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Rocky Mountain Electrical League

Alltricity Network Report
Are Your Wood Poles Protected Against Fire?
Osmose Utilities Services, Inc.®
Fires in the United States have been increasing in size, damage, and cost for the last 30 years. Utility hardening programs should include fire protection and preparation as a key component. Osmose asset fire protection solutions include pre-fire solutions, such as fire protection installation and pole loading analysis, and post-fire solutions, such as visual assessments and new asset inventory verification.
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Education and Upcoming Events
Burns & McDonnell
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.

 

RMEL Champions is a prestigious group of RMEL supporters with access to useful and beneficial promotional opportunities. Thank you, 2022 RMEL Champions!

Visit https://www.rmel.org/page/RMELChampions to view the full article online.

Industry Information
  

The U.S. Department of Energy has opened the first round of applications for $13 billion in competitive funding for projects it says will help reduce electricity costs, boost resiliency and build out the nation’s aging transmission system. Roughly 70% of the nation’s transmission lines are more than a quarter century old, the White House said in a statement.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-opens-13b-funding-opportunity-for-transmission-expansion-smart-grid-i/637025/ to view the full article online.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $2.8 million to a coalition of partners who will research fuel management options for next-gen nuclear reactors. EPRI will lead the team, which also includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Southern Company and Deep Isolation. 

Visit https://www.power-eng.com/nuclear/doe-awards-funding-to-research-uranium-recovery-options-for-advanced-nuclear-reactors/ to view the full article online.

Two studies differ over how much nuclear waste would be a factor with small modular reactors, or SMRs, such as those planned by NuScale and TerraPower.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/smr-modular-reactor-nuclear-waste-doe-stanford-study-nuscale/637185/ to view the full article online.

 
  
America already faces a potential diesel supply crisis, especially in the northeast, due to a variety of factors that have led to inadequate regional refining capacity to produce the most critical transportation fuel. Now, a potential strike of freight rail workers threatens to complicate the situation at the worst possible time.

Visit https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2022/11/22/looming-rail-strike-complicates-biden-options-to-avoid-a-winter-diesel-supply-crisis/?ss=energy&sh=6daca84a5703 to view the full article online.

  
Exhaust emissions from gas engines and gas turbines used to be the primary focus of regulatory bodies seeking to lower the level of pollution. But now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and associated local air districts have turned their attention to the policing of fugitive emissions.

Visit https://www.power-eng.com/emissions/using-controls-to-accurately-measure-fugitive-and-exhaust-ghgs/ to view the full article online.

State and federal decarbonization policies, combined with efforts to electrify many end-use appliances, threaten the long-term competitiveness of natural gas local distribution companies, or LDCs, Moody’s Investors Service warned in a research note issued.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/gas-utilities-look-to-hydrogen-renewable-integration-as-moodys-says-decar/636565/ to view the full article online.

CopperLeaf Technologies Inc.
Tyndale Company
A large portion of the North American electric grid could face energy shortfalls in extreme weather conditions this winter, according to an assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. The situation is “unprecedented,” John Moura, NERC’s director of reliability assessment and system performance analysis, said in a call with media to discuss the report. “The system hasn’t been stressed in this manner in the past, and probably more importantly, it hasn’t been as widespread.”

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/north-american-electric-grid-unprecedented-widespread-risk-winter-NERC-assessment/636926/ to view the full article online.

  
The Inflation Reduction Act will upend key tenets of utility resource planning, including the need for bottom-up forecasting to account for a pending surge in electric vehicle and building load, according to panelists at a National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners meeting.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/inflation-reduction-act-ira-resource-planning-irp-naruc-nextera/636801/ to view the full article online.

When it comes to ensuring reliable service to customers, the most important assets an electric power provider has are its employees, who are working to keep the lights on every day. It is vital utilities invest in the skills and knowledge of their crews who are working out in the field to maintain and repair the electric grid. Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) has embodied this approach by building a new training and maintenance facility at its operations hub in York, Nebraska, U.S.

Visit https://www.tdworld.com/safety-and-training/article/21251462/nebraska-utility-invests-in-new-training-facility to view the full article online.

  
It would translate to a cumulative investment of between $1.6 trillion and $2.5 trillion and increase the market size to a range of $1.7 trillion to $3.6 trillion by 2040, according to the Long-Duration Energy Storage Council and McKinsey & Co.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/thermal-energy-systems-could-boost-global-long-duration-storage-capacity-to/636328/ to view the full article online.

New aggressive planning is needed to identify the long-duration storage technologies and find the land to grow enough resources to reach Biden net zero emissions goals, a DOE national lab reports.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/us-can-reach-100-clean-power-by-2035-doe-finds-but-tough-reliability-and/635874/ to view the full article online.

Member Announcements
  
The order paves the way for enactment of a settlement agreement nearly 15 years in the making by California, Oregon, the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, Berkshire Hathaway Energy-owned utility company PacifiCorp, fishing groups, and other stakeholders to carry out the ambitious plan to remove dams, and address fish populations, river health and Tribal communities and cultures.

Visit https://www.pacificorp.com/about/newsroom/news-releases/ferc-klamath-dam-removal.html to view the full article online.


Basin Electric was ranked among the nation’s top cooperatives by the National Cooperative Bank in its annual NCB Co-op 100® list, which names the nation’s top 100 revenue-earning cooperative businesses. Basin Electric was ranked #1 in the energy industry and #17 overall.

Visit https://www.basinelectric.com/News-Center/news-briefs/Basin-Electric-ranked-17th-in-nations-top-100-co-ops-list to view the full article online.

  

Sunflower Electric Power Corp. announced today that its board of directors has named Todd Hillman as the corporation’s next president and chief executive officer. Hillman will begin his tenure on Jan. 16 to succeed Stuart Lowry, Sunflower’s current president and CEO, upon his retirement. Hillman is the sixth person to lead Sunflower since it was formed in 1957.

Visit https://sunflower.net/sunflower-electric-power-corporation-selects-new-ceo/ to view the full article online.


Energy leaders focused on developing low-carbon economies in Arizona, the Navajo Nation and Nevada have joined forces to develop a regional clean hydrogen hub in the Southwest. The Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy (AzCaNE), is collaborating with partners in the aforementioned areas to launch the Southwest Clean Hydrogen Innovation Network, or “SHINe.”

Visit https://media.srpnet.com/regional-clean-hydrogen-hub-develops-in-the-desert-southwest/ to view the full article online.

  
Salt River Project employees succeeded again in ranking highest in customer satisfaction for business electric service among all electricity providers in the nation, according to a recent study issued by J.D. Power. This is the second year in a row SRP ranked first among large electricity providers in the West Region and the eighth time in the last 10 years.

Visit https://media.srpnet.com/for-the-second-consecutive-year-business-customers-rank-srp-highest-among-large-western-utilities/ to view the full article online.

Xcel Energy announced a proposal to advance the retirement of coal operations at Tolk Generating Station in Texas to 2028, more than four years earlier than planned. With this earlier retirement, along with accelerated coal plant retirements in other states, the company will exit the use of coal by the end of 2030 when the Comanche 3 coal unit in Colorado retires.

Visit https://co.my.xcelenergy.com/s/about/newsroom/press-release/xcel-energy-proposes-to-exit-coal-by-2030-MCTM23WA2GXNCEDORORWWXPQRGOU to view the full article online.

White Paper
A simple material can separate carbon dioxide from other gases that fly out of the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants. It lacks the shortcomings that other proposed carbon filtration materials have, rivaling designer compounds in its simplicity, overall stability and ease of preparation.

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221102141352.htm to view the full article online.


An increase in the efficiency of solar panels may be on the horizon, as research from The Australian National University (ANU) reduces their current limitations. ANU researchers have found a way to improve the performance of silicon photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells. This is done through the addition of 'passivating contacts' between the metal and silicon parts of the solar cell, making it more productive.

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221103104708.htm to view the full article online.

A new method for describing energy loss in organic solar cells has paved the way for building better and more efficient devices. Organic solar cells are an emerging technology with a lot of promise. Unlike the ubiquitous silicon solar panel, they have the potential to be lightweight, flexible, and present a variety of colors, making them particularly attractive for urban or façade applications. However, continued advancements in device performance have been sluggish as researchers work to understand the fundamental processes underlying how organic solar cells operate.

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/11/221118114819.htm to view the full article online.