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Alltricity Network Report
From the Desk of Richard Putnicki, Executive Director, RMEL DON'T MISS IMPORTANT OPERATIONS AND ENGINEERING STRATEGY SHARING AT RMEL'S 2018 SPRING CONFERENCE The Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference is less than 3 weeks away, May 20-22 in Keystone, CO. We are really excited about the program of quality, relevant topics that RMEL members have put together. You won't want to miss this event, and now is a great time to make sure your company is represented. See the lists of electric utilities and services and supplier companies registered so far. Take advantage of the diverse industry representation by attending our Spring event! One of the best qualities of RMEL is the diversity of electric utility types that participate. Many of the challenges shared by investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, municipalities, public power districts, generation and transmission associations, government-owned utilities, independent power producers and services and supplier companies are similar, and everyone benefits from hearing different approaches to solutions. We continually emphasize the registration lists and reference presentation materials to help find answers to current issues and increase your professional resource network. The knowledge base of services, supplier and associate members is also a fantastic resource. For those of you that haven't registered and are thinking about the Spring Conference: take another look at the agenda. The program really speaks for itself. Don't miss this opportunity to use RMEL's Spring Conference to build your network. The Spring Conference program of 25+ sessions is designed from the very start by RMEL members collectively discussing the biggest engineering and operations questions and struggles they are facing at all levels of their utility. The best ideas make the cut, and from there members find the people who have the answers.
Day 2's General Session is the popular Electric Utility Executive Leadership Panel. Leaders from several utilities will share their strategies for moving forward with today's biggest industry challenges during this panel, while sharing insight on emerging issues and future planning. The panel will feature: Alice Jackson, President, Xcel Energy - Colorado; Bruce Rew, VP, Operations, Southwest Power Pool; Dawn Roth Lindell, Acting Executive VP & Chief Operating Officer, Western Area Power Administration; and Mindy Tagler, Sr. VP & CFO, Holy Cross Energy. Tom Kent, VP & COO, Nebraska Public Power District, & 2018 President, RMEL, will moderate the panel. You won't want to miss this important discussion. I hope to see you in Keystone May 20-22! UPCOMING JUNE EVENTS Take a look at the educational offerings our committees have prepared for you in June. We will be taking two important regional symposiums to Austin and Omaha. We also have a leadership workshop focusing on teamwork on the schedule, and close out the month with our annual scholarship fundraiser, the RMEL Foundation Golf Tournament. Transmission Resiliency, Response and Restoration Symposium This symposium will explore different aspects of preparing for and responding to natural disasters from the perspectives of resiliency (examples: California wildfires, southeast hurricanes, Nebraska tornadoes and ice storms), response (examples: U.S. Virgin Islands lessons learned, Hurricane Harvey air response and staging, mutual assistance programs) and restoration (example: transformer relocation during restoration efforts). Effective Teams and Myers Briggs Workshop Utilizing the work of Patrick Lencioni's "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team", you will learn about and experience specific tools and approaches to building high-functioning teams. The session on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator will provide you insights to your own style and its impact on your leadership. By the end of the session, you will have an action plan for moving from teamwork pain to organizational gain in your own workgroup. Steam Generation Cycling Symposium The RMEL Steam Generation Cycling Symposium will provide an interactive forum for presentations and discussion surrounding the operational environment and the resulting impacts of increased cyclic operation of coal generation facilities. The increased penetration of intermittent and low fuel cost generation in today's integrated energy marketplace has influenced the demand for flexible generation from coal generators with increased cycling conditions including low load operation, starts/stops, and ramping. This one-day symposium will cover information pertaining to energy market conditions, and the associated impacts on plant condition and maintenance, operation and solutions to these challenges. RMEL Foundation Golf Tournament The 2018 Golf Tournament benefits the RMEL Foundation Scholarship Program. Contact our office to find out all the ways you support the future of our industry, not to mention enjoy a wonderful round of golf with your industry colleagues at the beautiful scenic Arrowhead Golf Course. Call us to get registered! The foursomes are going fast! The RMEL Foundation provides scholarships to deserving and qualified university/college students focused on engineering or curriculum related to the electric energy industry with the intent of encouraging students to pursue a career in the electric energy industry. The Foundation also provides scholarships to those pursuing an electric industry position certificate or associate degree at a college (community college, two-year college or a four-year university). Thank you for your continued engagement in RMEL programs and support of the RMEL Foundation. I am excited to continue working together toward RMEL's mission: RMEL, through its diverse membership, educational events, and programs, facilitates the discovery of solutions and strategies for vital issues facing the electric utility industry. See you soon!
Education and Upcoming Events
Don't Miss These Upcoming RMEL Events 
Alltricity Network Member Information
RMEL’s trusted network is now accessible on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. These are forums intended for RMEL members only. Working side by side in a cooperative manner, RMEL members band together for the common goal of bettering the industry and improving service for utility customers. For more than 100 years, these key principles have proven successful and more importantly are tried and true methods for building strong business relationships.
Industry Information
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 14 projects to receive approximately $7 million in federal funding under the funding opportunity announcement, DE-FOA-0001816, Advanced Components for 65 Percent Combined Cycle Efficiency, Super Critical Carbon Dioxide (sCO2) Power Cycles and Advanced Modular Heat Engines. These cost-shared research and development projects will support the goals of The Office of Fossil Energy’s Advanced Energy Systems Program by developing advanced, highly efficient, turbine-based technologies for coal-derived synthesis gas, coal-derived hydrogen, and natural gas. Alabama Power's Smart Neighborhood is near completion, bringing together for the first time in the Southeast high-performance homes, energy efficient systems and appliances, connected devices and a microgrid on a community-wide scale. Smart Neighborhood is a future-focused, energy-efficient community with homes that are rated 35 percent more efficient than standard Alabama homes being built today. The homes, built by Signature Homes, provide a glimpse into what residential construction may look like in 20 years, and are equipped with cutting-edge systems and appliances that give customers more control over their home's features and energy use. Enterprise Products Partners, a Texas-based midstream company, has started commercial operations at its new Orla cryogenic natural gas processing complex in Texas by commissioning the initial processing train Orla 1. The Orla 1 gas processing plant, which is being built in the Delaware Basin in Reeves County, has been designed to have a capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. According to Enterprise Products, the Orla 1 plant has the capability of extracting more than 40,000 barrels per day (BPD) of natural gas liquids (NGL). Enterprise Products Partners, a Texas-based midstream company, has started commercial operations at its new Orla cryogenic natural gas processing complex in Texas by commissioning the initial processing train Orla 1. The Orla 1 gas processing plant, which is being built in the Delaware Basin in Reeves County, has been designed to have a capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. According to Enterprise Products, the Orla 1 plant has the capability of extracting more than 40,000 barrels per day (BPD) of natural gas liquids (NGL).
Enterprise Products Partners, a Texas-based midstream company, has started commercial operations at its new Orla cryogenic natural gas processing complex in Texas by commissioning the initial processing train Orla 1. The Orla 1 gas processing plant, which is being built in the Delaware Basin in Reeves County, has been designed to have a capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. According to Enterprise Products, the Orla 1 plant has the capability of extracting more than 40,000 barrels per day (BPD) of natural gas liquids (NGL).  Enterprise Products Partners, a Texas-based midstream company, has started commercial operations at its new Orla cryogenic natural gas processing complex in Texas by commissioning the initial processing train Orla 1. The Orla 1 gas processing plant, which is being built in the Delaware Basin in Reeves County, has been designed to have a capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. According to Enterprise Products, the Orla 1 plant has the capability of extracting more than 40,000 barrels per day (BPD) of natural gas liquids (NGL). 
Member Announcements
Enterprise Products Partners, a Texas-based midstream company, has started commercial operations at its new Orla cryogenic natural gas processing complex in Texas by commissioning the initial processing train Orla 1. The Orla 1 gas processing plant, which is being built in the Delaware Basin in Reeves County, has been designed to have a capacity of 300 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. According to Enterprise Products, the Orla 1 plant has the capability of extracting more than 40,000 barrels per day (BPD) of natural gas liquids (NGL).
As a public power company, Lincoln Electric System will pay $20.3 million to local governments in 2018 through its annual payment in lieu of tax and city dividend for utility ownership. LES' 2018 payment in lieu of tax of $12.9 million will be distributed to Lincoln Public Schools, Lancaster County and the cities of Lincoln and Waverly. LES splits the city dividend for utility ownership, which goes to the city of Lincoln, into two equal payments. LES will pay $7.4 million through the city dividend. The first transaction of $3.7 million occurred Feb. 16 with the second scheduled for Aug. 20. During their committee meetings this week, the OPPD Board of Directors received a report on an updated emergency response plan for Fort Calhoun Station (FCS). The plant ceased operations in October 2016 and safely moved all nuclear fuel bundles from the reactor to the plant’s spent-fuel pool. The fuel has now cooled to the point that the likelihood of radioactive material escaping into the environment beyond the plant’s site boundary is extremely low. Because of this, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved OPPD’s request to reduce the scope of its Emergency Response Organization. The district implemented updated procedures around emergency response, effective April 9. This week, OPPD technicians are deactivating the siren system that supports emergency response for FCS. Those 101 sirens will be physically removed over the course of the next year. Salt River Project has initiated a program to support the installation and use of battery storage systems for its residential customers. The Battery Storage Incentive Program will provide up to $1,800 ($150 per DC-kWh) for customers who purchase and install qualifying lithium ion battery technologies. The program will be available for up to 4,500 SRP residential electric customers on a first-come, first-served basis during a 36-month period, beginning May 1, 2018. “While we continue to add new, renewable energy resources, SRP is also conducting research to determine how increasing amounts of renewable energy will impact our electrical system,” said Scott Scharli, SRP’s manager of residential and commercial solar. “The battery storage program will give us an opportunity to collect data and study how battery storage impacts customer energy use and the SRP grid.” Tucson Electric Power (TEP) has developed energy storage systems at a scale that ranks among the utility industry’s leaders, according to a report released by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). TEP was ranked second in the nation for per-capita additions to its energy storage resources in 2017 with approximately 50 watts per customer. SEPA also ranked TEP third in the nation for new energy storage capacity for adding 21 megawatts (MW) of battery storage systems to its local electric grid. “Energy storage systems are among the technologies we’re using to build a stronger, cleaner and more reliable electric system for our customers,” said David G. Hutchens, TEP’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We will need both storage and advanced, flexible generating systems to maintain reliable service as we expand our use of renewable resources.” WAPA’s fish biologists are on a mission to make more bugs below Glen Canyon Dam. Between May and August this year, Glen Canyon Dam will release steady flows through the Grand Canyon on weekends to determine whether or not stabilizing releases for two days a week will help insects complete their lifecycle and reach maturity downstream. Nicknamed the “bug flow” experiment, the steady water releases will test a hypothesis that fluctuating river levels cause insect eggs to dry out and die, leaving a major gap at the bottom of the food chain. “Many bugs lay their eggs at dusk when the water is high, then, at night, when flows are typically lower, the eggs dry out and die,” said Fish Biologist Craig Ellsworth. “We are going to see if we provide two days of low, steady water, if those eggs have better survival rates.”
White Paper
The quest to develop the 'Holy Grail' of affordable, viable and environmentally-friendly fuels using sunlight has taken an exciting new twist. A team of Renewable Energy experts from the University of Exeter has pioneered a new technique to produce hydrogen from sunlight to create a clean, cheap and widely-available fuel. The team developed an innovative method to split water into its constituent parts -- hydrogen and oxygen -- using sunlight. The hydrogen can then be used as a fuel, with the potential to power everyday items such as homes and vehicles. Crucially, hydrogen fuel that can be created through this synthetic photosynthesis method would not only severely reduce carbon emissions, but would also create a virtually limitless energy source. |
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Kirk Lippold will set the tone of the conference as the 2018 Spring Conference Keynote Speaker. He was in command of the USS Cole when it was targeted by a deadly al Qaeda terrorist attack in 2000, 11 months before 9/11. His team training prior to the attack and unflappable leadership after galvanized his crew to action, resulting in lives and the ship being saved.
