Mich. Public Power Utility Grand Haven Board of Light & Power Details Strong Reliability Performance
March 24, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 24, 2023
Michigan public power utility Grand Haven Board of Light & Power is performing significantly better than both state and national averages across a range of reliability areas.
On March 16, the utility presented the 2022 distribution system reliability indices during a Board of Directors meeting.
The Distribution Reliability Report provides insight into many areas of utility operations, including outage tracking, restoration, and overall system reliability. In all areas the Grand Haven Board of Light & Power is performing significantly better than both state and national averages.
“The BLP has, over the past seven years, invested a considerable amount of money in both our transmission and distribution systems including improving our vegetation management program. The annual reports let us know the return on these improvements for the benefit our customers,” said Board Chairman Mike Westbrook.
Robert Shelley, distribution and engineering manager at the utility, updated the Board on the status of the electrical system’s overall health and reliability. Shelley informed the Board of Directors that electric utilities use three common statistics in measuring distribution system reliability: System Average Interruption Duration Index, System Average Interruption Frequency Index and Customer Average Interruption Duration Index.
SAIDI represents the total length of time an average customer experiences a non-momentary power interruption during the year. For SAIDI, the BLP’s system average outage duration is 2.75 hours, which is below the national average of 7.93 hours and also significantly less than the state average of 14.85 hours.
SAIFI measures the frequency of interruptions. The BLP’s reported frequency of interruption index of 1.38 is lower than the national average of 1.44 and also lower than the state average of 1.65.
CAIDI represents the average restoration time to restore electrical service to the average customer. The BLP’s reported restoration time of 1.99 hours is much less than the national average of 5.52 hours and also significantly less than the state average of 9.01 hours.
Shelley told the Board that it has taken careful planning and engineering to help us achieve these results, but it is also a direct reflection on the dedicated employees of the utility.
Shelley also reported that BLP customers experienced no significant outages during February’s ice storm that blew through Michigan knocking trees and limbs down and cutting power to 700,000 homes and business in other service territories.
The Grand Haven Board of Light and Power serves approximately 15,000 customers in the City of Grand Haven, City of Ferrysburg, Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Robinson Townships.
Department Of Energy Reports Set Pathways for Scaling Clean Energy Technologies
March 23, 2023
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
March 23, 2023
The Department of Energy recently unveiled a set of reports aimed at accelerating the commercialization and deployment of clean energy technologies, particularly clean hydrogen, advanced nuclear, and long duration energy storage.
The Department of Energy says its Pathways to Commercial Liftoff initiative underscores the critical role the agency plays in enabling widespread commercial adoption of the clean energy technologies essential to meeting President Joseph Biden’s goals of achieving 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.
To meet the administration’s long-term decarbonization targets, cumulative investments in the clean hydrogen, nuclear, and long duration energy storage sectors need to increase from about $40 billion to $300 billion by 2030 with continued acceleration until 2050, the Pathways reports concluded.
The clean hydrogen market is among the best poised to reach full-scale commercialization, according to the report on that sector. Clean hydrogen production for domestic demand has the potential to go from less than 1 million metric ton per year to about 10 million metric ton per year in 2030, the report said. It noted that most of the near-term demand will come from transitioning existing end-uses away from the current carbon-intensive hydrogen production such as from natural gas in favor of water electrolysis, but that would require up to 200 gigawatts of new renewable energy sources by 2030, the report said.
The technology is progressing thanks to programs such as the Department of Energy’s clean hydrogen hubs and the tax incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, but more work is needed to address demand uncertainty, workforce development, and other challenges before clean hydrogen can realize its full potential, the report said.
The report on energy storage noted that long duration energy storage is still maturing but has the potential to improve grid resilience, increase the adoption of renewable power generation, and strengthen energy security. Continued development of long duration energy storage will require further cost reductions and an increase in public and private investment, the report said.
The grid may need between 225 gigawatts and 460 gigawatts of long duration energy storage to achieve a net zero carbon economy by 2060, representing $330 billion in cumulative capital investment, the report said. It noted, however, that long duration energy storage could yield $10 billion to $20 billion in annualized savings in operating costs and avoided capital expenditures by 2050 compared with scenarios that do not use long duration energy storage.
Advanced nuclear technology has the potential to provide clean, firm power that can reliably complement the buildout of renewable energy resources, and it has the potential to create long-term, high-paying jobs and to deliver economic opportunities for traditional energy producing communities that already have pre-existing power generation infrastructure, such as coal communities, the report on the sector said.
According to decarbonization models, the United States will need between 550 gigawatts and 770 gigawatts of additional clean, firm capacity to reach a net-zero economy by 2050, regardless of level of renewables deployment, according to the report. Nuclear power “is one of the few proven options that could deliver this at scale, while creating high-paying jobs with concentrated economic benefits for communities most impacted by the energy transition,” the report said.
Advanced nuclear technologies could drive United States nuclear capacity from about 100 gigawatts in 2023 to about 300 gigawatts by 2050, the report said.
EDF, Southern California Public Power Authority Enter 20-Year PPA Tied to Solar Project
March 23, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 23, 2023
EDF Renewables North America on March 21 announced a 20-year power purchase agreement with Southern California Public Power Authority for the energy and renewable attributes from the 117-megawatt Sapphire Solar project.
Sapphire Solar is guaranteed to begin delivery of energy to SCPPA’s participating members, Anaheim, Pasadena and Vernon, by December 31, 2026. Along with the solar production, SCPPA reserves the option to a four-hour battery energy storage system. Sapphire Solar will be located in Riverside County on private land.
In early 2021, EDF Renewables North America announced the completion and commercial operation of two solar projects, one of which is supplying energy and renewable attributes to SCPPA under a 25-year renewable energy credit plus index structure contract.
SCPPA is a Joint Powers Authority, created in 1980, for the purpose of providing joint planning, financing, construction, and operation of transmission and generation projects. Comprised of eleven municipal utilities and one irrigation district, SCPPA’s members serve more than 5 million Californians (2 million customers) across a service area of 7,000 square miles. SCPPA members supply 16% of California’s power.
Salt River Project’s Board of Directors Names Jim Pratt as New GM and CEO
March 23, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 23, 2023
Salt River Project’s Board of Directors has named Jim Pratt as the company’s new General Manager and CEO, the Arizona public power utility said on March 23. Pratt will officially start his new role on May 5.
Pratt started at SRP in 1984 as an engineer. He was named Associate General Manager of Customer Operations and Chief Customer Executive in 2018. In that role, he led SRP teams responsible for servicing SRP’s water and power customers through Water Services, Customer Services and Strategy, Customer Programs and Distribution Grid Services Operations.
Pratt has worked in the utility industry for more than 38 years, with extensive experience in a variety of engineering and management positions relating to the generation, transmission, distribution, grid modernization, water and customer service segments of SRP’s business, SRP said.
Pratt will replace SRP’s current GM and CEO Mike Hummel, who will retire on May 5 after more than 40 years with the utility.
“I have worked with Jim Pratt for 35 years and I am confident that he will be an outstanding GM and CEO,” Hummel said in a statement. “He is a skilled leader who inspires others, encourages innovation and will work tirelessly to support customers.”
With Hummel at the helm since 2018, SRP has taken major steps to transition to a low-carbon resource portfolio, retiring coal, significantly increasing investment in solar generation and battery storage capacity, and committing to advancing renewable technologies to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable water and power as demand has surged, the utility noted.
Hummel also has helped lead SRP’s careful water planning, including working with municipal, tribal and agricultural partners, which has helped serve the Valley with a portfolio of water supplies that is resilient despite a record drought that has impacted the watershed for more than 25 years.
In addition to these efforts, SRP said it has achieved new fiscal heights by earning the highest credit ratings of any large public power entity in the United States, including an AA+ rating from S&P Global and an Aa1 rating from Moody’s Investor Service.
City of Fairburn, Georgia’s Utilities Department Recognized for Safety Efforts
March 23, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 23, 2023
During the 2023 Electric Cities of Georgia conference, the City of Fairburn’s Utilities Department was awarded the Jeff Cook Silver Award Plaque for Safety Excellence.
The Jeff Cook Award for Safety Excellence is awarded to public power utility departments that meet various criteria regarding safety in the workplace.
The award was created to help ECG’s training and safety department encourage their participating cities and municipal organizations to improve their safety programs.
The award was named after Jeffery Cook, to honor the trainer with ECG who passed away due to cancer.
ECG and The Georgia Electrical Municipal Safety Task Force recognize the cities and municipal organizations that have exhibited a continued commitment to safety and whose department has implemented procedures to ensure the safety of their staff.
To achieve the standard required by this award, utility departments submit an application that documents their commitment to safety.
Some of the topics that are judged in the application process include:
- Employee Safety Awareness
- Training & Education
- Regularly Documented Safety Meetings
- Accident Investigation Procedures
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Protective Devices
- Facilities and availability of safety equipment on site
- Employee Procedures
- Management Participation and more
Florida Municipal Electric Association Details How Legislation Will Undercut Public Power
March 21, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 21, 2023
Legislation working its way through the Florida Legislature would substantially limit the ability of public power electric utilities to transfer revenues to cities’ general funds, which will inordinately affect rural, often economically distressed, communities that have a weaker tax base, the Florida Municipal Electric Association said on March 21.
“Municipal utilities have constitutional authority to transfer revenue generated from assets owned and operated by the local government to the general government budget. These dollars are often used to provide residents with critical life and safety services, including police and fire departments,” said Amy Zubaly, Executive Director of FMEA.
At issue are two bills, HB 1331 and SB 1380. The Florida Legislature’s current session began on March 7. Both bills as amended the afternoon of March 21 would take effect July 1, 2024, if signed into law by Florida’s governor.
“Prohibiting or limiting general fund transfers would eliminate a city’s right as the utility owner to earn a reasonable return on the investment in its utility systems, a recognized right of every utility owner and operator, to provide an essential service and promote a higher quality of life in their communities,” Zubaly said.
The bills “will have innumerable unintended consequences for millions of Florida residents and businesses receiving utility services from a municipality. The legislation will undoubtedly raise costs and diminish the quality of life, through reduced services provided or higher taxes, for millions of Floridians already struggling with the burdens of inflation.”
Historically, public power utilities in Florida have, under their constitutional Home Rule Authority, transferred enterprise fund revenue from assets owned and operated by the local government to the general government budget.
The transfer rate varies city by city based on operating expenses, debt service costs, and the desired level of reinvestment in the assets owned. Municipal utilities focus on reinvestment in their communities.
PJM Offers Details on Initial Capacity Market Reform Proposal
March 21, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 21, 2023
The PJM Interconnection recently presented stakeholders with an early outline of its initial proposal aimed at improving key aspects of the PJM capacity market construct.
At the request of stakeholders, in the March 15 meeting of the Resource Adequacy Senior Task Force, Markets personnel presented a preliminary Problem Statement and Issue Charge framing what they envisioned as key areas to be addressed. They noted that their drafts were based on the PJM Board of Managers Feb. 24 letter that launched the CIFP process and identified key areas to address.
The first stage of the CIFP begins with a presentation of PJM’s formal proposal on March 29. The work of the RASTF and related key work activities will be on hiatus pending completion of the CIFP process, PJM announced.
The PJM proposal focused on the following areas directed by the Board in its Feb. 24 letter:
- Reliability Risk Modeling: Enhancements to how PJM models risk for reliability aim to more accurately reflect the likelihood and severity of extreme weather events. Model improvements enhance how PJM determines procurement targets in future years;
- Capacity Accreditation: Inaccurate accreditation of resources, PJM said, artificially inflates supply, depresses clearing prices and risks premature resource retirement. Marginal accreditation accredits each resource to reflect its expected incremental contribution to system reliability.
- Winter Qualification Requirements: PJM proposed minimum requirements aligned with recommendations by other grid operators. These requirements are also informed by NERC requirements and ongoing study of extreme events, specifically Winter Storm Elliott.
- Performance Assessment Reform: PJM proposed to enhance varying levels of resource testing, assessment and compliance obligations to ensure committed capacity may deliver when needed.
- Market Power Mitigation Rules: This area focuses on reforms to the market seller offer cap in order to ensure needed investments are attracted for reliability.
The next annual capacity auction, or Base Residual Auction, covers the 2025/2026 Delivery Year and is scheduled for June.
PJM and stakeholders discussed risks and merits of delaying that and other capacity auctions so that any FERC-approved rule changes would be included in subsequent auctions.
Stakeholder feedback taken at the March 15 and previous meetings will help inform the Board’s final decision on a proposed auction schedule that is subject to FERC approval.
Benefits of Distributed Wind Generation Detailed in Report
March 21, 2023
by Peter Maloney
APPA News
March 21, 2023
Despite a recent decline in installations, distributed wind energy generation can provide value and benefits for many communities, according to a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which says its data can help guide communities value the benefits of distributed wind.
Even though small-wind-turbine manufacturers have seen increased interest in microgrids and hybrid systems that pair wind energy with other renewable energy sources, like solar panels and energy storage, newly distributed wind energy capacity dropped from about 22 megawatts in 2020 to 12 megawatts in 2021, according to national laboratory researchers.
The researchers partially attributed that decline to a lack of knowledge about distributed wind energy’s value in terms of economic benefits, grid services, reliability and resilience, and energy security. They noted, however, that a Department of Energy program can help fill some of those knowledge gaps.
In 2018, the Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office began the Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad project to evaluate how communities could safely, effectively, and efficiently integrate wind energy into distribution, islanded, hybrid, or microgrid systems.
The program was a collaborative effort of researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Idaho National Laboratory.
The researchers found that distributed wind energy generation can provide a variety of value streams, ranging from bulk energy services to societal impacts such as energy resilience and more cost-effective energy systems. The values depend on ownership, system configuration and whether the energy is distributed to individual homes or to the grid, the researchers said.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers designed a framework to estimate distributed wind energy’s actual value across a range of case studies and scenarios. National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sandia members of the team examined advanced controls that can compensate for, or even forecast, changes in wind speeds to improve the wind turbine operations. Idaho National Laboratory researchers looked at how distributed wind energy could provide greater reliability and resilience to communities that experience extreme weather events and also evaluated the potential threat cyberattacks might pose to distributed wind energy systems.
The researchers found that coupling distributed wind energy with solar power and energy storage can enhance consistency in power generation. “Compared to solar power, distributed wind energy provides a different generation profile that can potentially serve customers better both on its own and in hybrid systems,” Caitlyn Clark, a researcher at National Renewable Energy Laboratory and lead investigator for the project, said in a statement.
Minnesota’s Rochester Public Utilities Launches Bring Your Own Thermostat Program
March 21, 2023
by APPA News
March 21, 2023
Minnesota public power utility Rochester Public Utilities is launching a Bring Your Own Thermostat program to help reduce energy consumption during periods of high demand.
RPU’s voluntary demand response program is designed to reward customers for reducing their electricity use during periods of high demand, while helping the environment and reliability of the grid, the utility said on March 20.
Program participation requires customers to agree to brief, limited peak savings events, which adjust their thermostats during peak electric demand periods from May 1 through September 30.
Peak demand periods for adjustments typically occur on hot or humid days, but peak savings events may also be called under other circumstances to reduce strain on the grid. Peak savings events will not occur on weekends or holidays.
Customers who install qualified smart thermostats will receive a one-time $50 enrollment incentive, in the form of a bill credit, and those that stay enrolled throughout the summer season will receive a year-end $25 bill credit.
“Our new BYOT program is part of RPU’s continuing efforts to take advantage of newer technologies. Smart thermostats are part of a growing number of energy efficiency tools developed in recent years, that can be monitored and controlled remotely by users,” said Patty Hanson, Manager of Utility Programs and Services at RPU, in a statement. “The thermostats have been shown to reduce customer energy bills, and in large numbers, they could significantly reduce electric grid load, especially during hot summer months when air conditioning use is high.”
Calif. Community Choice Aggregator Seeks Storage, Renewable Energy and Resource Adequacy Bids
March 20, 2023
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
March 20, 2023
California community choice aggregator MCE has issued a request for offers seeking energy storage, renewable and carbon-free energy and resource adequacy proposals.
MCE is seeking offers for renewable energy — including renewable energy paired with energy storage — and stand-alone energy storage. Additionally, MCE is seeking offers for firm block carbon free energy and resource adequacy.
Offers will be accepted between March 20 and April 14, 2023, and will be evaluated and shortlisted on a rolling basis.
Additional details on the RFO are available here.
Serving a 1,200-megawatt peak load, MCE provides electricity service and programs to more than 575,000 customer accounts and 1.5 million residents and businesses in 37 communities across four Bay Area counties: Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, and Solano.
The American Public Power Association has initiated a new category of membership for community choice aggregation programs.