Transmission
The U.S. Department of Energy on Aug. 6 announced a $2.2 billion investment in the nation’s grid for eight projects across 18 states aimed at protecting against growing threats of extreme weather events, lowering costs for communities and catalyzing additional grid capacity to meet load growth stemming from an increase in manufacturing and data centers.
Electricity Markets
The Southwest Power Pool’s Regional State Committee and Board of Directors approved increases to the planning reserve margins member utilities are required to maintain in support of regional grid reliability.
Electricity Markets
Arizona public power utility Salt River Project recently set a new record for the amount of energy delivered to its retail customers.
Disaster Response and Mutual Aid
In less than 36 hours since landfall, Florida public power utilities have restored power to nearly all customers impacted by Hurricane Debby, Amy Zubaly, Executive Director, Florida Municipal Electric Association, said on Aug. 6.
Electricity Markets
The PJM Interconnection has cleared 204 generation projects to the second phase of its new interconnection process, designed to study 72,000 MW of mostly renewable or hybrid resources by the third quarter of 2025, it said on Aug. 6
Distributed Energy Resources
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is accepting proposals for the supply of renewable energy supplies and stand-alone energy storage for its CleanPowerSF program.
Generation
U.S. power plant operators generated 6.9 million megawatthours of electricity from natural gas on a daily basis in the Lower 48 states on July 9, “probably the most in history and certainly since at least January 1, 2019, when we began to collect hourly data about natural gas generation,” the Energy Information Administration reported.
Generation
In a recent Q&A with Public Power Current, Troy Adams, general manager for Wisconsin Public Power utility Manitowoc Public Utilities, detailed how a power plant boiler refueling project being pursued by the utility offers a variety of benefits for Manitowoc Public Utilities.
Reliability
The rebuild of Oregon public power utility Eugene Water & Electric Board’s Currin Substation is almost complete, marking a significant milestone in EWEB’s investment in major infrastructure modernizations, the utility reported in late July.
Generation
Coal stockpiles at U.S. electric power plants totaled 138 million short tons at the end of May, the most since the first half of 2020 when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced electricity demand and coal consumption, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Aug. 5.