Public power utilities honored with APPA award for reliable electric operations
March 23, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 23, 2021
One hundred eight of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities earned the Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3) designation from the American Public Power Association (APPA) for providing reliable and safe electric service.
The designation, which lasts for three years, recognizes public power utilities that demonstrate proficiency in four key disciplines: reliability, safety, workforce development and system improvement.
Criteria include sound business practices and a utility-wide commitment to safe and reliable delivery of electricity.
With 108 utilities earning the designation this year a total of 270 of the more than 2,000 public power utilities nation-wide hold the RP3 designation.
“I think over the last year or so, we’ve seen the vital importance of running a reliable and safe utility,” says Aaron Haderle, Chair of APPA’s RP3 Review Panel and Manager of Transmission and Distribution Operations at Kissimmee Utility Authority, Florida.
“The utilities receiving the RP3 designation have proven that they are committed to running a top-notch public power utility by implementing industry best practices,” he said.
This is the sixteenth year that RP3 recognition has been offered.
A full list of designees is available at www.PublicPower.org.
FERC affirms small utility opt-in element of DER aggregation order backed by APPA
March 22, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 22, 2021
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently issued an order affirming the small utility opt-in feature supported by the American Public Power Association of a final rule that allows for distributed energy resource (DER) aggregators to compete in regional organized wholesale electric markets.
At the same time, contrary to APPA’s position, FERC found that demand response resources participating in aggregations with other types of DERs are not subject to the state and local regulator opt-out/opt-in framework that FERC adopted for demand response aggregations in Order Nos. 719 and 719-A.
At its monthly open meeting, FERC issued an order (2222-A) that responded to requests for rehearing and clarification of FERC Order No. 2222, which addresses the participation of distributed energy resource (DER) aggregations in markets administered by Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs). FERC approved Order 2222 in September 2020.
In November 2020, APPA and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association urged FERC to reject objections to a small utility “opt in” mechanism that the Commission adopted in Order No. 2222, a final rule that allows for distributed energy resource (DER) aggregators to compete in regional organized wholesale electric markets. In addition, APPA and NRECA said that FERC should not carve out an exception to the small utility opt-in for energy efficiency resources.
In Order No. 2222-A, FERC considered requests for rehearing and clarification of FERC Order No. 2222.
Among the important features of Order No. 2222, FERC provided an “opt-in” mechanism for small distribution utilities — including most public power utilities.
Specifically, the Commission determined that customers of utilities that distributed 4 million MWh or less in the previous fiscal year may not participate in distributed energy resource aggregations unless the relevant electric retail regulatory authority affirmatively allows such customers to participate in distributed energy resource aggregations. The small utility opt-in mechanism was supported by APPA, and FERC affirmed it in Order No. 2222-A.
Order No. 2222-A also addresses the participation of demand response resources in DER aggregations.
Under regulations adopted in 2008-2009 in FERC Order Nos. 719 and 719-A, an ISO or RTO may not accept bids from a demand response aggregator of retail customers served by utilities that distributed more than 4 million MWh in the previous year if the relevant electric retail regulatory authority (RERRA) affirmatively prohibits wholesale market participation (opt-out).
In the case of customers served by utilities that distribute 4 million MWhs or less, the ISO/RTO may not accept bids from an aggregator unless the RERRA affirmatively permits it (opt-in).
In Order No. 2222, FERC said that demand response resources seeking to participate in DER aggregations would still be subject to the opt-out/opt-in regulations. FERC modifies this ruling in Order No. 2222-A, concluding that the opt-out/opt-in rules ordinarily applicable to demand response resources would apply only “to aggregations made up solely of resources that participate as demand response resources, consistent with our regulations.”
The opt-out/opt-in rules will not apply “to demand response resources that participate in heterogeneous distributed energy resource aggregations—i.e., those that are made up of different types of resources including demand response as opposed to those made up solely of demand response.”
Order No. 2222-A clarifies a number of other aspects of FERC’s DER aggregation rules, including jurisdiction over interconnection of PURPA QFs and various implementation issues.
The revisions take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Danly, Christie offer dissents
Commissioner James Danly and Commissioner Mark Christie offered dissents to the order.
For his part, Christie said FERC’s majority was doubling down “on siding with commercial interests seeking entry into the RTO/ISO markets and against the states and other authorities whose job is to defend the public, not private, interest. By doing so, the majority also sides against the consumers who for years to come will almost surely pay billions of dollars for grid expenditures likely to be rate-based in the name of ‘Order 2222 compliance.’” (Christie discusses Order No. 2222-A, among other topics, in the most recent episode of APPA’s Public Power Now podcast).
Instead of making the states, municipal and public power authorities and electric cooperatives “truly equal partners in managing the timing and conditions of deployment of behind-the-meter DERs in ways that are sensitive to local needs and challenges — both technical and economic — today’s order denies them any meaningful control by prohibiting any opt-out or opt-in options except in relatively tiny circumstances,” wrote Christie.
“This order — and its predecessor — intentionally seize from the states and other authorities their historic authority to balance the competing interests of deploying new technologies while maintaining grid reliability and protecting consumers from unaffordable costs,” he said.
A rapid concentration of behind-the-meter aggregated DERs at various locations on the local grid “will inevitably require costly upgrades to a distribution grid that has largely been engineered to deliver power from the substation to end-user retail customers. Meeting the technological challenges of this re-engineering of the local grid are not insuperable but there are substantial costs and we all know these costs will ultimately be imposed on retail consumers. States, public power authorities and cooperatives are far better positioned to manage these costs and competing interests in their own areas of responsibility than FERC,” Christie said.
Moreover, he argued that Order No. 2222-A is not “cooperative federalism,” but rather its opposite. “It undermines the overarching policy framework that Congress incorporated into the Federal Power Act decades ago: federal regulation of wholesale rates and the bulk power system; state regulation of retail rates and the local distribution grid,” he wrote in the dissent.
“Any argument that allowing state policies to determine the entry of aggregated DERS into capacity or other markets will result in a ‘checkerboard’ or ‘patchwork’ of different policies, is an argument against state authority itself. The existence of fifty states by definition means a patchwork of 50 state retail regulatory structures, but that goes with the territory in our constitutional structure and is entirely consistent with the Federal Power Act’s basic division of federal and state authority. This panoply of diverse state policies is exactly what Justice Brandeis celebrated when he recognized states as laboratories of democracy.”
While encouraging the development of DERs “is a good thing, eviscerating the states’ historic authority in the name of encouraging DER development is not,” Christie said.
“On the contrary, it is the states and other local authorities that are far better positioned than FERC to manage successfully the development and deployment of DERs in ways that serve reliability needs, that protect consumers from inflated costs, and that are far more sustainable in the long run.”
For his part, Danly said he was “dissenting from this order on rehearing of Order No. 2222, the Commission’s distributed energy resource aggregations mandate, for the same reasons that I dissented from the original. It oversteps the reasonable exercise of the Commission’s authority at the expense of the states.”
Danly acknowledged the recent cases upon which the Commission relies to exercise its jurisdiction in the order, “but these cases concerned whether the Commission possesses claimed authority, reserving the question of whether the Commission has discretion to exercise it. Clearly the Commission has the power, exclusive jurisdiction or not, to establish a state opt-out.”
He would “decline to exercise our jurisdiction to obstruct the states from asserting authority over distributed energy resource aggregations. The Commission owes fidelity to the clear division of jurisdiction between the federal government and the states, a due regard for federalism that is embedded in the very structure of the Federal Power Act. This order unnecessarily invades an area best left to the states, burdening them with another of our Good Ideas, the details of which we leave them to figure out, and the burdens of which we leave to them to bear.”
FERC issues NOI
In related action, FERC on March 18 also issued a notice of inquiry on the potential impacts of eliminating the ability of states to prevent demand response resources from participating in organized wholesale markets.
FERC is asking whether the circumstances relevant to this demand response opt-out have changed since the opt-out was established in Order Nos. 719 and 719-A, and what are the potential benefits or burdens of removing it.
Comments are due 90 days after publication in the Federal Register, with reply comments due 30 days after that.
Glick
In comments at the Commission meeting, FERC Chairman Richard Glick praised Order No. 2222-A as a further improvement to the rules adopted in Order No. 2222.
“By allowing demand response providers located in states that have opted out of Order No. 719 to participate as part of a DER aggregation as long as other DER technologies are included in the aggregation, the Commission is further expanding our opportunities for DER aggregation in our wholesale markets,” he said at the meeting.
With respect to the NOI, “a lot has changed” since Order No. 719 was first issued “and I think it is prudent for us to reconsider whether the opt out remains appropriate,” he said.
“I recognize that certain state regulators have been frustrated with the” approaches FERC has taken over the last several years, specifically in Order No. 841, which dealt with energy storage, and Order No. 2222.
“With regards to the potential participation of behind-the-meter resources in RTO and ISO wholesale markets, it is not a simple matter,” Glick said. “FERC has the duty pursuant to the Federal Power Act to eliminate undue discrimination in terms of access to jurisdictional wholesale markets. The states have a legitimate interest in ensuring the reliability of their distribution systems.”
Some are concerned that the participation of behind-the-meter resources in wholesale markets will make it more difficult for the states to address distribution reliability, Glick said.
In his view, the states still retain important tools such as jurisdiction over DER interconnections and the ability to condition DER participation in retail markets in a manner that ensures DER participation in wholesale markets won’t impair reliability.
“But we need to continue this dialogue with our state colleagues, which I am very much committed to doing,” he said. “This Commission over the last several years has run roughshod over the states’ responsibilities over resource decision making all in an effort to raise prices in mandatory capacity markets.”
In his comments at the meeting, Commissioner Christie said that if he were to describe the order in one word it would be hubris. “It’s based on the belief that the members of this Commission know better how to manage the complicated issues of timing, grid reliability and the costs of behind-the-meter DER deployment than all the state regulators in all the fifty states who, by the way, are tasked with defending the public interest just like we are here at FERC. Better than all the dedicated people who run the public power and the municipal power authorities. Better than all the dedicated people who run the electric coops do,” he said.
“And it’s based on the false belief that state regulators, public power authorities, municipal power authorities and coops are opposed to behind-the-meter DER deployment, and so these people can’t be trusted to manage the deployment of DER deployment and I know that’s just not true,” Christie said.
“States have been dealing with these issues for years and taking the lead in DER deployment. So have the munis, so have the public power authorities, so have the coops,” he said.
“Consumers are going to pay a lot for this,” Christie said.
Investor-owned utilities are “going to seek to put billions of dollars into rate base and the argument to the state regulators will be, oh, we have to do this to comply with FERC’s Order 2222 and so you state regulators have to approve it. And as a former state regulator who sat on a lot of rate cases, I’ve heard this argument before and it’s very hard – frankly it’s almost impossible – for a state regulator to deny cost recovery when the utility says we have to spend this money to comply with federal regulations. That’s a very hard argument to rebut and so the costs of this are going to be substantial.”
Prior to becoming a FERC Commissioner, Christie served as a Chairman and Commissioner with the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
FERC directs revisions to market power mitigation in PJM capacity market
March 22, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 22, 2021
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 18 told the PJM Interconnection, its market monitor and market participants in the region that the existing default market seller offer cap fails to allow for adequate review of potential market power concerns in the capacity market, because it is based on an unreasonable expectation of the number of performance assessment intervals PJM will experience in a given delivery year.
The Commission directed parties to propose alternative methods for market power review and mitigation in the capacity market.
FERC’s order stems from two complaints filed in 2019 by the market monitor and consumer advocate groups in the region, alleging that PJM’s calculation of the default market seller offer cap in the capacity market is unjust and unreasonable.
The complaints were supported by the American Public Power Association.
The default market seller offer cap originally was established as part of PJM’s 2015 capacity performance construct, in response to the 2014 polar vortex.
FERC found PJM’s existing rate unjust and unreasonable, but said it needs additional evidence to set the appropriate replacement rate and therefore ordered additional briefing.
FERC’s action on the complaints will not interfere with PJM’s upcoming May 2021 capacity auction for delivery year 2022-2023, FERC said. The auction should take place as scheduled under current rules.
FERC noted that it will continue to exercise its oversight of the upcoming auction and any anticompetitive conduct observed may be referred to the Office of Enforcement.
The order is available here.
FERC for the first time assesses significance of proposed gas pipeline project on GHG emissions
March 22, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 22, 2021
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on March 18 for the first time assessed the significance of a proposed natural gas pipeline project’s greenhouse gas emissions and their contribution to climate change.
In approving Northern Natural Gas Company’s request to build and operate 87.3 miles of replacement natural gas pipeline facilities, the Commission found, based on the record, that the project’s greenhouse gas emissions would not be significant.
Northern Natural’s South Sioux City to Sioux Falls A-line Replacement Project will enhance safety, security and operational efficiency of Northern Natural’s pipeline system in South Dakota and Nebraska, FERC determined.
FERC’s approach to natural gas project greenhouse gas emissions has been the subject of disagreement among the commissioners for several years.
“Going forward, we are committed to treating greenhouse gas emissions and their contribution to climate change the same as all other environmental impacts we consider,” FERC Chairman Rich Glick said in a statement.
“A proposed pipeline’s contribution to climate change is one of its most consequential environmental impacts and we must consider all evidence in the record—both qualitative and quantitative—to assess the significance of that impact. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues as we refine our methods for doing so,” he said.
FERC clarifies determination of 80-MW capacity cap for QFs
March 22, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 22, 2021
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on March 18 revised its policy for measuring the power production capacity of certain resources seeking to be qualifying facilities (QFs) under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA).
At its monthly meeting, FERC reversed a split decision in a September 2020 order denying Broadview Solar LLC’s application for certification as a QF under PURPA.
The Commission reinstated its longstanding “send-out” analysis, which determines a facility’s power production capacity based on the electricity that it can actually deliver to the interconnecting electric utility.
“Today’s order restores a common-sense understanding that QF status should turn on the power production capacity of a facility as a whole, not the capacity of any individual component part,” FERC Chairman Rich Glick said in a statement. “The primary benefit of QF status afforded under PURPA is the right to sell power to a chosen utility, so the amount of power that a QF can actually transmit to the utility should be the touchstone of our analysis.”
Broadview’s facility involves a coupled array of solar panels with a gross capacity of 160 MW of direct current (DC) electricity and a 50-megawatt battery energy storage system.
The maximum output of the project’s 20 invertors, which convert the DC electricity into alternating current, means that only 80 MW can be produced and transmitted to the interconnection with NorthWestern Corporation’s transmission system.
This case provided the Commission the first occasion to interpret how PURPA’s limitation on a facility’s “power production capacity” applies to a facility such as Broadview’s, which has a large array of solar PV cells but is physically incapable of producing more than 80 MW of power for delivery to the purchasing utility. In setting aside the prior order, FERC concluded that it erred by departing from PURPA, its own regulations and precedent.
National Academies report targets needs of a changing power grid
March 19, 2021
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
March 19, 2021
Congress and other federal agencies need to take action to keep pace with the nation’s evolving electric power grid, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Among other things, the report, The Future of Electric Power in the United States, said there is “an urgency to reform the lengthy electrical transmission planning and siting process.”
Among its 40-plus recommendations, the report calls for Congress to draw up and support a national transmission policy for the planning and siting of regional transmission facilities that would help ensure energy diversity and security, as well as foster an equitable transition to an economy with low carbon dioxide emissions.
The report also calls for an independent, federal entity that could take the lead on investigating blackouts and disseminating lessons learned and says Congress should instruct the Department of Energy (DOE) to create a task force, which would include regulators and industry, to identify new legislation needed to help understand how significant physical or cyber disruptions occur in the grid.
The report, which was sponsored by the DOE, also called on Congress to substantially increase the level of funding for the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of production, delivery, and use of electric power to help meet the challenge of providing reliable, safe, and affordable electricity while also building a stronger industrial base.
And, the report said, support for scientific research related to electric power should be doubled, and support for the development and demonstration of electric power projects should be tripled over the next decade.
“No one can predict precisely what the electricity system will look like several decades from now, but there are a number of technical advances and regulatory changes that would facilitate a variety of developments for the electric power system,” Granger Morgan, Hamerschlag University Professor of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and chair of the committee that wrote the report, said in a statement.
Among the changes the electric power system should prepare for is the possible large increase in electricity demand, the decarbonization of the U.S. economy, a desire to reduce social inequities, concerns about the effects of the energy transition on employment, and developments in grid distribution and stability, the report said.
“It is our committee’s hope that, over the decades to come, this report will help to make America’s critically important electric power system safer and more secure, cleaner and more sustainable, more affordable and equitable, and more reliable and resilient,” Morgan said.
The authors of the report sorted its multiple recommendations into five broad categories:
- Improve the understanding of how the electric system is evolving, which would require forecasting tools to better understand the changes in store for the system.
- Ensure that electricity service remains clean and sustainable, and reliable and resilient, which would require reducing CO2 emissions and could be facilitated in part by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission designating a central entity to establish reliability standards for the nation’s natural gas delivery system.
- Improve the understanding of how people use electricity and sustain the “social compact” to keep electricity affordable and equitable in the face of technological changes, which among other things would require increased attention on the part of regulators and assessment of how changes in the electrical system affect energy access, equity, and affordability.
- Facilitate innovations in technology – such as clean energy and energy storage – policy, and business models relevant to the power system and improving the understanding of how those changes affect consumers’ behavior.
- Accelerate innovations in technology in light of shifting global supply chains for which the report recommends that the White House establish an interagency process to review all arrangements that limit international research collaborations and make reforms to allow for greater interaction between U.S. researchers and those in other countries.
The report also found that multiple recommendations from the 2017 National Academies report, Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation’s Electricity System, have not yet been implemented and are still relevant.
To help support innovation at publicly owned utilities, the report recommended that Congress should expand funding for loans, loan guarantees, and grants for public power utilities, electric cooperatives, tribal utility authorities, and special-purpose utility districts because they do not have access to incentives provided through tax credits to investor-owned utilities and other developers.
“The report highlights many areas that utilities, regulators, policy makers and various agencies will need to consider in order to ensure a safe and secure grid, balanced by three key grid characteristics—affordable and equitable, clean and sustainable, as well as reliable and resilient,” Reiko Kerr, senior assistant general manager of power system engineering, planning and technical services at LADWP, said via email.
The transition will present many opportunities, as well as challenges, but it “will be important to have more complex modeling and simulation capabilities to understand how grid operations may be impacted by unprecedented changes in the grid architecture, as well as climate change, in order to mitigate identified risks and ensure a reliable and resilient system,” said Kerr, who is a member of the National Academies’ Committee on the Future of Electric Power in the U.S., which was responsible for undertaking the report.
Kerr also participated in the committee’s workshops and seminars, including a workshop on modeling at which she presented a case study on LADWP’s LA100 study, which looked at the investments needed to get to 100% clean energy while balancing generation, distribution, transmission, substation needs, with distributed energy resources, power flows, reliability requirements, electrification, air quality, economic development and labor.
The report said that Congress should address ways to help public power utilities and rural electric cooperatives fund measures to combat cybersecurity threats “and initiate a process to develop a solution for how to cover the costs of implementing appropriate protections.”
“Cybersecurity is one area that will require a continued focus as the grid evolves,” said Cynthia Hsu, principal of cybersecurity solutions at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and a member of the National Academies’ Committee on the Future of Electric Power in the U.S.
“The committee recommends that industry and national security stakeholders find solutions that adequately cover the costs of implementing appropriate protections against nation-state attacks,” Hsu said. “And the committee recommends funding to establish programs that provide cybersecurity training for utility staff, especially those involved in the real-time operation of electric grid systems.”
The report also recommended that the American Public Power Association and the NRECA should provide assistance in accelerating evaluations of new rate structures and other policies with an eye to how a changing power grid will affect issues of equity.
New generation of female engineers is making its mark at public power utilities
March 17, 2021
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 17, 2021
Across the country, a new generation of female engineers is making its mark at public power utilities.
For many, their path to engineering began at a young age, with their interest sparked by a math teacher in high school, a high school introduction to an engineering course or discovering a love for fixing things.
A number of female engineers profiled in this feature said that what they like about working at public power utilities is the variety of work that they get to engage in on a regular basis.
In honor of Women’s History Month, commemorated each March, the American Public Power Association’s Public Power Current newsletter is highlighting the many roles that women play at public power utilities across the U.S.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) electrical engineer Sabi Valdez hadn’t heard about engineering until a friend mentioned electrical engineering to her during their senior year in high school.
“I asked her a lot of questions about what engineering was and she was able to give me a good idea. One of the things that I specifically remember she mentioned, was that it was a lot of math and science which I loved,” Valdez noted.
“This made me really curious about whether this was a career I could go into and be good at. I learned more about this career from my counselors and found out that there were different branches of engineering including mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical, and many more. This meant I had many choices which made it very attractive and fun so this was one of the reasons I chose it. Another reason is that this was a non-common career to me especially since I hadn’t heard of it before my senior year and so that drew me towards it as well,” she said.
Valdez chose to work at a public power utility “because I knew that the customers would be important and that by working here I was helping them get what they needed. I also knew that there were different opportunities offered based on the student engineer opportunities that I learned about when I was in college.”
She became a student engineer at LADWP in the Green LA Solar Group and found out that there were groups in environmental, design, planning, and many more. “Based on that I knew that working for a public utility would never be boring and that I could do many different jobs that would be contributing towards our Department goals,” she noted.
“What I enjoy most about the work is that every day is different. I learn about what my coworkers do and in general what different classifications responsibilities are,” Valdez said.
“I have also had the opportunity to make every position in every group I have been in my own. For example, as a design engineer I have been able to go to the field and see firsthand what the jobs I have worked on look like. It has been very satisfying to know that I helped customers get their power services. As a specifications engineer, I have helped our internal employees get the equipment and materials they need to complete their jobs.”
She was also able to go to the field “and witness and accept testing of equipment. In my current group with Safety I am ensuring employees have the right PPE they need to stay safe. I also support my group with any technical requirements and I also get to visit our substations and learn about what work is done and the importance of it. Every day is a continuous learning experience and it makes my work enjoyable.”
For LADWP electrical engineer Kianiwai Jones, her path to engineering began when she discovered a love for fixing things.
“If anything in my home broke, particularly if it was an electronic device, I thought it was so much fun figuring out how to fix it and loved the feeling of accomplishment if I did. At the heart of this odd hobby was a penchant for analytical thinking and problem solving so I started thinking about engineering as a possible career,” Jones said.
Her high school offered an introduction to engineering course which revolved around building a rudimentary electric car from scratch “and that cemented my decision to pursue electrical engineering in college.”
As for why she chose to work for a public power utility, she said that at the time she was interning for a Department of Defense contractor in the aerospace industry, “I was feeling conflicted about the projects I was working on and what I was supporting in the grand scheme of life. The description for the job at the public utility made me feel like my work could affect the lives of everyday people in a positive way and I was really drawn to that sort of rewarding work.”
Jones has enjoyed the opportunity to work in a number of different areas across LADWP, “exposing me to a variety of different aspects of the organization and giving me a broader knowledge set that I feel makes me a valuable asset. I’m also happy to say that I was able to achieve the feeling of making a positive impact in the world with my job.”
She currently works for the Electric Transportation Programs team “where we spend every day trying to advance the adoption of electric vehicles through various programs, partnerships and initiatives in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a cleaner living environment for the people of Los Angeles,” Jones said.
“It’s a pretty full circle story given my starting point building a small electric car in a garage 16 years ago, my senior year of high school, and then four years later designing a more complex electric car in an engineering lab my senior year of college. It’s not where I ever expected to be, but one of the things I’ve always loved about engineering is the opportunity it gives you to enter into a wide variety of career paths.”
LADWP electrical engineer Jasmine Arceo knew she wanted to study engineering after having a strong interest in science, math, and real-life applications. “I chose to study electrical engineering when I realized how flexible the field can be and the various opportunities available.”
With emerging technologies in the energy sector, “I wanted to contribute to the transition to clean and sustainable energy,” she said in explaining why she decided to work for a public power utility.
“My focus is currently on the advancement of transportation electrification. I enjoy supporting programs that help bring LADWP closer to greenhouse gas reduction targets while interacting with the public,” Arceo said.
New York Power Authority
On the other side of the country, Amariah Barton-Harris is an assistant construction engineer at the New York Power Authority (NYPA).
“NYPA has a long history of expansion, is involved in local communities, and presents tremendous growth opportunities,” she noted. “With the recent launch of our ten-year strategy, VISION2030, this is the perfect time and place for an electrical engineer. NYPA is upgrading the entire Niagara plant and it allows a young engineer like myself to learn the ins and outs of the facility. I get the opportunity to grow and evolve with the site – that is incredible!”
Barton-Harris has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering technology with a minor in mathematics from Buffalo State College and an associate’s degree in general studies from Erie Community College. She joined NYPA in 2020.
“I enjoy the diversity of my work the most,” she noted. “As an assistant construction engineer with multiple projects, I can see the beauty of many different types of engineering. Working with contractors, I witness how technicians, linemen, and many others execute an engineer’s design. As an individual that enjoys learning, I am blessed to have received a position where I am able to gain new knowledge every day,” Barton-Harris said.
“Since I was young, I have been fascinated with electronics. I would deconstruct anything I could get my hands on and attempt to put it back together,” she said.
In high school, she was introduced to power systems, other engineering disciplines, and how all of it comes together to meet a common goal.
“In college, my professor, Dr. Barker, reiterated that concept with his teaching approach as we were asked to work in groups and trust each other along the way. If one failed, we all failed. This is how I fell in love with achieving a complex goal with a group of hard-working people. An exceptional generation, transmission, distribution and building design takes a village of engineers of all disciplines and dedicated labors. Here at NYPA, I found my village that I am honored to be a part of and am reminded every day what drew me to electrical engineering.”
Holli Monroe, a Project Engineer II and Engineering Supervisor in NYPA’s Clean Energy Solutions group, specializes in engineering and construction management. She joined NYPA in 2013 and has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
“I was first introduced to the New York Power Authority when I toured our Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project. I was intrigued by the interconnectivity of the environment and economy, with a focus on clean energy solutions for New York State. This sparked my interest in joining NYPA,” she said.
Community service “is one of my core values. NYPA is similarly community focused. In my capacity at NYPA, I lead a team of engineers with the goal of improving energy efficiency for our customers in the public sector. Personally and professionally I am proud to perform work that benefits the people, environment, and economy where I live.”
She especially values her membership “in our Women in Power Employee Resource Group. Across engineering women are underrepresented. Having a strong, supportive group of women at NYPA has been inspiring.”
She said that it is “rewarding to bring environmental and economic gain to our customers through energy efficiency projects. Saving energy for New York State while also saving our customers money is a true win-win. The diversity of projects I work on come with unique learning opportunities. No two customers, facilities, or scopes of work are exactly alike. The variety of this work promotes continual growth and development.”
Monroe said that her love for problem solving and “desire to design and build a better world drew me to engineering. I enjoy troubleshooting challenges by analyzing data and applying creativity to arrive at technically sound solutions.”
Lower Colorado River Authority
Monica Masters, P.E., Vice President of Water Resources at the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) in Texas, noted that she had an amazing math teacher in high school who completely drew her to math.
“Math was my best subject through school, but I didn’t have a love for it until I saw it through somebody else’s eyes who loved it. After I’d had such a great teacher, I wanted to do something that involved a lot of math, and engineering is where I ended up,” Masters said.
“I still love it, and I’ve enjoyed teaching my kids math during home schooling during the pandemic. I’m having to remember things I forgot years ago, but it’s all good because I see my girls picking up a love for math. Luckily, my husband loves it too, and we actually fight over who gets to help them with their math homework.”
In terms of what she enjoys most about working for a public power utility, Masters said she loves the variety, “because we get to do something different every day. We don’t have to focus on just one thing in our careers. You may work on a project, and then go be a project manager for something completely different, and then you may go meet with customers or work with Legal on contracts. You’re doing something different almost every day.”
As for what accomplishments she is most proud of in her career, Masters said that more than any single project, she is proud of seeing a project completed. “When you take a project from inception to design to construction and completion and you can say it’s done — to me that’s the best feeling. For instance, I oversaw the refurbishment of a hydrogeneration turbine at LCRA’s Mansfield Dam, and to know that turbine is set to operate reliably and efficiently for years to come is awesome.”
When asked if there are any professional development opportunities that have been particularly meaningful for her, she said, “I’m a big believer in taking advantage of professional development from industry organizations that can provide information and data on how others have overcome obstacles you may be facing. In some cases, such as our hydrogeneration units, it’s also helpful to hear about issues that occurred outside of the United States, and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials is excellent at helping us stay up to date.”
Also, she never underestimates the power of a mentor. “I’m very grateful for the mentors who have encouraged me, especially my high school math teacher who showed me that math was fun and interesting. I’m one of those people who found out what I loved doing, then found a job that lets me do it day in and day out,” Masters said.
Fort Collins
Poorva Bedge, who works as a senior electrical engineer for the City of Fort Collins, Colo., became an electrical engineer mostly because of her personal experiences as a child.
“I was born and raised in India, an energy poor country. When I grew up, I was accustomed to electricity outages and since our family had very few electric devices, it wasn’t particularly hard to survive without it. I am ashamed to say that I sometimes remember those outages quite fondly, the entire family huddled together, talking and laughing, over long candle-lit shadows.”
While she never thought much of it then, “it was my undergraduate education in electrical engineering that really made me see how electricity and energy use, perhaps a basic human right, is the lifeline for economic, social, and public wellbeing. Since then, I have been fascinated by the electric power sector and am encouraged to see how it is being transformed in the twenty-first century to provide sustainable power to millions of people.”
In terms of what she enjoys the most about working for a public power utility, Bedge said that every day at the utility is truly exciting.
“Being new to the organization, I am introduced to something that I didn’t know yesterday. It’s fulfilling to know that my input is useful on a day-to-day basis and impactful over the long-term.”
A part of her doctoral work in systems engineering at Colorado State University (CSU) is focused on how the utility infrastructure would respond to distributed energy resources.
“With climate action plans taking center stage in Fort Collins and other progressive cities throughout the US, utilities need to think critically and act soon on how they intend to transform their infrastructure and practices to a carbon-neutral economy in a few decades. This is perhaps the most enjoyable and gratifying part of my work where I can think through and help execute technology and policy solutions for a sustainable future,” she said.
When asked what accomplishment she is most proud of in her career, Bedge said, “It would have been hard to imagine more than a decade ago that in 2021 I would be close to a doctorate in engineering, have extensive experience at different scales of the electric power sector, be a working mother of two amazing young kids, and live in one of the most livable cities in the United States (well, it hasn’t been fun to live through a pandemic but I am sure we can all leave that one out of our stories!).”
She said that although “luck has played an important part, I am very proud that I have been able to don and learn from these very different roles as I engage with and encourage women in engineering to excel in all spheres of life.”
As for whether there are any professional development opportunities that have been particularly meaningful for her, Bedge noted that she is new to Fort Collins Light and Power and have only lightly explored the professional development opportunities at work.
“It is no surprise that the pandemic has made it harder to engage with peers and leaders and I am waiting to be back in the office,” she said.
“Prior to my time at the utility, however, I was part of the Sustainable Research Network (SRN) at CSU: a group of researchers across multiple institutions supported by the National Science Foundation. Here, I was able to take coursework and attend workshops related to the science of sustainability and policy innovations that will lead to environmentally-sustainable, healthy and livable cities.”
She is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and recently presented part of her doctoral work at the IEEE Power and Energy conference in October 2020.
EPB
Blair Brown, Engineer II, Communications System, Technical Operations at Chattanooga, Tennessee public power utility EPB, notes that she is “very community-oriented by nature, and I’m always aware and proud that what I do at work affects the entire city. From keeping the internet working, to creating and maintaining tools to make dispatching crews easier, to helping feed crews during storms, I feel like I’m making a difference.”
As for what accomplishment she is most proud of in her career, Brown noted that several years ago she started a coding class at Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy for middle schoolers. Women are underrepresented in computer science, and she wants to help change that.
“Studies show that preteen girls’ interest in computer science is the same as boys’, but it wanes at that age. I’ve taught several girls who really dove into it and I’m hopeful that they’ll get into a technology-based field in the future. If I can someday retire having increased the number of women in technology, I’ll count that as a win,” Brown said.
One thing that has changed her life and career more than anything is a mentoring program that EPB started with Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy several years ago, she said.
“The program obviously is meant to benefit the students more than the employees, but it has given me much more confidence in my career and personal life. It has allowed me to take chances that I wouldn’t have otherwise attempted.”
Angela Carr, Senior Manager, Field Operations at EPB, said that “when you work for a public power utility, there are a variety of ways to feel like you are helping your community. To not only have the ability to work alongside wonderful, dedicated individuals, but also to be able to provide and restore power during unforeseen times for those in your community is a rewarding feeling.”
Power “is a basic necessity and I enjoy being able to serve our community by providing that reliable service to meet their needs when they need it most,” she said.
As for what achievement she is most proud of in her career, Carr noted that during April 2020, a tornado devastated part of the community.
“In the midst of this and a pandemic, I worked with many individuals to restore our customers’ power. This meant rebuilding our power grid over a large part of our service area as quickly as possible. The most difficult part of this was the added risk of exposure to COVID. We called on neighboring communities to help in the restoration efforts, which added more of a risk of exposure,” she said. “I was a part of an extraordinary team who made great efforts to ensure those working individuals would be safe from COVID.”
In terms of professional development opportunities, she was given the chance to participate and become a part of Leadership Chattanooga. This development program, through the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, prepares upcoming professionals within the community for prominent leadership roles.
“This invaluable experience gave me the opportunity to learn and grow my leadership skills while getting to know more about my community. I learned ways to improve not only in the personal arena of my life, but also professionally. For something to be considered meaningful, it has to render the ability to continue to hold value. Because of this program, I have made life-long connections with other professionals with hopes of finding ways to continually better my community.”
What Angela Love, Manager, Energy Services at EPB, enjoys the most working with a public power utility is community involvement.
“I love being a part of something that is so much bigger than providing a service,” said Love, who leads the key customer group for commercial electric at EPB.
“Our mission statement says we enhance the quality of life of the community in which we serve, and we truly do. Just being a part of the company is not enough. I get to grow and learn from others and give back at the same time. Our various community partnerships and interactions make coming to work a great pleasure.”
She is most proud of her ability to aid in the development of people. “It is one thing to manage a group, it is another to nurture and grow your people. Developing relationships and encouraging others is a gift.”
The EPB official said she loves mentoring. She is part of the Spark Mentoring Leadership team. “I think it is so important to give back and teach others. In many cases, you can help them avoid some of the pitfalls that they may experience; but on the other hand, you can help them to recover from mistakes/setbacks. It is so important that we help one another.”
Working in this industry “is so rewarding and has so many opportunities. I believe that women provide a unique perspective in any environment and sometimes our uniqueness allows others to arrive at conclusions they may not have otherwise considered.”
City of Statesville, N.C.
Both sides of Devon Shelton’s family are very strong in mathematics and science. “Several of my relatives are engineers as well, so I guess you could say that I grew up around engineering,” said Shelton, Electric Utilities Assistant Director for the City of Statesville, N.C.
“When I was young, I was told that I thought and learned like an engineer. I have always understood and enjoyed mathematics and science and have been interested in how things work. When learning about electricity, I found that things just seemed to ‘click.’ When it came time to choose a career path, everything fell into place regarding my interests, strengths, and mind set,” she said.
“I love the tight-knit community of public power where importance is placed on the individual and quality of service. Co-workers are considered to be friends or family rather than just ‘people I work with.’ That sentiment extends to the entire public power community regardless of distance, which I sincerely appreciate.”
She also enjoys the fact that no day is ever the same. “Being a smaller municipality that is part of APPA, we have access to the kinds of resources that larger private companies do; however, some of those resources are not always directly located ‘in-house.’ With a small staff, we have to attain mastery in many areas, but it is nice to work with groups like APPA to gain access to certain niche areas of expertise. This helps us to perform well compared to companies that are many times our size. Essentially, we have to wear all kinds of different hats depending on what is needed at the time. We get the pleasure of constantly learning new things and no day is ever the same.”
When asked to detail whether there are any professional development opportunities that have been particularly meaningful for her, Shelton mentioned John Laetz, who was her boss during a college internship.
“He was especially supportive and encouraging. He constantly went out of his way to ensure I was exposed to various aspects of the application and practice of engineering within the power field since I primarily lived in books up to that point. When I graduated, I went full time into public power and I have not looked back!”
She said that APPA’s Engineering and Operations Conference was one of the first conferences she can recall attending.
“I distinctly remember being introduced to APPA staff members who were exceptionally welcoming and reassuring. I learned so much from that first conference, not just technically, but professionally and realized that public power was where I wanted stay.”
Bitcoin mining operation to add flexible load to NPPD’s area
March 17, 2021
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
March 17, 2021
Compute North is expanding its operations in Kearney, Nebraska, potentially adding as much as 70 megawatts (MW) to Nebraska Public Power District’s (NPPD) load.
The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company, which provides energy-intensive computing capacity for blockchain, cryptocurrency mining, and other clients with high-performance computing needs, already has a 30-MW computing facility in Kearney’s Tech oNE Crossing technology park.
The expansion deal has been in the works for a little over a year, and “it’s finally coming to fruition,” Pat Hanrahan, general manager of NPPD’s retail division, said. “It is pretty exciting.”
Compute North said it chose the Kearney location for its “direct access to a variety of primarily renewable energy sources.” Nebraska, the only state in the union that is served entirely by public power, gets about 61 percent of its electric power from carbon dioxide free sources.
Another part of the attraction are the electric rates NPPD can offer, Hanrahan said. Nebraska has below average electric rates, ranking 15 in the nation, according to government data. NPPD also has economic development rates for new customers and other rate products that make the area “pretty attractive,” Hanrahan said.
The deal to expand Compute North’s operations was also facilitated by support from the Economic Development Council of Buffalo County – Kearney is the county seat – and the City of Kearney, and the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.
Bitcoin, or cryptocurrency, consumes huge amounts of energy to run specialized computers that perform complex calculations that are used to generate new bitcoins for “miners,” making energy costs a key consideration is deciding where to locate a mining operation.
Interest in cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, and the mining operations that expand the supply of cryptocurrencies often surges when prices rise. Bitcoin prices right now are booming, recently hitting about $56,700 for a single bitcoin and marking a quadrupling of prices since late 2020.
Compute North, which also has data processing centers in Texas and South Dakota, said it anticipates the expanded Kearney facility will “fill up quickly,” and noted several new customers for its services, including Foundry Digital LLC, Bit Digital Inc., and “several other emerging players in the bitcoin mining space.”
The volatility of cryptocurrencies was a concern initially, said Hanrahan, but Compute North is “putting in a significant investment to be here. It really is a partnership.”
Hanrahan said NPPD would have to build a new substation to serve the expanded load from the industrial park, but the utility has worked out commitments from Compute North to cover those costs.
In addition to the shear size of the planned expansion, another attraction of the new Compute North is that the load is interruptible. Cryptocurrency mining is usually an around-the-clock operation, but miners have the ability to suspend operations depending on prices and conditions on the electric grid.
An increase in renewable generation on the grid is creating a desire to have more flexible generation, but another way of looking at it is having load that is flexible on the other side, Hanrahan said. “It offers more opportunities to respond and to take advantage of market conditions,” he said.
“NPPD is pleased to see Compute North grow in Kearney, where they can take advantage of our low costs and reliable service. “We too look forward to working with Compute North in meeting their needs for renewable energy, while also looking at how we can both benefit from their flexible demand for power,” Tom Kent, president and CEO of NPPD, said in a statement.
North Carolina public power communities win $120,000 in EV charging awards
March 17, 2021
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
March 17, 2021
North Carolina public power utilities are among the recipients of $422,000 in awards for Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations awarded earlier this month by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) as part of the North Carolina Volkswagen Mitigation Settlement Program.
A total of $120,000, or about 28 percent of the settlement awards, went to public power utilities, including $64,000 to the cities of Albemarle and High Point and the Town of Apex for 14 electric vehicle charging ports. Another $56,000 in awards went to public power communities as a result of applications made either by private industry or state governments in Forest City, Selma, and Smithfield. Those awards will fund another 14 electric vehicle charging ports.
“ElectriCities public power members have a strong track record of paving the way for electric vehicle technology and other sustainable energy options in their local communities,” Phil Bisesi, supervisor of residential energy services for ElectriCities, said in a statement.
In 2016, a federal judge approved a partial settlement with Volkswagen in the automakers emissions cheating scandal. As part of the settlement, VW was ordered to invest $2 billion over 10 years in electric vehicle charging infrastructure and in the promotion of zero-emission electric vehicles. The settlement also included $2.7 billion over three years for an environmental trust to remediate the illegal levels of nitrogen oxides emitted by the VW vehicles.
There were $1.6 million in requests submitted for $1.1 million made available so far for the Level 2 EV Infrastructure Grant Program. North Carolina’s DEQ anticipates additional Level 2 charging station funds will become available in Phase 2 of the Volkswagen Mitigation Settlement Program.
In July, North Carolina passed a bill to appropriate $30.6 million from the Volkswagen Litigation Environmental Mitigation Fund to DEQ for, among other initiatives, diesel bus and vehicle replacements or upgrades and zero-emissions vehicle infrastructure, including DC fast charging stations. Five ElectriCities member cities – Kinston, Lexington, Morganton, New Bern, and Wilson – were among the award winners in the initial round of fast charging station awards.
Separately, ElectriCities offers EV Strategic Plan matching grants to power agency members and has already developed plans for Apex, Shelby, and Wake Forest that provide those communities with a road map for managing new electric loads and promoting the benefits of electric vehicles.
There are already more than 120 electric vehicle charging stations in public power communities in North Carolina. The energy supplies of the 19 ElectriCities member communities that comprise the North Carolina Municipal Power Agency Number 1 (NCMPA1) are already at least 95% carbon dioxide free and some of those communities have 100% net-carbon-free energy.
The 32 member communities that make up the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA) receive power from Duke Energy Progress, which has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by more than 40 percent since 2005.
The American Public Power Association offers a variety of resources for members related to EVs.
APPA recently released a report that explores EV rates for public power.
Calif. CCA signs contract for aggregated residential demand response program
March 16, 2021
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
March 16, 2021
East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) in California has signed an agreement with OhmConnect that aims to lower electricity costs for its customers while reducing usage during critical peak hours.
EBCE’s goal in the deal is to incentivize its customers to shift their energy use away from peak evening hours when solar power fades and more expensive and polluting fossil generation needs to be called on.
The roughly 150,000 active consumers using OhmConnect’s app receive alerts when grid conditions warrant reductions in energy consumption. OhmConnect users that lower their usage compared with their historical usage earn credits, or points, that are redeemable through the company’s web site for prizes, purchases or cash. One point is worth about $0.01.
OhmConnect is “providing us a pretty traditional hedge,” but they are able to execute it through demand response rather than through a generating unit somewhere, Howard Chang, chief operating officer of EBCE, said.
Basically, OhmConnect is providing EBCE, which serves most of Alameda County, with a demand response program. “In essence, they are paying customers to reduce load,” Chang said.
EBCE’s contract calls for OhmConnect to hedge the community choice aggregator’s power needs for certain hours when electricity prices tend to be higher, specifically during evening ramp hours and in the summer. OhmConnect assumes the risk associated with the curtailment and with sourcing the energy supplies from the California Independent System Operator.
The contract calls for OhmConnect to cut EBCE’s demand by 25 megawatts (MW) in 2021. “It puts the performance risk on them,” Chang said. Though the current contract is short term, if it proves successful, “we would hope to continue it into the future,” Chang said.
“This deal demonstrates that the transition away from fossil fuels will not only enhance grid reliability but will also lower costs and empower consumers to drive the clean energy transition,” Nick Chaset, CEO of EBCE, said in a statement.
By aggregating its customers, San Francisco based OhmConnect hopes to create the largest virtual power plant in North America by aggregating and coordinating the curtailment activities of its customers. In one week of August 2020, OhmConnect said its “Resi-Station” technology reduced energy usage in California by almost one gigawatt hour.
EBCE operates a community choice energy program for more than 550,000 residential and commercial customers in Alameda County and 11 incorporated cities and expects to add 75,000 customers this year. EBCE began its service in June 2018 and plans to expand to the cities of Pleasanton, Newark, and Tracy in 2021.