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APPA, Other Groups Release Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Roadmap

December 1, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 1, 2022

The American Public Power Association (APPA) and other industry partners recently released a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Roadmap for Industry Change through the Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD).

The roadmap is part of a multi-year initiative to support the energy industry’s efforts to ensure a diverse workforce and a sector recognized for its commitment to equity and inclusion practices. It is intended to offer a look at why a commitment to DE&I is essential in the energy sector and what actions should be explored by companies, union partners, and the industry as a unified force.

The roadmap will be followed by years of support in delivering the how, which will come through educational offerings, toolkits, best practice sharing, partnership development, data and metric insights, and more.

Washington, D.C.-based CEWD is a non-profit consortium of more than 120 energy companies, associations, unions, educational institutions, and government entities working in partnership to ensure a skilled, diverse workforce pipeline for the energy industry.

Recommendations from public power utilities to support future considerations or action by the industry in this area can be shared with Ursula Schryver, Vice President, Strategic Member Engagement & Education at APPA, at: uschryver@publicpower.org or CEWD at: staff@cewd.org.

Click here to download the report.

APPA members have access to a wide range of workforce-related resources as a result of APPA’s membership in CEWD.

Missy Henriksen, CEWD Executive Director, discussed the organization’s work in the area of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the primary issues that will drive CEWD’s 2022 workplan in an episode of APPA’s Public Power Now podcast earlier this year.

Joy Ditto, President and CEO of APPA, earlier this year joined the Board of Directors for the CEWD.

Oak Ridge National Lab Tests Blockchain to Protect Grid Against Cyberattacks

December 1, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
December 1, 2022

In an effort to protect against cyberattacks and improve resiliency, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have used blockchain to validate communication among devices on the electric grid.

The ORNL researchers said they used tamper-resistant blockchain to spread configuration and operational data redundantly across multiple servers. The data and equipment settings are constantly verified against a statistical baseline of normal voltage, frequency, breaker status and power quality. The equipment settings are collected at frequent intervals and compared with the last good configuration saved in the blockchain, allowing rapid recognition of when and how settings were changed, whether those changes were authorized, and what caused them, the researchers explained.

Processing the vast amount of data needed to monitor the status of the electric grid is well suited to blockchain technology, which uses a cryptographic method called hashing, where a mathematical computation is performed on bulk data to represent it as numbers in the blockchain. Hashing saves energy and reduces the space needed to store data and enables the blockchain to processes thousands of transactions per second for each intelligent grid device, ORNL said.

ORNL is using the blockchain framework it developed to detect unusual activity, including data manipulation, spoofing, and illicit changes to device settings that could trigger cascading power outages as breakers are tripped by protection devices.

The researchers demonstrated their framework in a test bed within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Research Integration and Deployment Center at ORNL, which uses commercial grade hardware in a closed electrical loop to mimic the architecture of a real substation. ORNL says that approach allows the researches to simulate cyberattacks or accidental misconfigurations in a low risk manner. The ORNL researchers said they are extending the approach to incorporate communications among renewable energy sources and multiple utilities.

The risk of cyberattacks increases as two-way communications between grid power electronics equipment and devices ranging from solar panels to electric car chargers and intelligent home electronics increases, ORNL noted.

“Our system helps determine in near real time whether a fault was triggered by a cyberattack or induced by natural events,” said Raymond Borges Hink, leader of the ORNL research team. “This is the first implementation of blockchain enabling this kind of data validation between a substation, a control center and metering infrastructure.”

The blockchain project is part of the Darknet initiative being led by ORNL and funded by the DOE’s Office of Electricity that aims to secure the nation’s electricity infrastructure by shifting its communications to increasingly secure methods.

Salt River Project, Partners Developing Plans for Regional Hydrogen Hub

November 30, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
November 30, 2022

Salt River Project, along with other members of the Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy (AzCaNE), are developing a regional clean hydrogen hub in the Desert Southwest.

The Southwest Clean Hydrogen Innovation Network, or SHINe, submitted a concept paper to seek federal funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) for key clean hydrogen-focused initiatives, including production, processing, storage, delivery systems, community benefits and other enabling infrastructure.

Arizona, the Navajo Nation and Nevada have abundant sunshine that can be a source of solar power to produce clean hydrogen. In addition, Arizona has the nation’s largest nuclear power plant, which can also be used as a source of clean energy for hydrogen production, AzCaNE members said.

“The SHINe network includes salt cavern storage, heavy-duty transportation, and distribution technologies that will help accelerate the use of clean hydrogen as a source of low-carbon energy powering the economy,” Ellen Stechel, AzCaNE’s executive director, said in a statement.

When fully operational, SHINe aims to help support DOE’s vision of a regional clean hydrogen hub that provides clean energy for hard-to-abate carbon emissions in the transportation, industrial and electricity sectors while maintaining a reliable and resilient electric grid.

The DOE has noted that up to $7 billion is available to fund the development of between six and 10 regional clean hydrogen hubs. Funding for regional clean hydrogen hubs was outlined as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which authorized up to $8 billion for at least four regional clean hydrogen hubs.

In February, the DOE announced two requests for information to collect feedback from stakeholders to inform the implementation and design of the infrastructure law’s Regional Hydrogen Hub and the Electrolysis and Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling Programs.

In March, the governors of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of a regional clean hydrogen hubs.

In September, Maine and Rhode Island joined a multi-state clean hydrogen hub in the New England/Mid-Atlantic region. The New York-led coalition already included Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Sidney Jackson Appointed as General Manager of California’s Pasadena Water and Power

November 30, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 30, 2022

Pasadena, Calif., City Manager Miguel Márquez recently appointed Sidney Jackson as general manager of Pasadena Water and Power (PWP).

Jackson will join the city’s executive team in early January 2023. Until then, Jeffrey Kightlinger will continue to serve as PWP’s interim general manager.

Jackson currently serves as the chief operations officer and deputy general manager at Texas public power utility Austin Energy.

He previously served as the chief operations officer at Minnesota’s Rochester Public Utilities, where he led operations of both the electric and water utilities.

He has served as an elected member of the board of directors for the Midwest Reliability Organization, a regional entity of North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and on NERC committees.

Transmission Line to Link Wind Farm Off Coast of Long Island is Approved

November 30, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
November 30, 2022

The New York State Public Service Commission earlier this month approved a transmission line that will interconnect to a proposed wind farm off the coast of Long Island to the state’s electrical grid.

The 924-megawatt (MW) wind farm is sited in federal waters and would be the largest offshore wind farm to be connected to New York’s electric grid. The 25-mile transmission line will carry electricity from the proposed Sunrise Wind Farm to an existing substation in Brookhaven in Suffolk County.

The transmission line is a high-voltage, 320-kilovolt, direct current (DC) submarine export cable bundle that would be up to 5.2 miles long and enter New York State territorial waters three nautical miles from land. The transmission line then will transition from an offshore cable to an onshore cable that will travel up to 17.2 miles to an onshore converter station. The transmission line is being built by Sunrise Wind LLC.

The Sunrise wind farm is being developed by a partnership of Ørsted and Eversource with support from Con Edison Transmission and the New York Power Authority, which will assist the development of the transmission facilities needed to deliver the offshore wind energy to the electric transmission grid. The wind farm will be more than 30 miles east of Montauk Point.

Sunrise Wind is entering negotiations with New York State contractors and trade labor organizations on a project labor agreement to cover construction activities for the project and committing to paying prevailing wages.

The developers expect construction to start as early as 2023 with the wind farm entering service by 2025.

The offshore wind project will provide Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) customers with clean, affordable energy, Thomas Falcone, LIPA’s CEO, said in a statement. “Both South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind are helping to build a new and dynamic offshore wind industry right here on Long Island — an industry that will protect our environment and provide new clean energy jobs.”

The Sunrise wind farm was awarded as part of New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (inaugural competitive 2018 offshore wind solicitation.

Construction on the South Fork Wind project, New York’s first offshore wind farm, began in February. The project was selected under a 2015 LIPA request for proposals to address growing power needs on the east end of Long Island.

Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Details Model to Develop Carbon-Based Incentives

November 30, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 30, 2022

The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) and the Center for EcoTechnology (CET) recently released a report detailing a new model designed to help municipal light plants (MLPs) develop carbon-based incentives for MMWEC’s NextZero program.

The report, “Carbon-Based Incentives: Aligning Utility Incentives with the Decarbonization Impacts of Efficiency and Electrification Measures,” was produced by CET, with assistance from staff from MMWEC and Shrewsbury Electric and Cable Operations (SELCO). 

MMWEC received a grant from the American Public Power Association’s Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Improvements (DEED) program to help fund the project.

The report details the development of the model, which is designed to help MMWEC’s MLP members set energy efficiency and electrification incentives at levels that are fully aligned with the Commonwealth’s decarbonization objectives, MMWEC noted.

The model uses carbon as the metric for deriving incentive levels and for comparing carbon benefits from a range of measure types, including efficiency, electrification, renewable energy, demand response, and storage. In addition to the carbon analysis, the model also calculates economic impacts of installed measures for the customer and utility. 

The model, to be used by NextZero program managers and utility staff, is designed to be easily adapted to reflect the unique aspects of each utility. Users have control over utility-specific inputs, including electricity pricing, electricity carbon emission factors, existing utility incentives, and carbon price, which is a price per ton of carbon avoided. 

With inputs relevant to MMWEC participants, the model finds that overall, the measures with the largest recommended incentives are ground source and air source heat pumps.  Other top measures from a carbon mitigation perspective are electric vehicles, solar PV, and heat pump water heaters. 

“While the model is a helpful tool to measure carbon and financial impacts of energy efficiency and electrification measures, the study’s authors suggest that other benefits, such as fuel switching and health benefits, be considered in the development of incentives as well,” MMWEC noted.

Ashley Muspratt, President at the Center for EcoTechnology, said that the model “we built allows utilities to set a carbon price, or a willingness to pay for carbon, and the model will set incentives accordingly. This way, a utility is always paying a consistent carbon price, say $50 or $100 per ton of CO2.” 

“The Carbon-Based Incentive Model allows participants in the NextZero program to focus limited resources on measures that eliminate the most carbon emissions at the lowest cost, allowing rates to remain as low as possible,” said MMWEC’s Sustainability Policy and Energy Program Senior Manager, Bill Bullock.  “MMWEC considers low electric rates a built-in incentive to make strategic electrification an easier choice for electric customers in municipally owned electric utilities.”

MMWEC is a not-for-profit, public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created by an Act of the General Assembly in 1975 and authorized to issue tax-exempt debt to finance a wide range of energy facilities. 

MMWEC provides a variety of power supply, financial, risk management and other services to the state’s consumer-owned, municipal utilities.

APPA Approves Six New Projects for Grant Funding

November 29, 2022

by Jackson Bedbury
APPA News
November 29, 2022

The Board of Directors for the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) program met in Burlington, Vermont, from October 27-28 to review open projects and allocate new funding. Of the 13 projects submitted for review, six projects across four states were awarded grants totaling nearly $600,000.

The largest grants awarded $125,000 each to Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Massachusetts) for its Energy Management Park and Educational Project, Stowe Electric Department (Vermont) for its Deployment of Distribution Automation Technologies Pilot Project, and Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant (Massachusetts) for its Deployment of Distribution Automation Technologies Pilot Project.

Smaller grants were also awarded for the Northern California Power Agency’s (California) Hydrogen Project Development Plan, CDE Lightband’s (Tennessee) Artificial Intelligence Enabled Visual Surveillance Demonstration Project, and Anaheim Public Utilities’ (California) Sustainability Education Center.

When reviewing proposals, the DEED program considers criteria including the project’s applicability to other public power utilities, the development of new equipment or methodologies, the timeliness of potential results, and overall customer value.

In addition to the project grants, the board approved three Lineworker & Technical Education Scholarship applications for $2,000 each and five student internships for $4,000 each.

The current DEED Board of Directors comprises Board Chairperson Mike Noreen, Conservation and Efficiency Coordinator, River Falls Municipal Utilities (Wisconsin); David Burnett, Power Director, Brigham City Power (Utah); Brian Meek, Director of Training and Safety, Kansas Municipal Utilities (Kansas); Jennifer Rogers Smith, Director of Member Services, Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (Oklahoma); Darryl Strother, Electric Operations Manager, Rocky Mount Public Utilities (North Carolina); Rachel Huang, Director of Energy Strategy, Research, and Development, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (California); Jared Combs, Business Intelligence Analyst, CDE Lightband (Texas); Jackie Pratt, General Manager, Stowe Electric Department (Vermont); Kyle Roadman, General Manager, Emerald People’s Utility District (Oregon); and Kenneth Roberts, Supervisor of Safety/Training/Mutual Aid Coordinator, ElectriCities of North Carolina (North Carolina).

For more information on the DEED program, to become a DEED member, or to apply for a DEED grant, see the APPA website.

Ribbon Cutting Held for Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company Solar Field

November 29, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 29, 2022

The largest single solar field and the largest public power solar project in Massachusetts is nearing completion, the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) recently reported.

A ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony were held in October at the project site on the Ludlow property of MMWEC, the Commonwealth’s designated joint action agency for public power utilities.

The MMWEC/Master Sergeant Alexander Cotton Memorial Solar Project is a 6.9-megawatt AC/10.34- megawatt DC solar farm constructed on a 35-acre section of MMWEC’s Ludlow campus, which is adjacent to Westover Air Reserve Base.

Six MMWEC member municipal light plants are participating in the project, including those located in Boylston, Ipswich, Mansfield, Marblehead, Peabody and Wakefield. EDF Renewables is the project developer.

The project is named in honor of the late Master Sergeant Alexander Cotton of the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover Air Reserve Base, in appreciation of his dedication and service, and in recognition of the long history between MMWEC and Westover.

MMWEC said the project will generate more than 13,800 megawatt hours per year and will displace nearly 13,220,400 pounds of CO2 emissions from Massachusetts power plants per year, based on current ISO New England average emissions.

Featuring state of the art bifacial module technology, the panels produce energy from direct sunlight as well as light reflected onto the backside of the panels. This allows for better year-round production, including during the winter, when snow cover on the ground reflects light onto the back of the panel, MMWEC noted.

“Consistent with the Commonwealth’s decarbonization roadmap, the solar project allows the participating municipal light departments to increase the non-carbon generation mix in their power portfolios, while helping them to maintain stable rates for their customers,” said MMWEC CEO Ronald DeCurzio.

Clark Public Utilities, Pend Oreille Public Utility District Enter Hydro Power Sales Agreement

November 29, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 29, 2022

Clark Public Utilities and the Pend Oreille Public Utility District (PUD) have entered into a long-term power sales agreement under which Pend Oreille PUD will sell all energy produced by the Box Canyon hydroelectric project in Washington State to Clark Public Utilities from Jan. 1, 2026, through December 2041, with contract extensions available under mutual agreement.

The Clark Public Utilities Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the 16-year power sales agreement on Oct. 18 following unanimous approval by Pend Oreille PUD’s Board of Commissioners on Oct. 4. Clark Public Utilities and Pend Oreille PUD are both located in Washington State.

The agreement “reflects a long tradition of collaboration and cooperation among the state’s customer-owned public utility districts to deliver reliable, responsible power to the local communities served, and is a critical piece of Clark Public Utilities’ strategy to meet state-mandated emissions reduction targets ahead of schedule,” the public power utilities said.

The Box Canyon Dam averages approximately 50 megawatts of generation annually.

Clark Public Utilities will pay the forecasted dam costs and debt service payments associated with the power plant modernization and the environmental mitigation modifications made by Pend Oreille PUD over the last decade.

The contract secures a stable, long-term customer for Pend Oreille PUD, which, since 2019 has undertaken a multi-phase remarketing effort of its energy supply, both in anticipation of and following the closure of the Ponderay Newsprint Company, which represented about 70 percent of the utility’s historical load.

EPA Issues First Final Decision to Deny Plant’s Request to Continue Disposal of Coal Ash

November 28, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
November 28, 2022

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Nov. 18 issued the first final decision to deny a facility’s request to continue disposing of coal combustion residuals (CCR) into an unlined surface impoundment after the deadline to stop such disposal has passed.

Specifically, EPA took final action to deny the deadline extension request submitted by Gavin Power, LLC for the 2,600-megawatt General James M. Gavin Power Plant in Cheshire, Ohio. EPA proposed to deny this request on January 11, 2022.

EPA said it was denying the request for an extension because Gavin has failed to demonstrate that it is in compliance with 2015 CCR regulations. In particular:  

According to the Federal Register this facility must stop placing CCR and non-CCR waste streams into its bottom ash pond no later than April 12, 2023, or such later date as EPA establishes to address demonstrated electric grid reliability issues. 

EPA said its final decision recognizes the importance of maintaining grid reliability and establishes a process for Gavin to seek additional time if needed to address demonstrated grid reliability issues.

Because Gavin is in the PJM Interconnection region, EPA said it closely considered the comments from and discussions with PJM and developed a process that relies on and is consistent with PJM’s existing approach to scheduling outages and protecting electric grid reliability.

Specifically, PJM’s process of maintaining grid reliability requires a facility like Gavin to request a planned outage at least 30 days prior to the start of the outage. PJM confirmed in EPA discussions that 30 days is generally sufficient time to assess a facility’s planned outage request.

To ensure that PJM has adequate time to evaluate a request, EPA’s final action also requires Gavin to submit any request for a planned outage to PJM within 15 days of publication of EPA’s final decision in the Federal Register. EPA said it will continue consultations with relevant electric grid authorities to maintain reliability.

EPA’s CCR Part A Final Rule, published on August 28, 2020, grants facilities the option to request an extension to the deadline for unlined CCR surface impoundments to stop receiving waste under two circumstances.

These facilities could submit a demonstration showing a continued need to use the surface impoundment due to lack of capacity.

EPA received and reviewed 57 applications from CCR facilities requesting deadline extensions and determined that 52 were complete, four were incomplete, and one was ineligible for an extension.

Of the 52 complete applications received, EPA proposed determinations for seven facilities, four in January, two in July, and one in October of 2022. Of the seven determinations, three were proposed denials, and four were proposed conditional approvals.

The January 11th proposed determinations raised a host of new legal positions that have been challenged in Electric Energy, Inc., et al. v. EPA. Petitioners contended EPA’s new interpretation of compliance with the 2015 CCR rule was issued without notice and comment and without EPA acknowledging its sudden change in position.  Briefings in the case are expected to begin in early December.

On March 25, 2022, APPA and the Large Public Power Council (LPPC) submitted joint comments in response to the first set of CCR alternative deadlines to initiate closure demonstrations.

EPA’s proposed actions on the first group of Part A CCR Decisions will profoundly affect the electric utility sector, including public power utilities, the groups said.

Furthermore, the proposed decisions will likely have adverse repercussions for both the remaining unlined surface impoundments as well as other CCR disposal facilities regulated under the federal CCR rule, APPA and LPPC said.