Public Power Current

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on June 10 said it expects U.S. electricity demand to total 998 billion kilowatt hours this summer, the lowest level of summer electricity consumption in the United States since 2009 and 5% less than last summer.

Chelan County PUD commissioners on June 15 heard proposals from PUD staff to bring the utility to the top quartile of reliable electrical service, in line with other high-performing U.S. public power providers.

In a recent survey of utility executives by Siemens and the Ponemon Institute, more than half of the respondents said that cyber attacks are on the rise. In addition, the nature of the attacks has shifted in recent years.

Vermont Public Power Supply Authority (VPPSA) and Encore Renewable Energy recently announced that construction has begun on a new solar array in Morrisville, Vermont.

With public power utilities potentially losing up to $5 billion in revenues this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital that Congress provide direct aid to these community-owned utilities, the American Public Power Association said, adding that a forgivable loan program would ensure that aid

Independent power producer Broad Reach Power plans to build 15 utility-scale battery storage plants totaling 150 megawatts (MW) in areas near Houston and Odessa, Texas.

The California Community Choice Association expressed disappointment in a California Public Utilities Commission decision that designates Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison as central buyers to procure local, multi-year resource adequacy.

Working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a lifesaver, but it has also brought new threats. Working from home allows people to minimize social interaction, which limits and slows the spread of COVID-19. But, as highlighted in a recent alert from NERC, the power industry “is in a period of heightened cyber risk due to a large contingent of industry employees working remotely.”