Glendale Water & Power Launches Off-Peak Electric Vehicle Charging Rebate Program
July 22, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 22, 2022
California public power utility Glendale Water & Power (GWP) announced the launch of a new residential program for electric vehicle (EV) drivers called the Off-Peak EV Charging Rebate program.
The program, in partnership with Sagewell, incentivizes EV owners to charge their vehicles overnight on weekdays between 9:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. and any time on the weekend in exchange for a credit of $8 a month paid out once per year.
The program shifts EV load to off-peak hours without any special hardware or separate meter needed. Participants will program their vehicles to charge during off-peak hours, and software algorithms developed by Sagewell will confirm off-peak charging compliance from AMI smart meter data.
Enrollment requires an active GWP residential electric account, and a Level 2 charger or 240-volt charging cable provided by the vehicle manufacturer.
With this program, other communities have seen participants charge off-peak at least 90% of the time, efficiently integrating EV load with the distribution system, GWP said.
EV customers can inquire about GWP’s time-of-use rates to also maximize the benefits of charging at off-peak hours, the utility said.
Arizona’s Southwest Public Power Agency Signs Solar And Storage Power Purchase Agreement
July 22, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 22, 2022
Arizona’s Southwest Public Power Agency Inc. (SPPA) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a BrightNight joint venture (JV) for the delivery of 300 megawatts of solar energy and 600 megawatt-hours of battery storage.
This is the largest renewable power purchase in SPPA’s operational history and will supply 21 of SPPA’s constituent members who are working to meet growing demand and carbon reduction goals.
Power will be supplied from BrightNight’s Box Canyon project located in Pinal County, Arizona, held jointly with BrightNight’s JV partner, Cordelio Power.
The project recently completed its final major permitting milestones and is expected to begin operation in 2025. It will provide approximately one-third of SPPA’s peak capacity needs and 19-21% of SPPA’s energy needs.
The PPA is the result of a competitive solicitation.
Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Enters Into Solar Plus Storage Agreement
July 22, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 22, 2022
Convergent Energy + Power on July 18 announced that its Puerto Rico subsidiary has entered into a power purchase and operating agreement with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) for a 100-megawatt (MW) solar generation project paired with a 55-MW battery to be located in Coamo, Puerto Rico.
The solar-plus-storage system will be owned and operated by Convergent’s Puerto Rico subsidiary, Convergent Coamo.
Subject to satisfaction of customary conditions, the system is currently expected to come online in 2024 and is part of a larger plan to accelerate Puerto Rico’s strategic clean energy transition.
Puerto Rico has set a goal of achieving 40% renewable energy by 2025 and 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Convergent’s large-scale solar-plus-storage system is among the first awarded by PREPA in response to its multi-tranche solicitation effort to modernize Puerto Rico’s electric grid.
Company Announces U.S. Solar Roof Manufacturing Facility In Georgetown, Texas
July 22, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 22, 2022
GAF Energy has signed a lease and begun construction on a 450,000 square-foot facility in Georgetown, Texas, a public power community. Construction is expected to be completed in June 2023.
Once improvements are complete, the new facility will serve as the company’s second U.S. manufacturing center for its solar roof, Timberline Solar, the only roof system to directly integrate solar technology into traditional roofing processes and materials.
GAF Energy plans to hire 265 employees in high tech jobs over the next 10 years at the Georgetown facility. The total capital investment for the project is estimated to be over $100 million in that time.
GAF Energy will receive a total combined incentive package worth more than $3.24 million from local jurisdictions, including:
- A City of Georgetown property tax abatement for 10 years of 75 percent for business personal property and 50 percent for real property, valued at $2.35 million;
- A five-year job creation grant with a total value of $395,000, paid by the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation;
- The retirement of renewable energy credits to offset the company’s electric usage for five years to certify the facility as using 100 percent renewable energy, valued at $500,000.
The net 10-year economic impact to Georgetown is estimated to be $3.75 million.
Owensboro Municipal Utilities Seeks Bids For Cost Of Service And Rate Design Study
July 22, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 22, 2022
Kentucky’s Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) is soliciting proposals for the performance and development of a cost of service and rate design study through a request for proposals (RFP) issued on July 18.
OMU is contemplating a cost-of-service study with rate design for its electric utility and a cost-of-service study with rate design for its water utility with the option of performing a five-year financial plan for each study.
Both studies’ emphases will be to provide funding for operating costs, reasonable operating reserves after funding operations, debt service, and capital projects; determine actual cost of providing utility service to each customer class to identify separate fixed and variable costs that are specific to each customer class as well as a development of a five-year financial plan identifying projected future revenue requirement patterns.
Click here for the RFP.
OMU is a public power, water and telecommunications municipal utility serving the City of Owensboro, Ky., currently serving approximately 28,000 electric meters and 26,000 water meters in Daviess County, Ky.
New Participants In Western Markets Exploratory Group Include Public Power Utilities
July 22, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 22, 2022
Members of the Western Markets Exploratory Group (WMEG) announced on July 21 that they have expanded their membership by adding eleven new participants to the current roster of fourteen utilities totaling twenty-five member participants across the west. Several of the new participants are public power utilities.
WMEG, which was created in 2021, is exploring the potential for a staged approach to new market services including day-ahead energy sales, transmission system expansion, power supply and grid solutions, and existing and emerging public policies.
The eleven new members added to the group are: Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Avista Corp., Balancing Authority of Northern California, Bonneville Power Administration, Chelan County PUD No. 1, El Paso Electric Company, PUD #2 of Grant County, NorthWestern Energy, Tacoma Power, Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, and Western Area Power Administration.
Current WMEG membership includes 14 transmission owning utilities across the Desert Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and the Mountain West and includes Xcel Energy Colorado, Arizona Public Service (APS), Black Hills Energy, Idaho Power, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, NV Energy, PacifiCorp, Platte River Power Authority, Portland General Electric, Puget Sound Energy, Salt River Project, Seattle City Light, Tucson Electric Power, and Public Service New Mexico.
Many of the utilities in the group are currently participating in energy imbalance markets and the ongoing development of day-ahead markets.
WMEG is developing pathways to a Western organized market that would allow participants to develop an initial market design proposal and roadmap up to and including operating as a Regional Transmission Organization, depending upon what each state and/or utility determines is in the best interest of their customers.
Utilicast, an energy consulting company, will assist WMEG in developing a roadmap that will identify market requirements, interdependencies, and timelines. WMEG expects these work products will be available towards the end of 2022.
Bureau of Land Management Approves Arizona-California Transmission Line Project
July 21, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 21, 2022
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has give the green light for construction of the Ten West Link Transmission Line project, which will facilitate increased renewable energy development and delivery in Arizona and California.
The BLM’s Notice to Proceed authorizes Delaney Colorado River Transmission LLC (DCR) to begin construction of the 125-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line that will connect existing substations near Tonopah, Arizona and Blythe, California.
The Ten West Link route traverses a region with some of the highest potential for utility-scale solar photovoltaic energy development in the nation, BLM said on July 14.
The project “will provide critical transmission infrastructure to support the development of future utility-scale solar energy resources and will boost the reliability of the bulk power system for millions of customers in Central Arizona and Southern California,” it said.
The project is expected to be operational by the end of 2022.
DCR Transmission, LLC is a joint venture led by affiliates of Starwood Energy Group, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, Conn., which specializes in energy infrastructure investments.
New APPA Report Details Electrification Trends, Hurdles For Wider Adoption
July 21, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 21, 2022
A new report issued by the American Public Power Association (APPA) analyzes trends in electrification and identifies at least three major hurdles that need to be overcome to realize wider adoption of electrification.
The report, which was prepared by Paul Zummo, Director for Research and Development at APPA, said that the electrification of end-use technologies, such as electric space and water heating as well as electric vehicles (EVs), offers potential benefits to the environment and consumers. Electrification efforts that are both environmentally beneficial and comparatively economical have been termed beneficial or efficient electrification.
The report analyzes trends in electrification deployment through the current day and discusses potential developments.
Potential benefits of electrification include, but are not limited to, reduced CO2 emissions, more efficient use of energy, long-term fuel savings, and lower overall monthly energy costs, the report said.
“Yet there are several potential challenges, including the following: electrified space heating is still generally more efficient in warmer climates than colder climates, up-front prices for many EV models are higher than for traditional transportation, and the overall cost of converting to electrified end uses may be prohibitive for many customers.”
The first part of the report analyzes currently available data showing relative percentages of electrification in different parts of the United States. Because adoption of space heating is dependent on certain key variables, the first part of this report primarily focuses on this aspect of electrification, though it does relate some current EV market data and future projections.
The data reveal that in some regions — particularly the Southeast and Southwest — electrification of space heating is more prevalent than in other areas of the country. Furthermore, residential customers who have electric heating in their homes do not have higher energy bills than those who primarily rely on fossil fuels, and this is due to higher incidences of electrification in states with comparatively low electric rates and more temperate or warmer climates, the report said.
The second part of the report focuses on the future of electrification and identifies at least three major hurdles that need to be overcome to realize wider adoption of electrification.
These three factors are: the cost of transitioning energy resources to electric, potential (and existing) supply chain constraints associated with the materials needed for batteries, and limitations of the existing electric grid, both in terms of wires and generating capacity.
This part of the report includes a discussion of the changing resource mix and how this may impact some of the environmental aspects of electrification.
“While there are also associated concerns, these three stand out as the most pressing. There have been multiple studies on all these issues, and this report borrows and expands upon this research.”
The purpose of the report is to draw out and amplify these barriers to adoption and discuss potential approaches to ameliorating them.
State Transportation And Energy Office Groups Awarded Funds For EV Collaboration
July 21, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 21, 2022
The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced on July 20 a $1.5 million award to the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) that will foster collaboration in the development and deployment of a national electric vehicle (EV) charging network.
“The partnership will convene stakeholders across local, state, and federal government to ensure that EV charging station infrastructure investments are made in a strategic, coordinated, efficient, and equitable manner with public and private-sector partners,” the Department of Energy said.
Key focus areas of the award include:
- Facilitating peer exchange and regional dialogues to build capacity, lift up best practices, and ensure coordination across a national EV charging network that also reflects local needs.
- Identifying and providing data, technical, and programmatic assistance needs to develop, implement, and refine state EV charging plans.
- Enhancing communication between state and federal agencies to enable effective, coordinated and timely EV charging planning and implementation.
The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation was created through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to facilitate collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
NASEO is comprised senior officials from the 56 State and Territory Energy Offices, as well as affiliates from the private and public sectors.
AASHTO represents the highway and transportation departments in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The joint office recently announced a partnership to support EV charging with APPA, Edison Electric Institute, and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to inform electric system investments and support state planning.
New York Governor Recommends Justin Driscoll To Serve As President and CEO Of NYPA
July 21, 2022
by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 21, 2022
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on July 20 recommended Justin Driscoll to serve as President and CEO of the New York Power Authority (NYPA).
Driscoll was appointed by NYPA’s Board of Trustees to serve as Interim President and CEO in October. The governor’s recommendation comes after a national search and recognizes the work Driscoll has accomplished in the previous year, NYPA said.
Driscoll previously served as chief legal officer of NYPA.
Before joining NYPA, he was engaged in the private practice of law and represented clients that included Fortune 500 companies, governmental entities and energy companies, in complex commercial litigation and regulatory matters.
Driscoll serves on several boards including The Alliance to Save Energy, New York City’s Urban Green Council, the Large Public Power Council, and the World Resources Institute’s Global Energy Advisory Board.