Public Power Daily

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington in late March denied a motion filed by a group of cryptocurrency miners asking the court to enjoin Grant County PUD No. 2 from implementing an electricity rate class for cryptocurrency miners designed to protect the interests of existing PUD customers.

Several public power entities on April 18 said that they are sponsoring a study to determine how best to ensure that Interstate 5, which extends more than 1,300 miles from the Canadian to the Mexican border, is equipped with sufficient charging to support electric long-haul trucks.

The Sterling Municipal Light Department (SMLD) in Massachusetts is marking a major milestone related to the department’s two energy storage systems. In March, SMLD celebrated over $1 million in avoided costs to the light department, thanks to the two systems.

Texas public power utility New Braunfels Utilities on April 16 hosted a ribbon cutting for its eleventh substation, which will allow the utility to maintain resiliency in the face of growth.

Customers are increasingly dependent on their mobile phones and rely on apps and texts for all types of transactions, service reminders and alerts. They expect the same from their electric utility. For utilities, text messaging is highly effective for communicating outage notifications, weather alerts, tree trimming operations, and payment reminders to their customers.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not consider two appeals court decisions that upheld state programs in Illinois and New York that provide support for nuclear power plants.

The City Council for Norfolk, Neb., on April 15 approved an agreement for the state’s largest community solar project with Nebraska Public Power District that will be tied to a battery energy storage system (BESS) demonstration project expected to be in operation by mid-2020.

Several public power cities are making strides when it comes to solar installations, a new report from Environment America says.