public power magazine - november/december 2015

PUBLIC POWER

Electricity: The Greatest Innovation of All Time

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EDITORIAL TEAMJoe NipperSenior Vice PresidentRegulatory Affairs & Communications

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Public Power (ISSN 0033-3654) is published six times a year by the American Public Power Association, 2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 1000, Arlington, VA 22202-4804. ©Copyright, 2015, American Public Power Association. Opinions expressed in articles are not policies of the association. Periodical postage paid in Arlington, Va., and additional mailing offices.

For permission to reprint articles, contact [email protected].

4 Public Power Lines by Sue Kelly

34 Washington Report

35 Engineering

36 Security

37 100 Years of Pride in Public Power

38 Innovation

8 New Ways and MeansAPPA’s DEED program brings new ideas to scale.

18 The Instant Gratification GridToday’s electricity customers want more and they want it now. Utilities in all sectors are prioritizing new, smart technologies.

24 Smart Utilities, Smart CitiesCutting edge cities work with their utilities to improve services and reduce consumption while anticipating their customers’ needs.

26 Igniting the SparkPublic power nurtures the future workforce through internships and scholarships.

40 Captain Public Power and Career DayBeing part of the public power workforce can be really cool!

FEATURES

CONT ENT SThe Innovation Issue

#PublicPower @PublicPowerOrg

Search for American Public Power and Connect with us

COLUMNS

Cover illustration by J.D. King

Bill Gates has been talking a lot about energy innovation lately. In a recent interview with The Atlantic, he calls for an energy miracle. Gates says the incentive to invest in energy isn’t there — compared to glitzy new digital products, most en-ergy technology is developed more than 20 years before it is scaled up for widespread use. While energy innovation creates measurable benefits to society in the long run, Gates says there’s little immediate benefit to the innovators themselves. “R&D amount in energy is surprisingly low com-pared with medicine or digital stuff, where both the government spending and the private-sector spending is huge,” Gates says.

Public power has been able to make a differ-ence because we can innovate for the public good, with no further incentive necessary. Whether it be through an iPhone app for customers, a wind tur-bine in a suitcase, or modular residential and com-mercial battery storage — community-owned util-ities have often been able to meet customers’ needs with new technologies requiring only modest in-vestments, before they seek services elsewhere.

Public power has been on the frontlines of in-novation for a long time.

The American Public Power Association launched the Demonstration of Energy & Effi-ciency Developments program in 1980. Today, more than 900 public power utilities take advantage of the program to pool their resources and fund innovative projects that help move public power — and the entire industry — forward. While we cannot match the $2 billion Bill Gates wants to spend on energy R&D, DEED has done some great work of which we should all be proud.

As DEED celebrates its 35th birthday, we want to share its impres-sive track record of more than 400 projects. As you’ll read in this issue of Public Power magazine, the program is helping public power utilities get on the cutting edge.

DEED works because of the efforts of its volunteer board members, who review many grant applications and put together ideas. I met with the DEED board while they were visiting the APPA office in September.

Strength Through Innovation

PUBLIC POWER LINES

I was most impressed with their dedication and the work they do. They are as motivated and deter-mined as our staff who keep the program running like a well-oiled machine: Mike Hyland, senior vice president of engineering services, Michele Suddle-son, DEED program director, and Richelle Dodds, DEED program assistant.

The program also owes its success to the members who participate, proposing and per-forming research projects that lead us to the next frontier. Their work makes a lasting impression. On page 15, you’ll read about DEED projects that made a big splash and have gained widespread use throughout the energy industry.

Innovation is important in any industry, but it is essential in the electric utility industry — pow-er is the backbone, not only of our communities but of many other technologies we use every day. This is why APPA included Continuing Research and Development as one of the six priorities in its strategic plan. DEED’s firm commitment to research enables us to increase efficiencies, in-vestigate new technologies, develop new service offerings, and improve processes and practices to better serve customers. The long-term strength of public power demands this commitment to

research, development and demonstration.But building a better tomorrow is just as much about people as it is

about new technologies and services. You’ll read on page 26 about four DEED scholarship and internship recipients who have stayed in the en-ergy industry, some in public power. And two of the four interviewees are women, though women make up only 14 percent of the engineering workforce. Public power is helping get women into STEM — the sci-ence, technology, engineering and math fields. Check out the women from public power who were featured on Twitter during the “#ILook-LikeAnEngineer” campaign.

Clearly, joining DEED is an investment in the future. The energy industry is changing — of that we are certain. But public power’s com-mitment to research and education remains steadfast through DEED. To join other public power innovators at the frontlines of the electricity future, visit PublicPower.org/DEED.

4 Public Power / November-December 2015


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T O P - N O T C H L E A R N I N G A N D N E T W O R K I N G F O R U T I L I T Y P E R S O N N E LExecutive leadership Legal Accounting & finance HR and training Engineering & operations


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POLICY & REGULATIONJoint Action Workshop, Jan 10 – 12, San Diego, CaliforniaCome and talk to your peers from joint action agencies across the country about hot topics. Discuss the impact of the Clean Power Plan in your state, review distributed generation case studies and consumer education issues, and explore the implications of a recent FERC ruling on power supply contracts.

TRAINING: TECHNICAL, ACCOUNTING, CUSTOMER SERVICE Winter Education Institute, Feb 8 – 12, Orlando, FloridaSend staff at every level to earn CEUs, PDHs and CPEs, while receiving hands-on training from experts in accounting, cost of service and retail rate design, customer service management, distributed generation rate design, overhead distribution systems, and pole line design.

LEADERSHIP NETWORKINGCEO Roundtable, Feb 21 – 24, Phoenix, ArizonaJoin CEOs, general managers, and senior executives from other public power utilities for peer networking in an exclusive small group setting — registration is limited to 75 executives. Learn to think outside the box, gain insight into key challenges facing the industry, and gear up for success.



POLICY AND ADVOCACYLegislative Rally, Mar 7 – 9, Washington, D.C.Come and meet with your members of Congress and brief them on issues that impact you. Hear from experts on energy legislation, environmental policy, threats to tax-exempt financing, grid security, distributed generation, the Power Marketing Administrations, telecommunications, and more.

LINEWORKER SKILLSPublic Power Lineworkers Rodeo, April 1-2, Minneapolis, MinnesotaEarn national and local attention by sending your lineworkers to demonstrate their skill, compete for professional honors, and network with peers. The Rodeo receives significant social media attention, motivates participants, and celebrates their hard work. Safety training is at the top of the agenda.

OPERATIONSEngineering & Operations Technical Conference, April 3 – 6, Minneapolis, MinnesotaLearn from the experts and network with your engineering peers to recharge and refresh your skills. Discover the latest and greatest in communications and control, environmental, generation and fuels, safety, supply management, system planning, and transmission and distribution.

T O P - N O T C H L E A R N I N G A N D N E T W O R K I N G F O R U T I L I T Y P E R S O N N E L Customer service Key accounts Energy services PR & communications Economic development

LEADERSHIP, ECONOMY, TECHNOLOGYNational Conference & Public Power Expo, June 10 – 15, Phoenix, ArizonaDon’t miss public power’s event of the year — the place to see and be seen. Tune into the political, economic, and technological trends shaping electric utilities. Connect changes in the global and national energy landscape to your public power utility and prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead.

WEBINARSLearn without leaving your desk

APPA Can Bring Courses to YOULet the best of the APPA Academy come to you. Our in-house training program can bring any of our popular courses to your facility or customize training for staff from any of your departments. We cover utility governance, engineering and operations, safety, accounting, customer service, and more.Contact Heidi Lambert at 202-467-2921 or [email protected] to plan and book your session today!

Register for all events and webinars at PublicPower.org/Events

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 202-467-2900

NEW WAYS AND MEANS



Utilities operate in an increasingly competitive and nuanced industry — customers

and private companies are directly involved in the energy business, and customers are

presented with more choices and control over their energy use.

“Customers interested in reducing their carbon footprint now have the choice

to either install solar panels on their rooftop themselves, lease a solar system

maintained by a third-party company, or participate in a community solar

program offered through their local utility,” said Michele Suddleson, director

of the Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments Program at the

American Public Power Association. “Utilities must provide our customers with

the ways and means to realize their energy-related desires or those desires will be

fulfilled by others, and we will lose relevance with our customers in this new era.”

New technologies that can keep utilities relevant and in the energy-service game are

ones that not only help customers meet their energy-related needs, but also harness

and store clean, reliable energy and integrate systems for cost-effectiveness and

efficiency. Storage and integration, in particular, impact all aspects of delivering

energy, including energy efficiency, demand-side management, renewable energy, and

intelligent use of microgrids, making them the wave of future energy business.

Several new technologies that are a part of that future wave and may be game-changers

for the utility industry have received support from grants by APPA’s DEED Program.

By Laurel Lundstrom, Contributing Writer

Share your #innovation stories with

@PublicPowerOrg


THE GREEN ENERGY TRIFORCE: ELECTRIC VEHICLES, ENERGY STORAGE AND SOLAR POWERThe first thing people see when they park their cars at North Carolina State University’s FREEDM center is a touchscreen monitor. That monitor uses infographics to educate the public about the benefits of the university’s Vehicle Energy Storage & Solar Demonstration project, which couples a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station with an energy storage system. “I think it’s almost like a holy trinity of green energy,” said Allan Oduor, a student who worked on the project. “Owning an electric vehicle or plug in-hybrid is great. What’s even better is having an electric vehicle that you don’t have to charge using electricity generated from a coal plant.”

Participants: North Carolina State University

DEED project timeline: June 2013 – May 2014

Total cost: $128,811

Amount covered by DEED: $47,811

Technology: Integrated storage, solar, electric vehicles

Project specs: The integrated system generates up to 43 kilowatt hours of solar photovoltaics, charges two electric vehicles, stores up to 20 kilowatt hours of power in a battery, connects to a local microgrid, and educates the public about intelligent energy management through a visual energy display.

Results: The VESSD achieves operational efficiency by using direct current from a microgrid and avoiding losses that occur when a grid-supplied alternating current is converted into direct current. The project helps to demonstrate how small-scale distributed generation systems, energy storage, and electric vehicles can be intelligently integrated and controlled to avoid deleterious grid impacts.

Replicability: The VESSD is a simple design. It can be built in any type of parking lot to improve demand-side response by leveraging solar-powered charging stations.

Lessons: Electric vehicles that charge at unpredictable times and the growth of photovoltaic generation create challenges to maintaining stability and power quality on the grid. Having solar-powered charging stations located in parking decks offers a clean, cost-effective alternative to charging a vehicle at home.

Innovation impact: The proliferation of these integrated systems in the very near future could provide important efficiency and operational benefits to the grid if they are well understood and effectively managed.

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TURNING THE KEY TO THE FUTURE OF RELIABLE WIND WITH EFFICIENT STORAGEWind is unpredictable. Adding wind generation to the energy supply comes with risk, and there is no guaranteed back-up power supply for when the wind slows down. Lincoln Electric System has worked on rectifying this problem by designing an efficient system that uses excess wind energy to store compressed air that can be tapped for power when winds die down or when peak energy use is highest.

Utility: Lincoln Electric System

DEED project timeline: May 2014 – May 2015

Total cost: $18,105


Technology: Wind, storage

Project specs: The system is designed as a dual function air compressor and motor directly connected to the wind turbine shaft. This configuration uses excess wind energy to store compressed air.

Results: When the wind speed is low, the compressed air supplements the wind energy and allows the wind turbine to produce energy at its maximum potential.

Replicability: Along with an increase in self-sufficiency, this technology could enable utilities to downsize transmission lines or maintain the size when power demand in the community increases. It works well in rural areas where abundant wind energy resources exist and small communities are located far from the generation center.

Lessons: There are multiple control loops associated with optimal operation of the compressed air system, and the utility discovered the best one: a rotary vane machine and a variable displacement machine coupled with a continuously variable transmission.

Innovation impact: “Energy storage is the key to the future viability of wind generation and we are not aware of any other research that utilizes the direct coupled air compressor and motor configuration,” said Tom Davlin, manager of engineering projects with Lincoln Electric System. If this technology can be commercialized, it will allow for storage of off-peak wind energy for delivery during peak periods, solving one of the biggest issues associated with wind energy: the time-of-day mismatch between wind energy production and customer peak loads. It could also potentially provide an emergency energy source during grid outages and “black start” capabilities to a micro-grid system.

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RENEWABLE POWER IN A SUITCASE: THE A-PEGASUS PROJECTSoon, 5,000 people in Jikawa Province, Papua New Guinea — a country where 90 percent of people still do not have electricity — will receive power from one of the first portable, airborne electric-generating systems. The Airborne-Portable Electric Generation and Storage Universal System, known as A-Pegasus, will harness wind and solar power to establish a micro-utility that powers the local medical clinic, schools, and community in the rural province of Jikawa.

“I feel very grateful to APPA for helping me to develop a low-cost, high-efficiency, modular system that could potentially open a new market for utilities to own and operate instantly deployable renewable energy sources,” said Alexander Anderson, the graduate student who was supported by Tacoma Power through DEED to work on the project. “Thanks to the DEED program, I now see my dream taking form as a real-world solution.”

Utility/participants: Tacoma Power

DEED project timeline: December 2013 – May 2014

Total cost: $4,100


Technology: Wind, renewable generation

Project specs: A–Pegasus integrates a wind augmenter and photovoltaic rays into a tethered airborne platform. Researchers evaluated the feasibility, practicality, and cost-effectiveness of the system.

Results: Augmented wind turbines operate at higher efficiencies, have lower starting speeds, and are better for the environment because of reduced noise and fewer bird/bat strikes — and A-Pegasus is no exception. In addition, the low deployment cost and portability of A-Pegasus allows it to go from “in-the-box” to fully operational in a few hours.

Replicability: The system can be scaled to produce a desired power output, making the technology transferable to a utility of nearly any size as a supplementary generation system for peak electric consumption periods or as a reliable source of emergency backup power.

Lessons: Discovering the operating constraints (such as temperature, wind speed requirements, rotational velocity restriction) and material limitations rendered valuable lessons for the next prototype design, A-Pegasus II, which will fit in a suitcase and can be carried and assembled anywhere.

Innovation impact: The system presents a reliable, sustainable alternative to current off-grid generation techniques and distribution-generation technologies and is cost competitive with similarly sized commercial wind turbines in regions with low-to-moderate wind speeds. Designed to be a viable source of renewable energy for any geographic region, utilities can use these rapidly deployable assets to provide service in remote areas, where the costs of diesel generation or grid extension are prohibitive.

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COOL, COOL SUMMERS WITH ICE CUB

Azusa Light & Water has been serving residents of the Los Angeles Basin for 115 years, since before the first modern electrical air conditioning unit was invented and well before the utility worried about air conditioners straining the grid on the hottest days. Times have changed, of course, and with them, the utility has been supporting the innovation of new technologies to help improve efficiencies and lower the cost of energy — even on sweltering days. The utility worked with the company Ice Energy to develop a small-scale, refrigerant-based thermal en-ergy storage system that can be used in the residential sector, called Ice Cub.

Utility: Azusa Light & Water

DEED project timeline: April – December 2014



Technology: Residential thermal energy storage

Project specs: The project tested two Ice Cub prototypes to determine how they could be used to realize significant peak demand reduction of up to 50 percent and/or efficiency improvements in the residential sector. The technology needed to store enough ice to cool without using a compressor during peak periods using a traditional home HVAC unit.

Results: Both prototypes met the project’s criteria: they could provide up to 12 to 14 ton-hours of cooling a day and be used as a peak-shifting device for demand reduction. The Ice Cub can also be used as an air conditioning unit to cool the whole home while making ice and then used as a storage device by taking the compressor offline for three to four hours during peak periods.

Replicability: The Ice Cub can be used in all climate zones, nationwide, wherever refrigerant-based air conditioners are used. When this product is commercialized, it will be available to essentially all public power systems in the United States and to utilities worldwide that experience summer peak load constraints due to air conditioning demand.

Lessons: Field tests allowed the utility to define how long of a period that Ice Cub needs to reduce air conditioning peak demand, which is typically four hours per day.

Innovation impact: At full capacity, the technology can shift an air conditioning compressor from on-peak to off-peak, reducing demand by approximately 95 percent. Ice Cub completely replaces the residential outdoor air conditioner compressor unit, and can be used to cool the home outside the four-hour peak reduction period. Since the project’s conclusion, Ice Energy has created five different Ice Cub prototypes. When commercialized, this technology could have a major impact on curbing demand for power during peak heat.

“Following successful field testing in Azusa, Ice Energy contracted with University of California Davis’s Western Cooling Energy Center to test and confirm performance of the Ice Cub product, which was completed in August of 2015,” said Greg Miller, executive vice president of market development for Ice Energy. “The first units will be ready for sale in January 2016.”

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EVOLVING STUDENTS, EVOLVING BEHAVIORS

When students leave for study at a university, how they use and save energy is not usually the first thing on their minds. The Burlington Electric Department, which delivers power to University of Vermont students, has struggled to curb energy use at student rental properties. By teaching students more about their energy use, the Burlington Electric Department is trying to understand if it is possible to encourage energy-saving behaviors among the student population. The innova-tion being tested requires in-home devices to be paired with smart meters.

Utility/participants: Burlington Electric Department, University of Vermont

DEED project timeline: July 2014 – June 2016



Technology: Demand-side management, behavior change, smart metering

Project specs: This project involves creating additional educational opportunities for students living off campus to better understand, as residential customers in Burlington, how to take advantage of the smart grid. This will take the shape of educational seminars and outreach on energy efficiency, and include a competition among participants, some of whom will be using an in-home device to track energy usage.

Results: The study will continue through the spring semester and results should be available soon after.

Replicability: The utility’s findings about pairing in-home devices with smart meters and how and if customers use smart meter data to change energy use should be applicable to other utilities.

Lessons: Pairing in-home devices, or other Zigbee devices, to smart meters is not always straightforward. Burlington Electric Department meters, for example, have the radios off so the utility had to develop a process that turns the radio on and a process for pairing each in-home device to the correct meter.

Innovation impact: Real behavior change with energy usage is an evolving subject. The Burlington Electric Department, through this project, is seeking to know what programs might effectively encourage energy-saving behaviors in the future. “This can be a great learning opportunity,” said Chris Burns, director of energy services at the Burlington Electric Department. “One of [the utility’s] biggest energy-efficiency challenges is addressing Burlington’s large portion of rental properties, and student rentals in particular. In-home devices, coupled with Burlington’s smart metering systems, provide tremendous potential.”

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35 Years of Innovation: DEED’s Greatest HitsBy Michael Hyland, senior vice president of engineering services, APPA

35 years of DEED resulted in what can be described as extreme innovation in public power. It’s hard to pick the greatest outcomes that have resulted from DEED projects, but here’s a snapshot of five projects with lasting impact.

Soybean oil for safer transformers Waverly Light and Power in Iowa, now Waverly Utilities, had to clean up a costly contaminated transformer oil spill in 1994. The utility wanted a non-toxic transformer oil and teamed up with the University of Northern Iowa’s Ag-Based Industrial Lubricants research program. Initial pilot testing of the oil began in 1997. In 1999, the oil was patented and trademarked as BioTrans. A DEED grant supported further research, which identified BioTrans as an environmentally friendly alternative to standard transformer oil. In 2002 Cargill bought the patents and trademark rights and began manufacturing BioTrans. In 2004, Cargill joined forces with Cooper Power Systems, which had developed its own vegetable-based transformer oil, to cost-efficiently produce and distribute Envirotemp FR3 fluid, a revolutionary insulating product that is safe for the environment and the public.

Stimulating power flow simulationsPowerWorld Simulator is a graphics-based power system analysis tool that took the drudgery and mystery out of power system analysis. It can be used to show power flows on the transmission system or a utility’s distribution system. It all started with Thomas Overbye, a professor at the University of Illinois, who wanted a tool to help students better understand large-scale power systems. In 1995, DEED joined Power Systems Engineering Research Center — a consortium of universities, industries, and government groups conducting electric industry research — to support the development of the software. Continued development was supported by more DEED grants and scholarships. DEED sponsors included Danville Department of Utilities in Virginia, WPPI Energy in Wisconsin, Richmond Power & Light in Indiana, and City Water Light & Power in Illinois. PowerWorld Corp. was founded in 1996 to make the software commercially available. Today, PowerWorld’s products are used by more than 700 customers in 68 countries.

Smarter safety through videosEducating workers about safety is challenging for many small, resource-constrained utilities. That’s why DEED awarded a grant to Peru Utilities in Indiana to develop the SafetySmart Video Series in 2003. The series consists of eight training videos that reinforce information from the APPA Safety Manual and Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. The videos were shot at public power utilities and feature utility personnel and equipment. They discuss safety at power generation plants, excavation sites, in relation to electric metering, in confined spaces, with pole climbing and bucket truck safety and rescue operations, and during lockout/tagout procedures for electric plants and substations. The accompanying SafetySmart Instructor’s Manual provides additional classroom content. The SafetySmart Video Series filled a marketplace gap for affordable, professional-quality training materials with a public power focus. It has helped many public power utilities enhance safety training programs. The series is being updated under a current DEED grant.

Benchmarking through e-TrackingIn 2001, DEED awarded the Municipal Electric System of Oklahoma a $3,000 grant to improve an Excel spreadsheet that a member created to track and log outages and graph data using reliability indices. A decade later, Reliability Tracker, a simple tool that DEED distributed to members via CD-ROM, morphed into the eReliability Tracker™, a sophisticated, web-based tool that public power utilities can subscribe to affordably. Today, eReliability Tracker is a national, web-based application used by more than 200 utilities to catalog, track, and report outage data. The subscription rate demonstrates that public power utilities are highly engaged in capturing and benchmarking reliability data to perform essential distribution system analyses. A second grant was awarded in 2013 to improve and enhance eReliability Tracker’s features and performance. The application gives large and small utilities an easy-to-use, and cost-effective tool to track and benchmark distribution system reliability.

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The Instant Gratification GridChange the thermostat by tapping the screen of a smart phone. Ask a utility about an outage through social media. Store power for a household in a sleek home battery in the garage. Today’s customers want more, faster, and tomorrow’s customers will have even higher expectations. Evolving technologies and customer needs are driving utilities in all sectors to prioritize providing new, integrated smart technologies.

By Ethan Howland


Photo courtesy of Portland General Electric.


Maturing technologies, evolv-ing customer expectations and the constant demand for reliable and affordable power aredriving electric utilities and their partners to develop new and innovative services and approaches.

The last 10 years or so has been a period of major change as the grid system has grown more dynamic. Solar capacity in the United States stood at about 500 megawatts in 2005. Today it’s about 22,700 MW, with photovol-taic panels covering rooftops from New Jersey to California.

The number of so-called smart meters, which make possible two-way communica-tion between a utility and its customers, has jumped from about 7 million in 2007 to about 65 million today.

About 72,300 plug-in electric vehicles have been sold so far this year, up from about 17,800 in all of 2011. Electric vehicles have the potential to provide power to the grid when needed while charging their batteries at the best times for the overall system.

In part, the evolution toward a more com-plex grid network parallels changing custom-er expectations, according to Ed White, vice president of new energy solutions at National Grid, a transmission and distribution utility in the Northeastern U.S. and the U.K. “Our customers have advanced exponentially in the last 10 years. Customers are more reliant and dependent on technology, and there’s more pressure on utilities to invest in the future.”

The evolving expectations for how con-

sumers interact with and use electricity is spurring innovation, according to Michael Howard, the Electric Power Research Insti-tute’s president and chief executive officer. At the same time, the costs are falling for some technologies, such as rooftop solar, providing more options for customers and utilities, he said.

“The technical innovation is occurring in all facets of the power system,” Howard said. “With more two-way power flow, it’s even more important to know what’s hap-pening and also to be able to predict what may happen.”

Howard sees some key technological changes that are helping utilities and oth-ers manage a power system that is growing more dynamic. Utilities have a real-time view of what’s happening on the electric system, enabled by improvements in sen-sor equipment. Communication technology can deliver data from the sensors. And the final piece is improved data analytics, which helps utilities understand what’s happening on the grid and potentially getting a jump on what may be coming in the future, he said.

The integrated gridIn an effort to get the most out of the growth in distributed resources alongside central generation, EPRI started its Integrated Grid initiative last year. “We came to the conclu-

sion that it’s critically important to integrate it all together,” Howard said, noting that that may not have been an obvious finding 10 years ago.

As a first step, EPRI developed a cost-ben-efit framework for assessing various options that are now available to utilities. The frame-work, released early this year, can be used to understand the net benefits distributed resources like solar PV or energy storage can provide.

“As we increase the deployment of dis-tributed energy resources, the questions of optimal configurations will be happening every day,” Howard said.

Now EPRI, in cooperation with about a dozen investor-owned and cooperative utili-ties, is setting up pilot projects focused on six key areas: utility-scale solar, with and with-out storage, distributed energy storage, mi-crogrids, electric vehicle charging infrastruc-ture and customer-sided technologies such as distributed generation, smart thermostats and energy management systems.

Through the pilot projects, EPRI aims to better understand the cost and benefits of various configurations of different resources, according to Howard.

New York grid reformMeanwhile, utilities throughout the U.S. have been pressing ahead with innovative projects of their own. Echoing some of the issues being tackled by EPRI, New York’s investor-owned utilities this summer proposed demonstra-tion projects through the state’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, which aims to re-vamp the state’s utility sector, partly by spur-ring increased distributed resources.

Among the proposals, National Grid plans to test distributed resources at the Buffalo-Niagara medical campus while of-fering community solar in a low- to moder-ate-income neighborhood near the hospital.

One of the key principles around the REV initiative is looking at distributed energy re-sources as a network instead of individual connections, National Grid’s White said.

READ MORE: Lisa Wood, vice president of the Edison Foundation and executive direc-tor of the Institute for Electric Innovation, talks about the evolving electric grid, cus-tomers and utility on PublicPower.org under News>Public Power magazine>Archives (Sept.-Oct. 2015).

“The technical

innovation is

occurring in all

facets of the

power system.”


Through a “distributed service platform” the utility hopes to put together the right mix of technologies to service seven main institu-tions plus other organizations on the medical campus, White said.

The distributed service platform will man-age the distributed resources on campus us-ing load and generation forecasts to create a forward-looking dispatch schedule, the utility said. National Grid hopes to learn how it can best connect customer-to-grid assets to mar-ket mechanisms such as ancillary services, ca-pacity, and demand response, the utility told the New York Public Service Commission in its project application.

National Grid also plans to explore setting up a microgrid in Potsdam, New York, to re-duce power outages in an area that has been hit with multi-day outages. Partly, the util-ity wants to see to what extent customers are willing to pay for grid reliability, White said. “What is the value of knowing the lights will come on?” he asked.

National Grid is also proposing to give about 15,000 residential and small commer-cial customers equipment so they can better monitor and manage their energy. The proj-ect will include levelized billing so customers have predictable electric utility expenses.

New York regulators have approved the community solar project and White expects final decisions on the other projects in the next couple months.

Smart power Utilities have also been looking at ways to link energy storage with renewable genera-tion. Portland General Electric and its part-ners, for example, launched the Salem Smart Power project in 2013. The project, seen on pages 18-19, includes a 5-MW lithium-ion battery-inverter system, which is used to provide seamless power delivery to a major customer with solar panels and also incorpo-rates demand response.

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Further, the Salem project is at the core of a microgrid that includes about 500 residen-tial, commercial and governmental custom-ers, according to Stan Sittser, a PGE spokes-man. As part of a microgrid, the project can tap three standby diesel generators when needed, with the battery providing about 20 minutes of electricity while the generators get started.

The roughly $25-million project is still in use and could be called on to bolster resil-iency and reliability, according to Sittser.

Hawaiian cooperative unveils plans for solar plus storage projectWhile several large IOUs are moving on ener-gy storage projects, so is a cooperative in Ha-waii. Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, with

about 33,000 customers, announced plans in September for a utility-scale solar plant that will deliver power in the evening, when elec-tric demand is at its peak.

SolarCity, which will build the 13-MW solar array and 52-MWh battery project, will sell power to the cooperative under a 20-year power purchase agreement for a fixed price of $145/MWh, which is less expensive than the utility’s conventional power supplies.

The cooperative said that the proposed SolarCity project next to the Kapaia power plant is believed to be the first utility-scale system in the U.S. to provide dispatchable solar energy, meaning that the utility can count on electricity being available when it is needed, even hours after the sun goes down.

The cooperative expects to save up to $52.6 million in reduced fuel use over the life of the power purchase contract while cutting its greenhouse gas emissions. n

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Igniting the Spark

Through association-funded grants and scholarships, public power is building its own workforce of the future.

With about a quarter of the existing public power workforce ready to retire

within the next five years, there is no time like the present to recruit the

next generation of public power employees.

Working at a public power utility provides a breadth of experience that

isn’t found in many other jobs. For Girish Balachandran, now the general

manager of California’s Riverside Public Utilities, his scholarships in 1989

and 1990 allowed him to continue his education while learning everything

from power purchasing to regulatory issues.

Through scholarships and internships in public power, the industry is

piquing the interest of its future generation of leaders like Balachandran.

Working with a public power utility also allows for a close relationship with

a community, one that many public power utility employees grew up in and

want to continue to serve.

But their advice to those who follow in their footsteps isn’t all that different

from what generations have been passing down for ages: communicate

effectively, be flexible and be curious.

Share your #workforce stories with

@PublicPowerOrg

By Laura D’Alessandro, integrated media editor, APPA


“I will continue my

career in the power

industry because it

touches everything

and everyone. Our

customers depend

on electricity,

and they expect

affordable rates.

Public Power

offers that. I want

to continue to be

a part of such an

important industry.”

Laura Strode, 26, Omaha

Public Power District

Growth in Your Community

As a young girl growing up in Nebraska, Laura Strode recalls the Omaha Public Power District as her family’s electric company. Now, she works there. Two years into her career in the electricity business, Strode said the power industry is where she sees herself for the foreseeable future.

It was an American Public Power Association grant awarded through the Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Development program that gave Strode her start. She was an intern at OPPD in the summer of 2013. She applied after she saw a post on OPPD’s website.

“I felt it was a great opportunity as I was pursuing my bachelor’s degree in marketing,” Strode said. “I was attracted to OPPD because they are a great company and a pillar in my community.”

As it turned out, the project was quite relevant to Strode’s area of study and she was able to get college credit for her work as she planned, implemented and developed marketing materials for demand side management programs. But the experience also opened a door.

“During the last few months of my internship I was offered a full-time position at OPPD,” Strode said. “The experiences I had gained during my DEED internship qualified me for this position. I have been in my current position for two years now and I still work closely with the same program and indi-viduals as I did as an intern.”

APPA’s DEED program targets $120,000 annually for its scholarships, including $5,000 student research grants and internships, $8,000 technical de-sign projects, and $2,000 educational scholarships. While the funding is bringing community members to work at their utilities, like Strode, the money also contributes to work on innovative projects, as is DEED’s core mission.


An Education in Energy

When Marie LaRiviere started her DEED internship in 2004, she didn’t know about geothermal power. But her job was to educate utilities and the public about the technology.

“I found it particularly interesting because I had never heard of ground source heat pumps and didn’t know much at all about creating electricity from geothermal energy,” she said.

In hindsight, LaRiviere said, renewable technologies still had a long way to go at that time, but the first step was education.“Even if my project didn’t create any incremental demand for geothermal technologies, it would still accomplish its goal by educating people,” she said. “A

lot of changes have taken place in the renewable energy industry since 2004, and much of that change has been driven by educating people and companies about their options and the existence, viability and benefits of these technologies.”

A lot has changed for LaRiviere, too. The experience created what became many more years of researching and educating in the energy industry. From there, LaRiviere began working at the Energy Information Administration forecasting biofuels consumption and demand. She moved into renewables and then forecasting fossil fuel demand and consumption.

“I liked the way that forecasting was extremely difficult because of market interactions that were more pronounced than those in the power space,” she said.

Her interest prompted her to go back to school and get a masters in business administration at Georgetown University, where she also got her under-graduate degree. Now she reports the financial results of global transactions, but it all started with an internship with DEED.

“I enjoy working for a

company that is respected

by the customers and that

keeps the customers’ interest

first. I have found it is

more satisfying to work for

a company that makes the

customers their number one

advocate, than working for a

company that is only looking

after the shareholders’

interests.”

Travis Kinney, 31,

Lewis County PUD


Seven Hats Right Off the BatIt is often said that small public power utility managers wear seven hats. In fact, in 1966 the American Public Power Association initiated an award to recognize utility managers who serve small public power communities and whose responsibilities extend well beyond administration into planning and design, public relations, field supervision, human resources and community leadership.

For Travis Kinney, it was this ability to do many different things that sparked his interest in staying in public power after an exciting internship at Lewis County PUD in Chehalis, Washington.

Kinney was an intern during the summer of 2012 and was attracted initially by the location and its proximity to where he lived, 30 minutes away. For Kinney, the internship would be a test drive, he said.

“I would be able to work for a utility and see if I liked it or not,” he said. “From some of the classes I took, I thought I wanted to work at a utility. The internship gave me the experience to know if it was a place that I truly wanted to work.”

It goes without saying that it certainly was. As an intern, Kinney got the lay of the land. He learned the PUD’s system so he was better prepared for a full-time position — one that wasn’t even available but Chief Engineer Dan Kay created for him.

“If I didn’t hire him I knew someone else would,” Kay said. So he went to the utility’s board and made the case. Now Kinney works as an electrical engineer on system performance and other tasks that arise.

It’s that ability to take on other responsibilities that Kinney enjoyed most as an intern.“At most public power utilities, engineers are able to work on a wide range of tasks that would cover multiple sub departments at other utilities,” he

said. “At most investor owned utilities, engineers are placed in a sub-department of engineering, like system protection, or substation. Then that engineer works in that sub department until an opening in a different sub department is available. But I feel that I get to learn and apply my knowledge to a wider range of tasks.”

And while Kinney was training to be an engineer in school, the experience is unlike anything he could have learned in a classroom, he said. “I was able to learn things and gain experience that is not, or cannot, be taught in college.”

“Working at DEED was

an important stepping

stone for me because

it piqued my interest in

the energy sector and

energy technologies,

which I then explored

by working across

a broad range of

technologies and

functions while at EIA

and now Chevron.”

Marie LaRiviere, 32, Chevron

“Public power is a very

meaningful occupation. We

provide an essential public

good. Our product is changing

to meet society’s expectations

for clean power, renewable

power, more information, more

control.”

Girish Balachandran, 49,

Riverside Public Utilities

Forming Future LeadersWhen Girish Balachandran was studying at the University of California Los Angeles in 1989, he didn’t have the money for his next semester’s tuition. Then he saw a flyer posted in the engineering department for a DEED scholarship. The project was load control and energy efficiency concepts.

“This couldn’t have been more perfect in terms of timing,” he said.About 25 years later, Balachandran is the general manager of Riverside Public Utilities in Riverside, California. While the scholarship was convenient,

economically, he received a job he was actually interested in, he said. He went back for a second round the following year. Balachandran said in hindsight the experiences were a tremendous opportunity that led to even more learning.

“In a five- to six-year period I was given an opportunity to be an analyst and work on contract negotiations with many utilities and then be involved in regulatory proceedings that were happening statewide,” he said. “Many of my friends who finished graduate school and went on to do MBAs — the stuff I was doing at work was what they were learning about in business school. Contract negotiation, regulatory proceedings, as a muni, you get to deal with all these things. So it was very satisfying to work in public power.”

The concepts Balachandran worked with during his DEED projects remain relevant, he said. Energy efficiency is being drawn farther into the forefront as environmental regulations continue to build upon one another, and load control is now called demand response.

Like Kinney, Balachandran applied a wide range of skills to his initial experience with public power. As a result, he said, the future workforce needs to be prepared to do just the same.

ROADMA to a better workforce

Attract and retain new people

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Retain knowledge from departing

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Foster continuing education

®


APPA Leads The Way with Public Power Forward By Joe Nipper, senior vice president of regulatory affairs and communications, APPA

WASHINGTON REPORT

For public power, innovation is not just a catchphrase — it is a funda-mental aspect of how our member utilities have been doing business every day for more than a century.

The wide range of projects detailed in this issue that have received grants through the American Public Power Association’s Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments program shows that public power walks the walk when it comes to pursuing the development of new technologies.

Whether it is developing an energy storage project, offering customers the opportunity to participate in a community solar project or deploy-ing electric vehicle charging infrastructure, municipal utilities across the country are actively engaged in a number of innovations that illustrate our commitment to being at the forefront of change.

Recognizing that the power sector is in the midst of a significant tran-sition as distributed energy resources and technological change pose both challenges and opportunities for utilities, APPA has committed to help its members prepare for this evolution by tailoring its core services as part of

the association’s strategic plan for 2016-2018.APPA’s strategic plan refers to the opportunities and challenges of

the future as Public Power Forward. As the strategic plan notes, new technologies, evolving markets, increasing amounts of customer-owned generation, new industry entrants, increasing focus on reliability, and growing energy efficiency and demand response are coming together to re-shape relationships between distribution electric utilities and their retail customers.

“Some policy proposals spawned by these new developments could pose fundamental challenges to the public power business model and established relationships with our retail customers and communities,” the strategic plan states.

As part of Public Power Forward, APPA will focus on helping its mem-bers to communicate the value of community-owned electric utilities and explain the implications of technology to public power customers. At the national level, APPA will work to ensure that proposed changes to the in-dustry’s structure, regulation, and business models support our members and allow them to adapt to changing community expectations.

In late October, we convened APPA’s first-ever Public Power Forward summit where attendees heard from a number of players at the front lines of the dramatic change underway in the power sector. Sessions included a discussion of financial and rate implications of new business models, public power’s reaction to reform proposals and customer engagement and public communications issues.

The summit provided a lot of useful material that attendees will be able to use as they work to address new technologies, evolving markets, increasing amounts of customer-owned generation and new industry entrants, among other things.

With its history and core values, public power is well positioned to take on the future and thrive in an ever-changing power industry land-scape. But the key to achieving success will be for public power utilities to strategize and prepare now.

With Public Power Forward, APPA’s members can rest assured that the association will be by their side every step of the way as the pace of change in the power industry continues to accelerate.

Access forward thinking.

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ENGINEERING

Skippy or Jif, Time-of-use or Fixed-bill Electricity Rates?By Bernard Neenan, senior technical executive, and Jennifer Robinson, technical leader, energy utilization, Electric Power Research Institute

We’ve all been there, standing in the peanut butter aisle, faced with a myriad choices — crunchy or smooth, organic or natural, Skippy or JIF. What you choose may have little to do with any other factors than emotion, leav-ing Skippy at a loss for marketing their product over JIF. Instead, researchers often use experimentation to observe how consumers are making choices.

For electricity customers, the choice may be time-of-use or fixed-bill electricity service plans. Customers are looking for new ways to use power, thanks to solar panels, smart thermostats and in-home battery storage. Before utilities release service plans for these new technologies, they can assess customer choices through experimentation, too.

New insights about consumer preferences come from an ongoing EPRI behavioral research initiative. A recently completed study employed discrete choice experimentation, a popular market and preference research tool that is just now finding its way into electricity service plan design research.

Evaluating choicesDiscreet choice experimentation, or DCE, is a set of experimental protocols for eliciting directly from consumers their preferences for good and services. DCE is particularly well-suited for evaluating alternative electricity service plans because it was designed specifically to measure preferences for ser-vices that consumers are not familiar with, which is the case for time-of-use and fixed bill pricing.

A DCE survey asked respondents to consider a series of choice situations and, in each, indicate which of the alternative service plans they prefer. For this research, time-of-use and fixed-bill plans were offered as alternatives to how customers buy electricity — most commonly through a uniform rate of dollars per kilowatt-hour for all energy consumed. The alternatives in each set included different levels of features for time-of-use and fixed-bill rates, always compared to the status quo, a fixed rate. As part of the survey, each respondent completed several choice situations each with the service plan attributes configured differently.

Studying preferencesEPRI conducted the study in two stages. First, a DCE survey instrument was developed and tested, and then administered to customers of the three sponsoring utilities —Kansas City Power and Light, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Salt River Project. TVA’s sponsorship was partially paid for with an APPA DEED grant. A commercial survey panel was used to administer the surveys.

The second stage applied the same survey instrument to include small-er, more rural utilities and municipal utilities — local power companies served by TVA. EPRI used direct mail for the entire DEED study.

EPRI tested alternative ways of delivering, packaging, and messaging the survey. A variety of delivery alternatives were employed to identify which works best. In the best, a response rate of over 75 percent was achieved. More than 600 survey responses were collected through the DEED survey implementation.

Modeling preferencesThe survey responses were used to construct a preference model that relates service plan attributes and consumer demographics to the likeli-hood of choosing time-of-use or fixed-bill over a conventional residential electricity rate.

The linkage between preferences and customer demographics makes DCE a comprehensive method; it establishes what factors should be used to segment customers and constructs those segments based on observable characteristics.

The role of demographics in explaining stated preferences has two im-portant consequences. Models of service plan preferences must collect suf-ficient demographic data so that those distinctions are explicit in estimating preferences. Demographics also provides a means for associating preferences to customer segments and geographic locations that will facilitate effective education on and marketing of service plans.

Closing the deal, bulking up the dataAs new service plans de-velop and customers se-lect them, actual choice data can be collected, revealing real preferenc-es data — who bought and who did not — that can be combined with the stated preferences data from the survey to improve the predictions of which types of cus-tomers are most likely to choose which types of service plans.

Combined with customer load data, the results inform how customer electricity us-age is likely to change as respondents choose and adapt to new service plans. Combined with utility supply cost fore-casts, the results of such studies contribute to a utility’s goal of minimiz-ing the cost of meeting diverse customer needs.

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Reducing Cyber Risk: Where to StartBy Nathan Mitchell, senior director of electric reliability standards and security, APPA

SECURITY

Innovation opens doors for opportunity. But it also opens new doors to risk. As those who would like to harm the electric grid find new and better ways to infiltrate the system, the in-

dustry must step up to the plate to make sure bad actors don’t get in. APPA recently held a webinar on cybersecurity challenges — part of a seven-part series on cybersecurity topics.

Brad Luna senior vice president of sales for n-Dimension Solutions in Dallas, Texas, laid out these basic steps to reduce cyber risk.

1. Monitor network for threats It’s essen-tial to identify a person or a team to be responsible for monitoring beyond a fire-wall. Common things to look for include malicious behavior and misconfigured systems.

2. Perform vulnerability assessments This goes beyond monitoring. Your utility has to systematically seek out “open windows” through which bad-actors can get to your se-cure information. This includes threats fac-ing desktops, servers, and other IT systems.

3. Watch for network configuration errors This often time comes down to your IT staff keeping on top of best practices and system updates (while handling other company issues).

4. Ensure IT has the necessary knowledge Your IT professionals either need to be cybersecurity experts themselves or have access to experts. This often requires outside help.

5. Establish policies and procedures In most cases, this is your first step toward success. Before you can successfully de-fend your utility from intrusion, you need to lay down the cybersecurity ground rules.

6. Conduct awareness training Once you have in place policies and procedures regarding information security, you need to engage staff and get buy-in by deliver-ing training

For more information on cyber-readiness, check out APPA’s series of seven webinars on cybersecurity for electric utilities. Learn how to protect your utility, customers, com-munity, and the electric grid from potentially damaging interruptions. Register online at PublicPower.org.


100 YEARS OF PRIDE IN PUBLIC POWER

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania#PublicPower

READ MORE: Read an extended feature about Chambersburg on PublicPower.org under News>Public Power magazine (Nov.-Dec. 2015).

The 6.5-square-mile Borough of Chambersburg, with a population of just over 20,000, in Pennsylvania is a typical small-town America public power community. While it is best known as a significant Civil War site — home to the “Memorial Square” where General Robert E. Lee made the fateful decision to move east, resulting in the historic Battle of Gettysburg — Chambersburg hosts another lesser known memorial.

This memorial, in front of the borough’s electric operations office, expresses the appreciation of Chambersburg’s citizens for those who “in 1904, by their unselfish and courageous actions in the face of powerful opposition and public criticism, prevented the sale of the borough’s municipal electric light plant and preserved for the community that which has proven to be its most valuable financial asset.”

Today, the Chambersburg continues the fight — now against rising costs and market complexities — to provide safe, reliable, competitively priced, environmentally responsible electricity.

Established in 1893, Chambersburg is the largest municipal electric utility in Pennsylvania and serves 11,300 meters. It is the state’s only municipal electric utility to own and operate electric generating units.

Residential, commercial, and industrial sectors each account for about one-third of the borough’s electricity demand. The borough also powers streetlights —its first generating station was set up mainly for streetlighting.

The utility has a “buy all, sell all” arrangement with the PJM Interconnection to leverage the best market prices and ultimately, the lowest rates for its customers. According to Electric Superintendent Ron Pezon, Chambersburg is the only public power system in Pennsylvania to own and operate its own power plants while also “shopping for the best wholesale electricity prices for customers.”

Pezon attributes the utility’s accomplishments over the years to the progressive thinking of the mayor and 10-member city council. “They encouraged us to shop and diversify our power supply sources,” he says. The council also supported the utility in building its own generation to hedge against price volatility in the markets.

In 2013, the utility contracted with a third party to develop and install a 6.4-MW landfill gas to energy system. The project, designed to prevent the equivalent of 40,000 tons of emissions each year, won the 2013 project of the year award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program.

Pezon has been talking with community farmers to explore the feasibility of a brown power methane project to generate electricity from manure.

Chambersburg is also looking for a site to locate up to 8 MW of community solar.

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. “M

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III.


Sharing Bright Ideas: DEED’s Top 5 ResourcesBy Michele Suddleson, DEED program director, American Public Power Association

INNOVATION

The American Public Power Association’s Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments is the only research and demonstration program funded by and for public power utilities. Established in 1980, DEED supports and demonstrates research, funding, and education to improve the opera-tions and services of public power utilities.

One of the best things about DEED is its repository of bright ideas. DEED not only encourages innovation through project grants and scholarships but also shares the results for replication by all public power utilities. Detailed reports are available exclusively to DEED members.

The online DEED project database chronicles nearly 500 research and demonstration projects conducted over 35 years on energy efficiency, community education, demand response, reli-ability, lighting, renewable resources, smart grid, solar, environment, and other topics. DEED members can access full reports on any of these projects and contact the project team leads to learn more and plan their own applications.

DEED grantees frequently share project accomplishments and lessons learned with all public power utilities through publications, toolkits, webinars, and conference presentations. See my picks for the DEED-generated resources that every utility should invest in.

Smart Grid Investment Grant Projects: Public Power Case StudiesThe U.S. Department of Energy Smart Grid In-

vestment Grant program, funded by the American

Reinvestment and Recovery Act, is designed to

accelerate the modernization of electric trans-

mission and distribution systems and promote

investments in smart grid technologies, tools, and

techniques. SGIG projects were funded in five

categories — advanced metering infrastructure,

customer systems, electric distribution systems,

electric transmission systems, and equipment

manufacturing. This book profiles the 32 public

power SGIG projects, reviews specific smart grid

technologies, and discusses how public power utili-

ties can benefit.

Smart Grid Customer Engagement EssentialsFrom health to privacy, electricity customers

have many concerns and unfounded suspicions

about smart meters. This guidebook helps utilities

provide accurate information about smart meters

and other technologies to dispel myths and fears

and engage customers. Case studies describe how

public power utilities use social media and other

technologies for engagement. The guidebook pro-

vides engagement plan checklists, communication

templates, and metrics.

An Introduction to Community Solar This guidebook explains the process for develop-

ing utility-driven solar projects with multiple par-

ticipants who share ownership, costs, and benefits.

With case studies from different types of utilities,

the publication explains how utilities that take

or share leadership of solar projects can realize

benefits, with limited risk.

Solar Engagement Options for Public PowerCustomers want solar — and no matter how they

access it, they will turn to their utility for help.

The Solar Electric Power Association describes

the four ways that public power utilities can offer

solar to customers — purchased power, ownership,

customer engagement, and community solar —

and discusses the benefits and challenges of each.

The book includes public power solar case studies

and discusses costs and financing, utility planning,

solar forecasting, smart inverters, and energy

storage.

Top 5 Innovation Reads

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Solar Engagement OptionsFOR PUBLIC POWER

Smart Grid Customer Engagement Essentials A P U B L I C P O W E R P R I M E R

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An Introduction to CommunityShared Solar Programs forPublic Power Utilities


Energy Efficiency Benchmarking Made EasyPublic power utilities often lack adequate tools

to measure the effectiveness of energy efficiency

programs and decide how to allocate future

resources. DEED funded a project to help public

power utilities produce quality energy efficiency

data and better access and use information from

the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Infor-

mation Administration-861 survey. The project

produced an interactive online benchmarking

tool, the DSM Benchmarker, to help public power

utilities compare energy efficiency spending and

savings. The tool generates comparison charts

by geography, ownership type, size, year, etc. with

energy savings, potential demand reduction, and

spending indicators. Available to APPA members

at www.PublicPower.org/EERC

this guide on how to build energy efficient homes

without skyrocketing costs.

All resources can be ordered through the online

APPA Product Store at www.PublicPower.org/Store

APPA’s DSM Benchmarker™ helps you evaluate

and benchmark your utility’s demand-side

management/energy efficiency programs and

respond to the U.S. Department of Energy’s EIA

form 861-Schedule 6.

With the DSM Benchmarker™ you can

access reliable data to make apples-to-apples

comparisons and generate customizable charts

on energy savings, potential demand reduction,

spending relative to utility size, and more.

Competing DSM tools use voluntary, unaudited

state reporting, but APPA’s DSM Benchmarker™

uses data collected and vetted by the U.S.

Department of Energy on EIA form 861-Schedule

6 — the mandatory annual reporting vehicle to

capture national utility energy efficiency data.

Best of all, it’s free to you and your staff as

an APPA member.

Get started today at www.PublicPower.org/EERC

or contact [email protected] for more

information.

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Serving the industry since 1974.

759878_Power.indd 1 26/08/15 6:47 PM

American Transmission Company ............................www.atcllc.com ................................................17Asplundh Tree Expert Co. .......................................www.asplundh.com.............................................21Black & Veatch Management Consulting Division.......www.bv.com .....................Outside Back CoverBurndy Electrical .......................................................www.burndy.com .................... Inside Back CoverCRC ..............................................................................www.crc.coop .................................................36Finley Engineering Co. Inc. (FEC) ............................. www.fecinc.com .................................................5GridLiance ...............................................................www.gridliance.com ..............................................2Hendrix Wire & Cable, Inc. ....................................www.hendrix-wc.com ...........................................23IFD Corporation ...................................................www.ifdcorporation.com.........................................22

Laminated Wood Systems ........................................www.lwsinc.com ...............................................32Leidos Corporation .....................................................www.leidos.com ...............................................34PhoneTree® ........................................................ phonetree.com/APPA2015 .........................................5Power System Engineering, Inc. ..........................www.powersystem.org ..........................................39SEL ........................................................................ selinc.com/dna-ppm11 ............................................1Sterling Security Systems .................................www.sterlingpadlocks.com.......................................22Tana Wire Markers ............................................www.tanawiremarker.com .......................................35TEA - The Energy Authority .......................................www.teainc.org ................................................23Thomas & Betts ......................................................tnb.com/capswitches .................Inside Front Cover

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