RMEL eNews

Industry Information

More Than a Quarter of Energy Storage Systems Have Fire Detection and Suppression Defects: Report

More than a quarter of inspected energy storage systems, totaling more than 30 GWh, had issues related to fire detection and suppression, such as faulty smoke and temperature sensors, according to the report.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/battery-energy-storage-fire-safety-report/707330/ to view the full article online.

Utilities, EV Charging Companies Must Collaborate to Avoid Bulk Power System Disruptions: NERC

The EV sector and utility companies must stand up “uniform programs across the country to enable fast, reliable installation of EV chargers,” Blink Charging Chief Technology Officer Harjinder Bhade said. Those could include tariffs that align charging with clean energy generation and the potential for EVs to send power back to the grid, he said.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ev-charging-impact-bulk-power-reliability-NERC/707426/ to view the full article online.

Interconnection ‘Report Card’ Shows an Ongoing Struggle to Connect New Generation

A new, “first-of-its-kind” scorecard from national business association Advanced Energy United evaluates and grades the seven U.S. regional transmission organizations on their generator interconnection processes. The scorecard, authored by Grid Strategies and The Brattle Group, shows that interconnection is not going smoothly in any region of the country, with some regions facing serious deficiencies.

Visit https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/news/interconnection-report-card-shows-an-ongoing-struggle-to-connect-new-generation/ to view the full article online.

Underground Hydrogen Touted as ‘Significant’ Clean Energy Resource in First U.S. Hearing

The Senate held the first congressional hearing on geologic hydrogen, a promising new form of clean energy generated naturally underground, that’s attracted growing interest and investment over the past year.

Visit https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2024/02/28/underground-hydrogen-touted-as-significant-clean-energy-resource-in-first-us-hearing/?ss=energy&sh=222b54bc40ed to view the full article online.

Slowing Wind Installations Threaten Emissions Progress Under the IRA: Report

The deployment of solar, utility-scale energy storage and electric vehicles is on pace to achieve the 37% to 42% emissions reductions expected to take place under the Inflation Reduction Act, according to a report from Energy Innovation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Rhodium Group.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ira-wind-solar-emissions-reduction-repeat-project-energy-innovation/708855/ to view the full article online.

NERC to File Inverter-Based Resource Rule Revisions with Federal Regulators

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. has developed new rules to address unregistered bulk power system-connected inverter-based resources, such as wind, solar and battery storage facilities, and plans to file them with federal regulators in early March, the reliability organization said.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/nerc-inverter-based-resource-rule-revisions-FERC/709148/ to view the full article online.

Geothermal Developer Fervo Energy Raises $244M as it Builds 400-MW Utah Project

The latest round of funding will support Fervo Energy’s continued operations at Cape Station — a 400-MW project in Beaver County, Utah — that is expected to come online in 2026, Sarah Jewett, the company’s vice president of strategy, said.

Visit https://www.utilitydive.com/news/geothermal-fervo-energy-devon-funding-cape-station-utah/709280/ to view the full article online.

Member Announcements

APS Earns 2024 Military Friendly Employer Designation

It’s no surprise to Luci Reyes that Arizona Public Service (APS) has been named a 2024 Military Friendly® Employer. With the support she’s received first as an intern and now as an employee, Luci believes the company values service members and their talents.

Visit https://www.aps.com/en/About/Our-Company/Newsroom/Articles/APS-Earns-2024-Military-Friendly-Employer-Designation to view the full article online.

OPPD Continues Efforts on Generation Expansion

The announcement is part of OPPD’s strategy to add nearly 2.5 gigawatts of generation over the next decade to meet the growing energy usage of its more than 400,000 customers in 13 counties. The utility is making the generation additions to address an anticipated annual load growth of 100 megawatts (MW) for the foreseeable future. That’s the equivalent of the energy used by 65 metro-area high schools or medium-size hospitals.

Visit https://www.oppd.com/news-resources/news-releases/2024/february/oppd-continues-efforts-on-generation-expansion/ to view the full article online.

LES is a Leader in Affordability, Reliability

A nationwide study revealed that Lincoln Electric System’s rates continue to rank among the lowest in the country based on 2022 data. LES’ annual Competitive Market Study determined that the utility ranked 1st for the lowest residential all-in price and 8th best for the lowest average all-in price among 87 cities surveyed nationwide when including all retail sectors.

Visit https://www.les.com/company/news/les-leader-affordability-reliability to view the full article online.

NPPD Begins Process to Add New Generation for Future Growth

This starts the process of adding generation to serve the rapidly increasing load coming to the state. NPPD Economic Development Manager Nicole Sedlacek noted, “There has been a recent and sharp increase in new ag, ag industrial, and data center loads siting their facilities in Nebraska, due in part to the affordable and reliable electric service provided by the public power entities that serve Nebraska.”

Visit https://www.nppd.com/press-releases/nppd-begins-process-to-add-new-generation-for-future-growth to view the full article online.

Utility Energy Program Recognizes Customers for Saving Energy and Reducing Carbon Footprint

A regional utility collaboration in Northern Colorado recently calculated results for 2023, reporting that about 1,700 homes and 500 businesses collectively reduced carbon emissions by more than 6,800 tons through various programs and initiatives, based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emission rates for the Rocky Mountain region.

Visit https://www.prpa.org/news-releases/utility-energy-program-recognizes-customers-for-saving-energy-and-reducing-carbon-footprint/ to view the full article online.

United Power Among Nation’s Best in Reliability and Resiliency

United Power’s core responsibility to its members as an electric cooperative is ensuring consistently reliable power, which means the lights stay on and the power continues flowing whenever you need it to be available. Several years ago, the co-op’s operations and engineering staff began coordinating the implementation of an innovative system maintenance strategy.

Visit https://www.unitedpower.com/united-power-among-nations-best-reliability-and-resiliency to view the full article online.

SRP Board of Directors Approves More Ambitious Sustainability Goals

The comprehensive set of SRP 2035 Sustainability Goals is focused on reducing SRP’s carbon footprint, ensuring a resilient water supply, evolving SRP’s grid and customer energy solutions, promoting a sustainable supply chain, reducing waste, and engaging the customers and communities SRP serves.

Visit https://media.srpnet.com/srp-board-of-directors-approves-more-ambitious-sustainability-goals/ to view the full article online.

White Paper

Hurricanes and Power Grids: Eliminating Large-Scale Outages with a New Approach

Large scale-power outages caused by tropical cyclones can be prevented almost entirely if a small but critical set of power lines is protected against storm damages, a new study finds. Scientists developed a new method that can be used to identify those critical lines and increase the system's resilience.

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240301134253.htm to view the full article online.

Scientists Put Forth a Smarter Way to Protect a Smarter Grid

There's a downside to "smart" devices: They can be hacked. That makes the electric grid increasingly chock-full of devices that interact with one another and make critical decisions, vulnerable to bad actors who might try to turn off the power, damage the system or worse. But smart devices are a big part of our future as the world moves more toward renewable energy and the many new devices to manage it.

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240304195348.htm to view the full article online.

One Way to Improve a Fusion Reaction: Use Weaknesses as Strengths

In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original. That idea is inspiring a new approach to managing plasma, the super-hot state of matter, for use as a power source.

Visit https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240305134238.htm to view the full article online.

Rocky Mountain Electrical League