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Recently in Public Power Current
To find earlier stories in Public Power Current, browse by popular topics or contact us at News@PublicPower.org.
Environment
Tenaska on March 22 officially announced the Longleaf CCS Hub, a carbon capture and storage project planned for Mobile County, Ala.
Community Engagement
Rick Dunn, General Manager of Washington State’s Benton PUD, has started publishing an energy newsletter through Substack. The newsletter offers another way in which the public power utility can engage in community education and outreach.
Transmission
Hitachi Energy and Grid United, an independent electrical transmission company, recently announced a collaboration to deliver high-voltage direct current technology for Grid United transmission projects that will interconnect the eastern and western regional power grids in the U.S.
Bills and Rates
President Biden over the weekend signed into law a package of six annual appropriations bills, including one that funds the Department of Health and Human Services, which controls the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Customer Service
Power outages, wildfires, rooftop solar systems, and demand response programs create a need for utilities to communicate with customers quickly and clearly. Utilizing omnichannel communication systems can help ensure customers stay in the know and also help utilities respond to the many outage-related calls and emails from customers.
Reliability
The Department of Energy recently said that its Loan Programs Office has granted a conditional commitment for a partial loan guarantee of up to $72.8 million for a solar plus storage microgrid project on Tribal lands in California.
Energy Efficiency
Michigan should consider combining community solar with the deployment of cold weather heat pumps in manufactured home retrofits, according to a paper by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Distributed Energy Resources
The U.S. Department of Energy on March 22 announced the second cohort of communities selected as part of the Communities Local Energy Action Program, a technical assistance initiative.