This project will seek to overcome this barrier by working with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to gain permitting approval for installing IPMTs in manufactured housing. This project team will also work with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and other stakeholders to identify a mobile home park that recently upgraded the park to 100-amp service through the CPUC’s Utility Conversion Program and has residents and park ownership interested in decarbonization efforts. The project team will then work with a local contractor to complete the installation of the IPMTs and coordinate with other utility programs and state decarbonization programs to electrify end uses in the field demonstration homes. By installing IPMTs to control electrical loads, this project will open up decarbonization opportunities to a key segment of naturally-occurring affordable housing while demonstrating the value of IPMTs as a safe and effective alternative solution to more expensive electrical infrastructure upgrades.