From the Desk of RMEL Executive Director Rick Putnicki
The RMEL Fall Convention is Next Week!
RMEL FALL CONVENTION - October 10-12, 2022, Hilton Denver Inverness Hotel, Denver, Colorado
Register Now!
There’s still time to register for the RMEL Fall Convention! Attend one of the premier events for electric energy leaders and connect with your electric utility industry peers for lively and enjoyable conversations driven by a program that focuses on strategic discussions to address today’s hot topics that are top of mind for our electric utilities. Register Now!
Check out the Fall Brochure and see more details about the solid lineup of keynotes, the popular CEO Panel, an Electric Power Research Institute Industry Update, Small Nuclear Reactors, an Energy Storage Technology Panel, the latest updates on the SCOTUS EPA Ruling, a Water Resource Challenges in the Colorado River Basin presentation, and a Gallup presentation on Knowledge Transfer/Workforce.
Support Scholarships and Participate in the RMEL Foundation Auction (Virtual OR In-Person!)
RMEL Foundation Auction – Tuesday, October 11, 2022 – 6-8:30 p.m. MDT
Over the years, RMEL membership has been very committed to drawing and building talent for our industry. Since 2000, the RMEL Foundation, with support from the RMEL membership, has raised more than $1M, awarded to students interested in pursuing a career in our industry. Many of those scholars are now working in your companies. You have an opportunity to continue that support by participating in the Annual RMEL Foundation Auction, either through donating an auction item or making a small cash donation to become a Friend of RMEL (FoRMEL). The auction will be held during the 2022 Fall Convention on October 11 and is a primary resource for the 501c3 charity to support the funding of scholarships for the next generation of electric energy industry professionals. We will use the same bidding app that we have used for the past couple of years. Your support is needed to continue the Foundation's scholarship efforts. Even if you are unable to attend the Fall Convention, you can join the auction VIRTUALLY and bid on any donated items. To participate and bid virtually is easy, just follow the below steps:
- Access the RMEL Foundation Auction webpage
- Click “Login/Register to Bid”
- Click “Create Account” and follow the prompts to create a username and password, and enter your payment information on the secure Silent Auction Pro website. You'll have the option to enter your cellphone number to receive text message updates when you're outbid.
- Happy bidding! As soon as you're done signing up, click the link to view the auction items. When you find an item you like, you can click the green "Place a Bid" button and/or you can click the blue "Watch an Item" button. The minimum bids and bid increments are pre-populated for you.
Access On Demand Spring Conference Sessions, Plus Many More On-Demand Offerings
Register for RMEL On Demand Offerings (Many Are Complimentary)
If you didn’t get the chance to join us at the Spring Conference, more than 20 On-Demand Spring Conference Sessions are now available for your viewing. We recorded video, audio and presentations slides for most of the sessions, and you can sign up to access those now. These sessions include Day 2 Keynote Brad Jones, CEO, ERCOT; the Executive Panel General Session; plus many of the sessions from the Generation, T&D and Management tracks! Take a look at the Spring Conference brochure to get more details on the On-Demand sessions available. If you attended the Spring Conference, you already have access to these sessions. Use your Swapcard login to access the sessions. Please contact us if you need assistance logging in.
Upcoming Events
RMEL is pleased to host two workshops and a roundtable in November. We hope you can participate in these events and learn more about these extremely timely and exciting topics as 2022 winds down.
NOVEMBER SAFETY ROUNDTABLE - SHIFT WORK & SLEEP HEALTH PROMOTION
November 3, 2022 – 9 a.m.-2 p.m. MDT – Fort Collins, CO
Join us for a deep dive into best-practice research on what has made Sleep the ‘Third Pillar of Health.’ Following a review of key risks and opportunities presented by Shift Work, we will broaden the discussion to share how all phases of the 24-hour cycle – both sleeping and waking – contribute to physical and psychosocial health and well-being. With international standards now recognizing the fundamental importance of psychosocial health and well-being within organizational management (ISO/ANSI 45003), we will discuss the opportunity to address many of these concerns with one ‘velvet hammer:’ Sleep Health Promotion in the Workplace. Learn how to debunk myths about insomnia and other sleep disorders and identify actionable interventions to share with your workforce - from high-level education, awareness and surveillance to small group and one-on-one support when indicated. Learn how to integrate active ‘brain breaks’ throughout any shift to support the sleep system and understand the challenges of poor sleep to health and safety at work and at home.
WORKSHOP: WATER SUPPLY CHALLENGES FACING POWER GENERATION
November 10, 2022 – 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. MST – Tempe, AZ
Energy and water have an inherent interdependency and both are facing rising demands. Surface water supplies are dropping, putting a higher demand on already-constrained groundwater resources. The search for sustainable energy sources reveals that low-carbon doesn't necessarily mean low water usage. These issues beg answers to many questions:
- How do we balance the competing needs between water and low carbon?
- Will my power plants have enough water to continue to operate?
- What will be the impact when existing generation is retired?
- How did we get here and what do we do now to get to a reliable future?
VIRTUAL WORKSHOP: NESC UPDATES
November 10, 2022 – 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. MST – Virtual
Major Changes and General Overview of the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) is a one-day class focusing on the major changes in the 2023 edition of the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC). The class will cover in detail the major changes to the NESC 2023 edition and will provide a general overview of each part of the NESC. During this one-day class, you will learn:
Scope and purpose of the Code:
- Major changes and general overview of the substation rules
- Major changes and general overview of the overhead line rules
- Major changes and general overview of the underground line rules
- Major changes and general overview of the work rules
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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.
RMEL Champions is a prestigious group of RMEL supporters with access to useful and beneficial promotional opportunities. Thank you, 2022 RMEL Champions!
The U.S. high-voltage transmission system needs to grow 2.3% a year, up from its 1% annual growth rate during the past decade, to meet the Inflation Reduction Act’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential, according to a report released Friday by the Princeton University-led REPEAT Project.
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At 182 GW, solar power facilities accounted for half of all global capacity additions last year, with wind additions making up a quarter of new capacity and fossil-fuel additions contributing 14%, BloombergNEF said in a report.
Growing quantities of distributed generation resources require closer coordination between utilities’ generation and transmission planning teams, while coming trends such as electrification and hydrogen will bring gas and electric utilities closer together, according to Alice Jackson, senior vice president of system strategy and chief planning officer at Xcel Energy.
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The U.S. government should take steps to ensure crypto mining operations do not reduce electric system reliability or drive up costs on the nation’s power grid, according to a report published by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Those efforts would fall jointly to the U.S. Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corp., and could include development of new reliability standards, OSTP said.
A new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) study found hundreds of coal power plant sites could convert to nuclear, dramatically increasing dispatchable, carbon-free energy as the country strives to meet its net-zero emissions goal by 2050.
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Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has abandoned, for now, his push to speed up the permitting process for energy projects, easing the Senate’s path toward passing a stopgap spending bill that would keep the federal government running when the fiscal year ends.
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The Biden administration proposed a new permitting program for wind energy turbines, power lines and other projects that kill eagles, amid growing concern among scientists that the rapid expansion of renewable energy in the U.S. West could harm golden eagle populations now teetering on decline.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a nearly $4.9 billion set of funding opportunities to bolster investments in the carbon management industry and to significantly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions released into the atmosphere through power generation and industrial operations.
Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) said the last unit at its coal-fired San Juan Generating Station has officially been removed from service.
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The average price of electricity for residential consumers could reach $0.1524/kWh in 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast in its latest Short Term Energy Outlook. That would represent about a 3.3% increase from this year — and EIA says prices are already 7.5% higher today than they were in 2021.
CPS Energy, the largest municipally owned electric and natural gas utility in the United States, has reached an agreement with Kenlov Ashtrom Renewable Energy LLC (KARE), a subsidiary of Kenlov Renewable Energy and Ashtrom Renewable Energy, for the purchase of 180 megawatts (MW) of solar energy.
Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) is coordinating with Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID) to begin draining Lake Ogallala to complete maintenance on the Keystone Diversion Dam as well as other canal maintenance projects.
Omaha Public Power District is taking a big step forward with the construction of two new natural gas generation balancing plants in service of our mission to provide affordable, reliable and environmentally sensitive energy services to our customers.
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Platte River Power Authority’s (Platte River) new headquarters building received an Urban Design Award for Architecture from the City of Fort Collins during their 2022 awards ceremony.
Tina Ko has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer at Western Area Power Administration. She has been acting in the position since March and will assume the permanent role in early November upon final approval by the Department of Energy Office of Corporate Executive Management.
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Expanding the Southwest Power Pool Regional Transmission Organization (SPP RTO) into the Western Interconnection could produce a net total of $55 million to $73 million per year in savings depending on hydrologic conditions, according to a new Brattle study commissioned by prospective SPP RTO participants in the Western Interconnection.
The Colorado Solar and Storage Association (COSSA) honored United Power as one of their Solar and Storage Champions for 2022 for the cooperative’s contribution to the growth of the solar and storage industry.
Burns & McDonnell, a 100% employee-owned engineering, architecture and construction firm, announces its selection of Zach Herrington, PE, to serve as director of operations for the firm’s offices in Denver and the Pacific Northwest. The firm's presence in the region is growing, creating new opportunities to support clients with innovative and cost-effective architecture, engineering and construction solutions.
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Turning plastic waste into useful products through chemical recycling is one strategy for addressing Earth's growing plastic pollution problem. A new study may improve the ability of one method, called pyrolysis, to process hard-to-recycle mixed plastics — like multilayer food packaging — and generate fuel as a byproduct, the scientists said.
Researchers have devised a method to determine the impact of climate change on the supply and variability of local renewable energy. An increase in unusual weather patterns related to climate change means the demand for power and the availability of solar, hydro and wind energy can all become more variable.
Electricity-generating rooftop solar cells not only save on planet-warming carbon emissions, they also save a significant amount of water. Water consumption is tightly bound to energy use, because without water we cannot mine, drill, frack, or cool thermoelectric and nuclear plants. A given household may save 16,200 gallons of water per year on average by installing rooftop solar.
A new passive cooling system relies on evaporation and radiation and requires no electricity. The device can provide up to about 19 degrees Fahrenheit (9.3 degrees Celsius) of cooling from the ambient temperature, to help keep food fresh longer or supplement air conditioning.
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