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CPS Energy Board Approves Contract For Rudy Garza To Serve As President and CEO

September 8, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 8, 2022

The Board of Trustees for San Antonio public power utility CPS Energy has voted to approve a contract for Rudy Garza to serve as President & CEO for the utility, effective immediately.

The board previously voted to enter 30-day contract negotiations with Garza during a special Board meeting on August 23, 2022.

Garza’s 3-year contract runs through January 31, 2026, and includes a 2-year extension option, at a salary of $655,000. There is no incentive or bonus pay.

While Garza served as Interim President & CEO for 10 months, he led the company to the approval of the first rate case in 8 years, approval for the next phase of energy efficiency and conservation programs, and discussions with the Board of Trustees and the Rate Advisory Committee on future power generation planning.

Garza has more than 25 years in the utility industry and has served as a leader in both the public and private sectors. Garza has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas in Austin and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Texas.

Garza is the first Hispanic leader to serve as President & CEO of the utility.

Before his Interim President & CEO role, he served as Chief Customer & Stakeholder Engagement Officer for the company.

Garza joined CPS Energy in 2012 and previously served as Senior Vice President of Distribution Service & Operations where he oversaw the maintenance and construction activity of the electric distribution system and has also served the company in the role of Vice President of External Relations.

Ann Arbor, Mich., City Council Advances Public Power Feasibility Study

September 7, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 7, 2022

The Ann Arbor, Mich., City Council on Sept. 6 voted 10-1 to contract with 5 Lakes Energy and NewGen Strategies and Solutions to conduct an energy options analysis and public power feasibility study.

The study approved by the city council will explore pathways to Ann Arbor’s goal of powering the grid with 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

This analysis is broken into three tasks. Task one will analyze various potential pathways for the city to reach its goal of 100% renewable energy. The second will conduct a phase I study into establishing a full municipal utility to provide 100% renewable electricity to all of Ann Arbor. The third will be a rate analysis of a sustainable energy utility, which would create a partial electric utility allowing residents to subscribe to programs intended to reduce their need for electricity from investor-owned utility DTE Energy, said Ann Arbor for Public Power, a nonprofit grassroots citizen group.

The city’s A2Zero climate action plan calls for a transition to 100% renewable power by 2030.

Ann Arbor for Public Power said it will continue promoting community discussion around municipalization and advocating for a transparent feasibility study process with opportunities for public engagement. 

Department of Energy Seeks Input On Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership Program

September 7, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 7, 2022

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Aug. 30 issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input on the $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership Program.

The RFI seeks information from states, Tribes, communities, utilities, project developers, and other key stakeholders to help refine the funding opportunity announcement that will be made later this year and to guide the implementation of the funding over five years to enhance the electric grid in support of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“These programs will accelerate the deployment of transformative projects that will help to ensure the reliability of the power sector’s infrastructure, so all American communities have access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity anytime, anywhere while helping deliver on the President’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035,” DOE said.

The three programs are: 

DOE expects to release the final Funding Opportunity Announcement for FY22 and FY23 funding that will solicit concept papers and applications later this year. 

DOE is requesting feedback through the RFI on the proposed implementation strategy for these three programs. Comments must be received by October 14, 2022, by 5 p.m. EDT and can be submitted by emailing GDORFI@hq.doe.gov.

Sunnova Seeks Approval To Build Solar-Storage ‘Micro Utilities’ in California

September 7, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 7, 2022

Sunnova Energy International has applied to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to develop solar-and-storage “micro-utilities” in California.

Sunnova’s wholly owned subsidiary Sunnova Community Microgrids California (SCMC) said it plans to target newly constructed homes where it can work with developers to design and implement mostly self-sustaining micro-utilities equipped with solar and storage facilities.

The company said the installations would be “largely self-sustaining micro-utilities by equipping new home communities with solar and storage to provide consumers with a better energy service that allows them to live in a more resilient home and community with latest-generation energy infrastructure.”

In its filing with the California commission, SCMC asked the CPUC to qualify it as a “micro-utility” and to request a certificate to construct and operate microgrids under California’s public utilities code.

The company hopes to build multi-property microgrids for residential and commercial customers in California and be the first solar and storage focused micro-utility company in the state able to own and operate behind-the-meter nanogrids, community assets, and front-of-the-meter distribution infrastructure.

SCMC community assets would include complete distribution infrastructure and energy assets including solar, battery storage, and emergency generation, the company said.

California’s first 100 percent renewable energy, front-of-the-meter, multi-customer microgrid, in Humboldt County, came online in June, providing energy resilience for a regional airport and a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station.

Maine And Rhode Island Join New York-led Clean Hydrogen Hub Coalition

September 7, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 7, 2022

Maine and Rhode Island have joined a multi-state clean hydrogen hub in the New England-MidAtlantic region, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced late in August.

The newest members of the New York-led coalition join Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey in the effort to develop a proposal to become one of at least four regional clean hydrogen hubs designated through the federal Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program included in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In addition to the six states, the coalition includes 14 private sector companies, 12 utilities, 20 hydrogen original equipment manufacturers, 10 universities, seven non-profits, two transportation companies, and three state agencies.

Hochul’s office said New York would continue to engage with states and entities interested in joining the coalition.

The coalition members have agreed to work together to lay the groundwork for a proposal for the Department of Energy (DOE) funding opportunity expected to be announced in September or October with up to $8 billion in total funding available for regional clean hydrogen hubs.

They have also committed to collaborate with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), New York Power Authority (NYPA), and Empire State Development (ESD) to develop a clean hydrogen hub proposal.

Partner states will also coordinate with their respective state entities to help align the consortium’s efforts with each state’s climate and clean energy goals. These include Connecticut’s Global Warming Solutions Act goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, Massachusetts’ goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, New Jersey’s Global Warming Response Act goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, Maine’s statutory goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and reduce gross greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050, and Rhode Island’s commitment to achieving 100 percent renewable electricity by 2033.

The coalition also plans to continue to focus on the integration of renewables, such as onshore and offshore wind, hydropower, solar power, and nuclear power, into clean hydrogen production, and the evaluation of clean hydrogen for use in transportation, heavy industry, and power generation.

“This expanded collaboration with Maine, Rhode Island and other like-minded partners will significantly boost the value of our clean hydrogen hub proposal and make the Northeast a stronger, more multi-faceted contender for funding through the U.S. Department of Energy. Innovative technologies are showing the potential of green hydrogen as a fossil fuel alternative and the time is right to take a deeper dive into the many opportunities that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, benefit the workforce and help build a clean energy economy,” Justin E. Driscoll, interim president and CEO of NYPA, said in a statement.

In February, the Department of Energy (DOE) released two requests for information (RFI) to collect feedback from stakeholders to inform the implementation and design of two of the DOE’s clean hydrogen programs, which in total call for investments of up to $9.5 billion.

In March, the governors of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a proposal to vie for DOE’s regional clean hydrogen hub funding opportunity.

Pascoag Utility District, Agilitas Energy Bring R.I.’s First Utility Scale Battery Online

September 7, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 7, 2022

Pascoag Utility District (PUD), in partnership with Agilitas Energy, in July brought Rhode Island’s first utility scale a battery storage project online.

For Pascoag Utility District, the 3-megawatt (MW), 9-megawatt hour (MWh) battery installation helps it shave peak demand and deferred transmission costs. The public power utility entered the project as a non-wires alternative solution to upgrading or installing new transmission lines, which would have cost Pascoag between $6 million and $12 million.

“This project allowed us to save up to $12 million dollars for our customers by avoiding a costly rebuilding of transmission infrastructure,” Mike Kirkwood, general manager of Pascoag Utility District, said in a statement.

There was no cost associated with the project for Pascoag, however, the utility did complete work on a substation that was required for the battery project.

PUD received a grant of $250,000 from Rhode Island’s Office of Energy Resources (OER) for the substation project, which was also funded by an $1.4 million loan from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and approved by OER through the state’s Efficient Building Fund program.

For its part, “Agilitas invested the necessary capital for construction, completed the engineering, procurement and construction for the battery project, and worked with PUD to commission this project,” Barrett Bilotta, president of Agilitas Energy, said via email. As part of the deal, Agilitas will split the transmission and capacity savings with the utility district. The savings come from avoided regional network service charges and installed capacity (ICAP) charges assessed by ISO-New England based on PUD’s peak load.

Agilitas, which owns and operates the battery project, uses it to provide energy to ISO New England grid when wholesale electric prices are high and charges the batteries from the grid when electric prices are low.

“As demand grows due to increased electrification and extreme weather conditions, we want to ensure Pascoag and Harrisville residents experience the same service and value they’ve come to expect,” Kirkwood said. “This project from Agilitas Energy was an easy, no-risk way to keep our operating costs down and deliver cleaner energy in the most cost-effective manner.”

Agilitas, based in Wakefield, Mass., acquired the Ocean State battery project in Rhode Island in April 2021 as part of its acquisition of New England Battery Storage, which added 25 MWh of energy storage capacity to its portfolio.

Planning Meeting For Next Light Up Navajo Scheduled For Sept. 14

September 7, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 7, 2022

A virtual planning meeting for the next Light Up Navajo mutual aid initiative will take place on Sept. 14, 2022.

The meeting for Light Up Navajo IV is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. EST and will include remarks from Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association (APPA), Walter Haase, General Manager, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), Srinivasa Venigalla, Deputy General Manager, NTUA, Shannon Burnette, Assistant Manager, NTUA, and Deenise Becenti, Public Affairs Manager, NTUA.

For more Information, contact Burnette at: shannonb@ntua.com, (928) 729-6248, Paulette Wauneka, paulettew@ntua.com;  (928)-729-6560 or Chelsea Zahne, chelseaz@ntua.com  (928) 729-6452.

APPA worked with NTUA on Light Up Navajo III to help volunteers continue to bring electricity to families in need.

During April-June 2022, 69 volunteers from 14 utilities in 10 different states worked to electrify 137 Navajo Nation homes.

NREL Outlines Paths And Challenges Of Reaching 100% Clean Electric Grid By 2035

September 6, 2022

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
September 6, 2022

There are several pathways to accomplish the decarbonizing of the U.S. electric grid by 2035, but they all come with their own sets of challenges, according to a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The report, Examining Supply-Side Options to Achieve 100% Clean Electricity by 2035, examines the types of supply side clean energy technologies and the scale and pace of deployment needed to achieve 100 percent clean – defined as zero net greenhouse gas emissions – power grid by 2035, which NREL says could put the United States on a path to economy wide decarbonization by 2050.

The authors noted that the report comes on the heels of the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which, with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), aims to reduce economy wide greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The reductions are expected to be more pronounced within the electric power sector with initial estimates of declines of 68 to 78 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Nonetheless, the authors say the laws are likely not sufficient to bring the country all the way to 100 percent carbon dioxide free electricity by 2035.

In the study, which as done in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE) with funding support from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the authors evaluated four core scenarios that were each compared with two reference scenarios, one with current policy electricity demand and the other with higher load growth as a result of accelerated electrification.

The authors noted that the most cost effective pathway to large-scale decarbonization likely involves electrification of buildings and much of the transportation and industrial sectors, as well as “aggressive” energy efficiency and demand management measures. However, they also noted that electrification “will dramatically increase demand, which in turn makes it more difficult to decarbonize the electricity system due to the rate of deployment needed.”

The four core scenarios used in the study are:

Beyond the four core scenarios, NREL also analyzed 142 additional sensitivities in the study in order to capture future uncertainties related to technology cost, performance, and availability.

None of the scenarios in the study include the IRA and BIL energy provisions, but NREL said their inclusion is not expected to significantly alter the 100 percent systems explored.

In all the core scenarios, the 100 percent requirement is met on a net basis, meaning gross emissions can be offset through negative emissions technologies, such as DAC, that can capture carbon dioxide from the air.

In all scenarios, as much as 5 percent of 2035 generation is from fossil fuel technologies. The All Options scenario includes about 660 gigawatts (GW) of fossil capacity of all types in 2035.

Only the No CCS scenario precludes the use of fossil fuel generation; it also has the greatest use of seasonal storage. In the other three scenarios, fossil generators continue to contribute through 2035, but their emissions must be offset by technologies including DAC and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. Fossil plants with carbon capture and storage would have to have emissions offsets because their capture rates are assumed to be 90 percent and upstream methane leakage from natural gas production must also be offset.

In all the modeled scenarios, NREL said new clean energy technologies would be deployed at an “unprecedented scale and rate” to achieve 100 percent clean electricity by 2035.

The models call for wind and solar energy to provide between 60 and 80 percent of generation in the least-cost electricity mix in 2035, with overall generation capacity growing to roughly three times the 2020 level by 2035. That would require the installation of between 40 and 90 GW of solar on the grid per year and 70 to 150 GW of wind power per year by the end of the decade. That growth in renewable generation would represent a fourfold increase in the current annual deployment levels of wind and solar power, NREL noted.

Across the four scenarios, 5 to 8 GW of new hydropower and 3 to 5 GW of new geothermal capacity would also need to be deployed by 2035, as well as 120 to 350 GW of diurnal storage, that is, storage capable of discharging from to 2 to up to 12 hours.

Seasonal storage would also have to play an important role in reaching 100 percent clean energy by 2035, NREL said, because there would be a multiday-to-seasonal mismatch of variable renewable supply and demand if clean electricity comprises 80 to 95 percent of generation. Across the scenarios, seasonal storage capacity in 2035 would need to range from 100 to 680 GW, which would require “substantial development” of infrastructure such as fuel storage, transportation and pipeline networks.

In the Constrained scenario, nuclear capacity more than doubles, reaching 27 percent of generation, while limited growth in the other three core scenarios results in a contribution of 9 to 12 percent, largely from the existing nuclear fleet, NREL said.

Differences in energy contribution among the four core scenarios are largely driven by constraints in transmission and renewable siting, NREL said. In all scenarios, a “significant” amount of new transmission would be needed to deliver energy from wind-rich regions to load centers in the eastern United States. Total transmission capacity in 2035 would need to be 1.3 to 2.9 times current capacity, requiring 1,400 to 10,100 miles of new high-capacity transmission lines per year, NREL said.

Technologies being deployed today “can provide most of U.S. electricity by 2035 in a deeply decarbonized power sector,” but achieving a net-zero electricity sector at the lowest cost will take advances in research and development into emerging technologies, including the “potentially important role of several technologies that have not yet been deployed at scale, including seasonal storage and several CCS-related technologies,” NREL said in the study.

In addition, a growing body of research has demonstrated that the cost of transitioning to 100 percent carbon dioxide free electricity increases steeply as the 100 percent mark is approached. The higher costs of the so-called “last 10% challenge” are driven largely by the seasonal mismatch between variable renewable energy generation and consumption, NREL said.

NREL said it has been studying how to solve the last 10 percent challenge, including outlining key unresolved technical and economic considerations and modeling possible pathways and system costs.

“There is no one single solution to transitioning the power sector to renewable and clean energy technologies,” Paul Denholm, principal investigator and lead author of the study, said in a statement. “There are several key challenges that we still need to understand and will need to be addressed over the next decade to enable the speed and scale of deployment necessary to achieve the 2035 goal.”

Public Power Utilities Express Interest In Participating In SPP Market Development

September 3, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 3, 2022

The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) recently announced that six additional entities including a number of public power utilities have expressed interest in participating in the next phase of the development of a western market.

Avista Corp., Washington State’s Chelan County Public Utility District and Grant County Public Utility District, along with Powerex Corp., Puget Sound Energy and Washington State’s Tacoma Power join Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).

In a letter Aug. 19, the six Pacific Northwest entities declared their intent to work with SPP to develop a western market that “supports reliability and delivers value to our customers.”

Since December 2021, SPP has been working with western stakeholders to learn what they’d like to see out of its proposed day-ahead and real-time market. Based on its potential customers’ input, SPP will develop the Markets+ draft service offering, which will explain how the proposed service will address things like governance structure, market design and transmission availability.

In August, BPA was the first western utility to formally commit to funding further development of SPP’s “Markets+.”

This group of seven entities represents a well-connected footprint with extensive transmission capability, a large fleet of clean flexible hydro resources, and a peak load over 30,000 MW, which is already 50% larger than the smallest RTO, ISO-New England, SPP said.

Markets+ is a conceptual bundle of services proposed by SPP that would centralize day-ahead and real-time unit commitment and dispatch, “provide hurdle-free transmission service across its footprint and pave the way for the reliable integration of a rapidly growing fleet of renewable generation,” SPP said.

For utilities that see value in these services but who aren’t ready to pursue full membership in a regional transmission organization (RTO) at this time, Markets+ provides a voluntary, incremental opportunity to realize significant benefits, according to SPP.

SPP staff met with western stakeholders Aug. 9-10 in Portland, Oregon to review work done on the service offering and discuss outstanding items and next steps. The draft service offering will be distributed Sept. 30, followed by a public comment period, with the final service offering distributed November 18. Interested parties will make a commitment to fund further market development in early 2023.

SPP is a RTO that manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states and provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections.

APPA’s Delia Patterson Reappointed To Serve On DOE Electricity Advisory Committee

September 3, 2022

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
September 3, 2022

Delia Patterson, Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Communications and General Counsel at the American Public Power Association, has been reappointed to serve another term on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC).

Each member of the EAC is appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy for a two-year term. The group reports to the DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Electricity and meets three times a year to advise DOE on a variety of electricity issues.

The 37 members of the EAC come from across the energy community, including state and regional entities, utilities, cybersecurity and national security firms, the natural gas sector, equipment manufacturers, construction and architectural companies, non-governmental organizations, and other electricity-related organizations.

During their two-year term, the EAC members advise DOE on current and future electric grid reliability, resilience, security, sector interdependence, and policy issues.

They periodically review and make recommendations on DOE electric grid-related programs and initiatives, including electricity-related research and development programs and modeling efforts.

Members also identify emerging issues related to electricity production and delivery and advise on federal coordination with utility industry authorities in the event of supply disruptions and other emergencies.

She was first appointed to the EAC by then-Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, who served in the administration of President Trump.

Patterson recently joined the advisory board of E Source, a research, consulting and data science firm for the utility sector.

She was also elected president of the board of directors of the Energy Bar Association this year.

Patterson is also a member of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Future Electric Utility Regulation Advisory Group, and an associate member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee. 

In addition, she is on the board of the Women’s Energy Resource Council and is the member of APPA’s executive leadership team who leads energy policy formulation and advocacy before federal agencies, federal courts, and various energy policy forum.