BPA Reports Strong Financial Results, Proposes Holding Power and Transmission Rates Flat
December 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 2, 2022
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) recently announced financial results that exceeded expectations for fiscal year 2022 that ended Sept. 30 and proposed to hold power and transmission rates flat overall.
The results outlined in the agency’s annual report “demonstrate the agency’s financial strength, supported by record setting revenue performance and continued cost management in the face of supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures,” BPA said.
BPA met all of its annual performance targets and finished the year with higher-than-expected net revenues totaling $964 million against a target of $172 million.
“Each quarter, we have signaled our expectations that Power and Transmission were expected to have a solid year, and I’m happy to report that was in fact the case, with both business lines significantly beating net revenue targets,” said Marcus Harris, BPA’s acting chief financial officer in a statement. “And after making our planned 39th consecutive U.S. Treasury payment of roughly $950 million, reserves balances ended the year well above our Reserves Distribution Clause thresholds.”
The Reserves Distribution Clause is a component of BPA’s financial reserves policy that triggers when reserves, measured in days cash on hand, reach pre-established targets.
At the end of FY 2022, agency days cash on hand was 233 days, with both Power Services and Transmission Services well above their 60-day lower thresholds.
Reserves were high enough to trigger the Reserves Distribution Clause in the amount of $500 million for Power Services and $63.1 million for Transmission Services.
At a recent quarterly business review, BPA announced it will consider repurposing financial reserves for Power and Transmission rate reduction in FY 2023, as well as for other high-value business unit specific purposes. BPA will make the final decision in December after it reviews customer and stakeholder feedback.
For transmission rates, a portion of BPA’s strong FY 2022 financial performance is being proposed to keep BPA’s 2024 and 2025 rates flat.
For power rates, that financial performance provided an opportunity to include in power rates $129 million per year in additional risk protection without a rate increase.
The additional risk protection increases the chances that BPA will see continued strong financial performance during the 2024 and 2025 rate period by building a financial buffer against the increased market volatility that the region is observing, it said.
As a nonprofit entity, BPA is legally required to cover its costs and adjust rates accordingly. BPA establishes those rates for two-year periods through administrative proceedings called for by statute. Similarly, BPA makes adjustments to the non-rate terms and conditions of its open access tariff for transmission service through a separate administrative process.
President Biden Signs Legislation to Avert Railroad Strike
December 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 2, 2022
President Biden on Dec. 2 signed into law legislation that will avert a strike by railroad workers. In a recent letter to President Biden, Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association (APPA), said that a work stoppage would “seriously threaten” the reliability of electric grids in public power communities.
The U.S. Senate on Dec. 1 voted 80-15 to prevent a strike by railroad employees by imposing contract terms on several unions that had rejected a tentative agreement struck with railroad companies in September. The House approved the imposition of contract terms on Nov. 30 by a vote of 290-137.
In a Nov. 18 letter to President Biden, Ditto noted that public power utilities rely on railroads to receive fuel, chemicals, and other equipment necessary “to provide their communities with essential electric service.”
A work stoppage “would seriously threaten the reliability of the electric grids in their communities, as well as further pressure already strained supply chains and increase prices at a time of already high inflation,” she said.
Artificial Intelligence Technology Boosts NYPA Drone Inspection Program
December 2, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
December 2, 2022
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is significantly improving the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) in-house drone inspection program, allowing transmission lines to be more quickly and thoroughly evaluated and any potential issues that could lead to power failure to be identified earlier, NYPA reported on Nov. 22.
NYPA said the initiative ties in with its strategic priorities involving the development of utilizing innovative energy solutions and digitizing and modernizing grid infrastructure to advance the efficient delivery of clean power statewide.
“Drone technology has the potential to streamline the way we analyze our transmission assets,” said Christina Park, NYPA’s director of asset intelligence solutions, in a statement.
“The proof-of-concept testing showed that using an artificial intelligence-based platform significantly reduced the time required for inspection and analysis,” she said. “Asset images can be analyzed in hours or days rather than months and allow our maintenance groups to prioritize repairs and reduce the potential of failure. This collaboration allows NYPA to leverage new technology to meet its mission of providing reliable, low-cost and clean energy to customers.”
As NYPA builds its comprehensive in-house drone program and uses drone technology to inspect its 1,400 circuit miles of transmission lines, the need for a seamless way to manage and analyze the data is critical, it noted.
In 2021, NYPA sought competitive bids and evaluated various vendors in the AI and analytics space for an AI-powered solution to streamline the process of analyzing drone-captured data.
Buzz Solutions, an AI-powered software platform for data management, data processing, anomaly detections, and analytics for power line and grid infrastructure inspections, was selected in the open bidding process.
NYPA said its drone pilots have captured and uploaded thousands of photos to demonstrate how the AI solution can quickly review imagery for efficient and more accurate reports. The system detects faults for transmission and distribution lines and can reduce inspection costs by minimalizing in-person inspections, while helping reduce potentially dangerous situations.
With the new platform, NYPA can analyze each image in a fraction of a second while still providing highly accurate results and obtaining a more comprehensive collection of data.
NYPA’s VISION2030 strategy aims to make NYPA the first fully digital utility by 2030.
Through its growing number of industry partnerships, NYPA hopes to drive the industry toward digital transformation with the adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to track assets, understand high-risk infrastructure areas, prioritize maintenance work orders and reduce risk associated with those locations.
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.