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Recently in Public Power Current
Grant PUD Commissioners pitched in the first, ceremonial shovels full of dirt on Aug. 26 to break ground for Grant PUD’s new Ephrata Service Center, a major milestone that will prepare this 87-year-old public utility with the space, agility and facilities to safely and more efficiently respond to day-to-day operations, maintenance work, connection requests and emergent outages well into the future, the Washington State PUD reported.
Colin Selby has been named Deputy General Manager of Energy Resources at California public power utility Merced Irrigation District.
In a recent post on the public power utility’s website, Matt Lentsch, Executive Director of Development & Governmental Affairs for the City of Mishawaka, Indiana, highlights how the Mishawaka Utilities Electric Division’s (MUE) hard work and dedication maintains high levels of reliability for the city.
The American Public Power Association on Sept. 2 joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 529 organizations in a letter to Congress calling for meaningful and bipartisan action on permitting reform.
Fitch Ratings on Aug. 18 said it had upgraded certain bonds issued by the Klickitat County Public Utility District No. 1, WA (KPUD) to “A” from “A-“. Specifically, it ungraded $135.8 million electric system revenue and refunding bonds, series 2015B (taxable), series 2019A, series 2019B (taxable)
Global nuclear capacity could more than double to 860 gigawatts by 2050, from 398 GW currently, Morgan Stanley said on Aug. 28.
Utilities face several challenges as they address an increasing number of outages. About 83% of major U.S. power outages between 2000 and 2021 were driven by weather-related events, according to Climate Central. As customers grapple with these rising power interruptions, 65% report that they’re frustrated with utilities’ impersonal communications. However, utilities can now address this communications challenge by taking advantage of AI. Rather than simply reacting to outages as they happen, power providers can embrace intelligent, customized, and proactive messaging that humanizes these crises for their customers.
The application deadline for Cycle No. 1 of PJM’s reformed interconnection process will be April 27, 2026, PJM announced Aug. 22.