Iowa Coops to Attend Workshop on Preventing Cyber-Attacks
Posted on Dec 14, 2012 in Grid & Infrastructure, Reliability, Technology | Comments Off on Iowa Coops to Attend Workshop on Preventing Cyber-Attacks
The heads of electric cooperatives in Iowa will meet for a three-day workshop and training session at Iowa State University in Ames. The goal of the workshop is to protect the state’s electric coops from cyber-attacks, which are becoming an increasingly important topic of grid reliability. Organizers say the first line of defense is ensuring that the workforce is adequately...
Study Finds Northwest Needs More Generation
Posted on Dec 13, 2012 in Grid & Infrastructure, Project Development, Reliability | Comments Off on Study Finds Northwest Needs More Generation
A study conducted by the Northwest Resource Adequacy Forum for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council said that utilities in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington will need approximately 350 MW of additional capacity by 2017. The additional generation will likely be needed because California plans to retire certain power plants, which will upset the region’s current...
Annual Survey Finds Customers More Satisfied with Coops than IOUs
Posted on Dec 3, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Rates, Reliability | Comments Off on Annual Survey Finds Customers More Satisfied with Coops than IOUs
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which annually surveys some 70,000 consumers, found that energy coops scored, on average, several points higher than investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in customer satisfaction. Touchstone Energy coops tied their all-time high showing in ACSI with a score of 83 compared to the IOU average of 76. The top utility, with a score of 85, was...
Texas Coop Opposes New Emergency Drought Order
Posted on Nov 28, 2012 in Regulation & Policy, Reliability | Comments Off on Texas Coop Opposes New Emergency Drought Order
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), the nation’s largest electric coop, may be faced with an inadequate water supply after the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) decided last week to approve a new drought emergency order. The new emergency order reduces the amount of water required to be in certain reservoir lakes used by PEC to cool its generators. Before the new emergency...
House Democrat Calls for Grid Security Legislation
Posted on Nov 26, 2012 in Grid & Infrastructure, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy, Reliability, Technology | Comments Off on House Democrat Calls for Grid Security Legislation
Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey, a top House Democrat, has called on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Republican chairman, Michigan Representative Fred Upton, to help corral GOP support and pass an electrical grid security bill the pair co-sponsored. Markey says that physical and cyber threats to power infrastructure were increasing and that the Grid Reliability and...
Cost of Transporting Coal on the Rise
Posted on Nov 26, 2012 in Grid & Infrastructure, Rates, Reliability | Comments Off on Cost of Transporting Coal on the Rise
According to a new study conducted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), power plant owners are paying nearly 50 percent more to haul coal to their units than they did a decade ago. The EIA’s annual analysis of coal transportation costs said electric generators spent an average of $17.25 per ton in 2010, a 46 percent hike from $11.83 per ton in 2001. Most of the cost...
Dairyland Power Coop Rebuilding Transmission Line
Posted on Nov 14, 2012 in Innovation/Efficiency, Project Development, Reliability, Technology | Comments Off on Dairyland Power Coop Rebuilding Transmission Line
In September, Dairyland Power Cooperative (Dairyland) began a $22.5 million project to rebuild the 65-year-old, 20-mile Q1 transmission line that provides power to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and its surrounding areas. The project includes the addition of steel poles and a new conductor and foundations. Dairyland officials said that when the project is completed, it will eliminate...
An Activist Framework for Cybersecurity Oversight
Posted on Oct 16, 2012 in Grid & Infrastructure, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy, Reliability | Comments Off on An Activist Framework for Cybersecurity Oversight
Three recent initiatives by different arms of the federal government intended to help combat cyber threats to the nation’s critical energy infrastructure reveal an activist approach to regulating cybersecurity. At this juncture, it is difficult to ascertain the legal and political ramifications of the three initiatives, but members of the energy sector should pay attention — the...
New Hampshire Coop Avoids Employee Strike
Posted on Oct 8, 2012 in Corporate Governance, Reliability | Comments Off on New Hampshire Coop Avoids Employee Strike
New Hampshire Electric Cooperative and its unionized employees ratified a new contract last Friday, which allowed the coop to avoid a looming strike at the utility that serves some 83,000 homes and businesses in all parts of the state. The vote to ratify the agreement came after months of negotiations between the utility and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)...
Oklahoma Coop Becomes Latest 100-Percent CFC Borrower
Posted on Oct 8, 2012 in Financing, Reliability | Comments Off on Oklahoma Coop Becomes Latest 100-Percent CFC Borrower
Cimarron Electric Cooperative (Cimarron Electric), based in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, has closed on long-term financing from the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), becoming the CFC’s latest 100-percent borrower. Cimarron Electric has enjoyed continued growth in the past few years due to renewed oil and gas production and saw CFC as a useful partner in helping...
Subscribe
