Archive for category: General Information

City of Osawatomie Adds Generation

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The City of Osawatomie is in the process of adding 12 MW of generation to their system.  At this time, they have install three of the six 2 MW Caterpillar Gen Sets to accomplish this. Osawatomie’s Power Plant Superintendent Stewart Kasper took KMEA staff on a tour of the new facilities.  The three Gen Sets pictured are installed and ready for use.  According to Stewart, the city is waiting on metering to be installed to complete this first stage of the project.

Director, Projects & Asset Management, Neal Daney – “The 3 T’s”

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There are many things to consider when building sustainable, predictable rates for your customers. But, one thing is for certain—reducing diversity increases risk to your consumers.
Diversity in a power supply portfolio can mean a multitude of things, but let’s break it down into the 3 T’s—technology, type, & term:

• Technology—natural gas, coal, hydro, wind, & solar
The natural gas market is historically low today and so is wind. It won’t always be that way. Just as in real estate, the energy markets move in cycles.
• Type—Base-load, Intermediate, Peaking, Energy Only
You wouldn’t go to the golf course with 6 drivers in your bag, nor should you have 6 baseload products in your power supply portfolio. The variety in your portfolio will strengthen a
positive outcome.
• Term—1 month, 1 year, 5 year, 10 years or longer
To reduce risk, it is important to have portions of your portfolio expiring at different times.

A well-diversified portfolio doesn’t mean that your community will have the lowest rates in the State, but it also means you won’t have the highest either as market conditions change over time. Building a power supply portfolio is comparable to running a marathon…it is not a sprint. Make sure your community is preparing for the long haul. Please call KMEA if you would like to discuss your power supply portfolio and the options available to you.

Our Ever Changing World, Sam Mills

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Did you ever think that you may not need to own a car or even need a driver’s license? At some point in the future you will most likely be able to simply summon a driverless car on your phone or other device and it will appear in front of you to take you where you want to go.

Would any of us think that there would be a time when renewable energy would be such a large percentage of overall generation that it would be curtailed? Well it happened. The growing solar generation in the California ISO has created just such a scenario. CAISO curtailed 80 GWh of renewable energy in March.

This is how our world is changing and sometimes it is hard to keep up with and some things may be hard to accept. The time may not be too far away when homes are no longer connected to the electrical grid. It may sound like a movie but think about the advancements in storage technology, solar technology, and nuclear generation in a suitcase, it may be right around the corner.

I can imagine our great grandkids or even our grandkids not needing a driver’s license or an electric meter on their homes. It will be really cool and I hope I am around to see it.

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/is-grid-defection-still-a-threat-to-the-utility-business-model/440272/

 

 

“Member Spotlight” Wamego, Kansas

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Last year, the City of Wamego celebrated 150 years of history, that all began in 1866 when the Wamego townsite was founded.  At that time, the Kansas River valley was already known as a rich agricultural area.  The neighboring communities of Wabaunsee, Louisville and St. George were well established, and construction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad was pushing west from Topeka.  A group of men surveying a route for the railroad eyed the site as a location that would be free of flooding from the River and formed a townsite company.  Once the railhead reached Wamego, the townsite was platted and Wamego was set to take off.  By the next year the town had “a population of over 300, forty good substantial dwellings, three stores with large stocks of general merchandise, a drug store, bakery, two saloons, gunsmith blacksmith and wagon shop, and a no. 1 harness shop…” according to the Pottawatomie Gazette.   The town was incorporated in 1868, and soon became the division headquarters for the railroad, located at what is now the City Park.  More permanent buildings were constructed in following years, some of which are still standing downtown.  The Columbian Theatre building was built in 1895.  City Park was purchased in 1901, and water and electric were installed in 1903.  Perhaps the most famous past resident is Walter P. Chrysler, born in Wamego in 1875, but raised in Ellis.  Since 1900 Wamego has experienced population growth each decade but one, and now has just under 5,000 residents.  Although proximity to Manhattan and Kansas State University have bolstered growth in Wamego, the community has a large employment draw of its own:  Caterpillar Work Tools, which manufactures attachments for materials moving equipment.  This enterprise can ultimately trace its origins to a blacksmith shop commenced in 1889 by John Balderson.  Other related manufacturing businesses call Wamego home, and Highland Community College has a satellite campus in Wamego.  An award winning health center and school district enhance the quality of life in Wamego, rounded out by great attractions like the giant 4th of July celebration, Oz Festival, Tulip Festival, Old Dutch Mill and Oz Museum.

Leader Moved City Utilities Forward in Positive Way

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Jack Davis

Leader moved city utilities forward in positive way

  • By GREG MAST Herald Senior Writer

Davis, 88, who was the city’s utilities director from 1979 to 1991, died Friday.

Scott Bird, city finance director, who has worked for the city since 1981 and started in the power plant, said Davis was an integral player in Ottawa buying power at cheaper prices.  READ MORE

 

Director, Transmission & Security; Neil Rowland

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Can you spare some change? I know I can!  I have change all around me, and I will be happy to share it with you.  Unfortunately it is not the type of change that jingles in your pocket, but the inevitable “things never stay the same” type of change.  The electric Utility industry is always changing, and keeping up with those changes is a big part of what KMEA does for its members.  The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) is continuously updating its rules and regulations.

Those rules are kept in the SPP Tariff, a living document that would be out of date as soon as you finished printing it.

SPP has a group called the Regional Tariff Working Group (RTWG) that meets each month to review and approve changes to the Tariff made by other stakeholder groups and committee’s within the SPP. Stakeholder groups will submit a Tariff Revision Request (TRR) that details the planned change.  It is up to the legal team at SPP and the members on the RTWG to make the words fit the intent of the new change.

You could say it is Tariff-fying work, but in reality, it is important to review and look at planned changes from the Municipal point of view. Making sure that the new rules are fair and not burdensome or overly beneficial to any specific group of members is very important.

After the RTWG has finished its work the changes to the tariff are sent to the Markets and Operations Policy Committee (MOPC), a committee where each SPP members gets 1 vote, and then to the Board of Directors for their approval before they are submitted to FERC.

Because KMEA has an active member on the RTWG it can stay abreast of all the new changes that are coming out of the SPP member driven processes. Hopefully in the end that knowledge will allow all of us to better handle our change.

Labor Pooling Meeting in Goodland

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Representatives of the Cities of Colby and Goodland toured the Goodland Power Plant and discussed the possibilities of pooling labor services for plant operators.  The cities continue to research the pros and cons of pooling and how it could impact each city and the region.

Charlie Herr from Arthur J. Gallagher met with representatives of five Cities in Russell

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Charlie Herr, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, Inc. explained the benefits of Pooling insurance coverage as well as stop loss self insurance to representatives of the Cities of Russell, Colby, Goodland, Moundridge and Burlingame. The meeting was hosted by the City of Russell on March 8th.

From the Desk of Managing Director, Electric Operations – Sam Mills

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As you know, the electric utility industry is and has been changing for some time. The transformation as it is called by some is being driven by a number of key factors. A recent online survey conducted by Utility Dive revealed many of the same issues that we discuss regularly. An aging workforce, regulations, aging infrastructure, integrating renewable energy, and stagnant load growth are the top five concerns of the respondents.

The top pressing challenge is….you guessed it, an aging workforce. I thought I was the only old one around here but obviously not. The challenge presented by the retirements of employees and the knowledge that leaves with them is leaving a void in the industry that is concerning and may be crippling to some small systems.

As regulation of the industry has expanded over the years it has brought with it a variety of issues. One of which is finding money to deal with these regulations within a budget that is already stretched to the max.

Wind energy and solar energy installation have presented some unique challenges to the industry as a whole. Wind has become a much larger force in the SPP footprint than most everyone imagined. In the past several months wind has been responsible for producing at or near 50% of the energy in SPP. Residential solar installation brings different challenges to your utility, metering and recovery of the fixed costs of your utility are just a couple of them.

Stagnant or negative load growth is another aspect of the electric utility transformation. This puts a strain on rates as the utility tries to generate revenues to address the increasing cost of operation. At some point in the future will your load begin to grow? Nobody really has the answer.

I found this survey very interesting and quite telling of the industry as a whole. I have only written about a small portion of the survey but you can click on the link to read it in its entirety.

Enjoy!

https://s3.amazonaws.com/dive_assets/rlpsys/state_of_electric_utility_2016.pdf