The American Public Power Association’s Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments program approved $477,961 in funding for nine public power utility projects that aim to improve utility operations and services with novel techniques and technologies.
The DEED program funds research, pilot projects, and education to improve the operations and services of public power utilities.
The projects selected to receive funding are as follows:
Westfield Board of Public Utilities, Village of Westfield System Health Assessment Project, New York (DEED funding: $90,000)
The Village of Westfield, New York, in preparation for the anticipated increase in the electrification of building, vehicle, industrial and municipal facilities and expansion of the same, coupled with the need to assess known concerns within the existing grid, identified the need to establish a more active power upgrade and vulnerability mitigation plan. The Village is engaging SmartKable Powerline Solutions (SKPLS) to assess their potential needs.
The project will utilize the SKPLS Line Ranger network to perform a health and loading assessment on the Westfield grid. The Line Ranger network combines proprietary sensors that mount right on the powerlines, combined with analysis and reporting.
The Village will utilize two contracted engineering firms with experience with the Westfield System to help evaluate the information, input the data into system modeling, and develop a mitigation plan
Orlando Utilities Commission, Sunshine on Lawncare, A Landscape Electrification Demonstration Project, Florida (DEED funding: $70,500)
Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), Florida is developing a “Sunshine on Lawncare” program. OUC’s program aims to educate landscaping companies about electric equipment and demonstrate the practical advantages of electric equipment through hands-on experience with a fully electric commercial-grade landscape set up. Through Sunshine on Lawncare, OUC will provide landscapers within its service territory with a readied Electric Vehicle (EV) and trailer rig including electric landscaping equipment, battery storage, solar panels on trailer for range extension, and a portable charging station (DCFC).
Sunshine on Lawncare offers a community partnership between Orlando Utilities Commission, Suntek Zero Emission Lawn Care and Suntek Green Foundation to encourage, train and offer landscapers “try before you buy” opportunities to embrace electrification.
Clallam County PUD, Medical Equipment Solar + Storage Backup Program, Washington (DEED funding: $65,000)
PUD No. 1 of Clallam County in Washington State will pursue a pilot project that will provide an innovative approach to assist medically-vulnerable residents on the remote West End region of Clallam County in Washington State by providing them solar-powered backup generators with energy storage sized according to their medical equipment need.
Qualifying low-income residents who rely on electricity-dependent medical equipment to manage significant health conditions will receive a solar-powered generator plus battery combo capable of ensuring backup during daylight and non-daylight hours through extended outages.
The remote West End region of 5,600 residents includes several tribal and rural underserved communities that experience severe weather causing frequent, prolonged power outages averaging 35 hours per year.
For low-income, medically-vulnerable populations, these outages may create life-threatening situations for residents who depend on medical devices like oxygen, nebulizers, in-home dialysis machines, IV pumps, and other lifesaving equipment.
Pasadena Water & Power, Distributed Energy Resource – Rooftop Wind Microturbine, California (DEED funding: $60,000)
Pasadena Water & Power’s proposed Distributed Energy Resource Rooftop Wind Microturbine Pilot Project involves the installation of a wind microturbine on either a municipally or privately owned building.
This installation will include the generating units, an inverter, conduits for connecting to the building's power supply, a performance monitoring system, a weather monitoring system to record wind speed, and the necessary installation materials (e.g., bolts, adhesive). The project will deploy approximately 1-2 generating units, depending on the size of the units and the length of the roof.
The outcome will be an operational DER that reduces the building’s energy consumption while demonstrating the viability of this emerging technology in an urban environment, particularly in Pasadena. The project will be monitored continuously through twelve months of operation to assess the expected generation, maintenance requirements, and associated costs.
Nebraska Public Power District, Grid Resilience Sensor Technology Project, Nebraska (DEED funding: $56,223)
Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) has an opportunity to improve asset health by utilizing Fischer Block modules to detect incipient failures.
This technology will help NPPD detect arrester failures, monitor overall power quality, transformer failures, bushing health, and other disruptions by leveraging AI and comparing to industry data to look for anomalies.
NPPD hopes the data generated through this project will lead to cost savings by planning downtime instead of having forced or unplanned outages. Other anticipated benefits include increasing intelligence about grid conditions (smarter grid) and improving employee safety by sensing problems before they occur.
The technology will help NPPD gain insights into “operational blind spots”, allow improvement on the return on investment of assets, and enhance the reliability and visibility of the performance on assets.
Michigan Public Power Agency/MMEA Michigan, Municipal Community Benefit Project, (DEED funding: $49,000)
Michigan Municipal Electric Association partnered with Utility Financial Solutions, LLC to develop a municipal community benefit model that illustrates the financial benefit a locally owned utility brings its community.
Partnering with UFS has resulted in a model that Members can easily utilize.The data will undergird a comprehensive report informing member governing bodies and state and federal legislators of the many benefits their public power constituents provide. This toolkit will then be available to other DEED members for helping to inform their governing bodies of the financial benefits of their utilities to the local community.
Chelan County PUD, Training and Employing High School Students to Save Energy in Commercial Buildings, Washington (DEED funding: $31,000)
Chelan County Public Utility District in Washington is developing a project aiming to empower and employ high school students to work with commercial building owners and operators to dramatically reduce their building’s energy and peak power usage.
The students and their professional managers use 15-minute utility data, along with working directly with commercial customers, to conduct on-site “treasure hunts” to identify energy-saving opportunities.
Unlike traditional Strategic Energy Management programs, the focus is primarily on identifying, achieving, and documenting low-and no-cost operational and maintenance opportunities that improve energy efficiency and reduce peak power usage.
Kansas Municipal Utilities, Lineworker Collaboration Research Project, Kansas (DEED funding: $28,738)
Kansas Municipal Utilities has received a grant aimed at providing a clearer pathway for municipal utilities across the United States by discovering the best practices of collaboration between interested parties as well as potential modalities of training for lineworkers entering their career.
The project will require an intern to do careful data collection and analysis with a resulting list of suggested pathways of best practice to collaborate between member organizations such as KMU, municipal utilities and local, regional and/or state colleges, technical colleges, universities, and regional associations, specifically in the area of lineworker career development.
Utilities will benefit from a careful analysis and set of pathways to best work with their local and regional partners to recruit and retain lineworkers for their utility.
Zeeland Board of Public Works, Pilot Installation of Thermal Gradient Motor Project, Michigan (DEED funding: $27,500)
Synergy Power LLC will use its patented Thermal Gradient Motor (TGM) technology to harvest low temperature heat from the boiler system that is used to keep Zeeland Board of Public Work’s (Michigan) standby Diesel generators warm.
The TGM converts low temperature heat into direct mechanical power that is then used to power a generator to produce electricity. One side of the TGM is kept warmer than the other, and it is this thermal gradient that is harvested to produce electrical power.
For ZBPW, the cooler side of the TGM would connect via a heat exchanger to their cooling tower's reservoir which typically stays near an ambient temperature of 70°F. The TGM would harvest the thermal gradient between the heat source and heat sink producing power.
Scholarships and Internships
The DEED Board also approved funding for member utility scholarships and internships:
Scholarships
- City Light Gas & Water ($2,000, Carter Shewmaker)
- WPPI Energy ($2,000, Noahvose Herron)
- Silicon Valley Power ($2,000, Jelani Finkley)
Internships
- Village of Morrill ($4,000, VoM electrical internship)
- Westfield Gas & Electric ($4,000, energy supply intern)
- Westfield Gas & Electric, ($4,000, KRA database intern)
- Ocala Electric Utility ($4,000, Electric utility lineworker trainee)
- Lodi Municipal Light & Water ($4,000, utility operations intern)
- Northern California Power Agency ($4,000, grant accounting intern)
New DEED Board Members
In addition, three new DEED Board Members have been appointed:
- Region 1 (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming): Tom Cooper, Public Power Director, Brigham City Corporation
- Region 6 (Arizona, California, and Nevada): Alcides Hernandez, Revenue Strategy Manager, SMUD
- At-large (All DEED members in and outside the United State): David Ketchen, Assistant General Manager, Littleton Electric Light and Water Departments
