From small towns across this country to some of our largest cities, one of the greatest strengths in public power is the broad array of size and geography we represent when we speak as one. Our industry has been in continuous transition since members formed APPA in 1940 while recovering from the Great Depression and on the cusp of war. Our advocacy, communications, and technical support over time reflects the industry’s evolution with a strong and balanced voice to help public power utilities by showing strength in numbers and sharing best practices as they move forward.
Changes in technology, customer engagement, load profiles, workforce dynamics, regulations, generation sources, and many other factors impact how we are planning for the future. There are proving to be as many paths forward as there are utilities. Last year, about 60% of power in the U.S. came from gas, coal, and oil sourced generation, 21.4% from renewable sources (including hydro), and 18.6% from nuclear. While clearly showing leadership in planning and implementing new generation strategies for the future, public power communities nationally rely on all of the above to pursue local goals and ensure reliability and affordability for customers.
So, what comes next? This issue of Public Power Magazine offers a variety of perspectives and stories of utilities along different parts in the journey so you can continue to learn from your public power colleagues, big and small, on what it means to navigate today’s energy evolution from their vantage point. This same sharing and conversation continues at our conferences and in our classes, and we hope you will continue to connect with each other year round on all aspects of your shared challenges and interests at those events and on our new online community platform, APPA Engage.
When we gather at the APPA National Conference in June, the many ways in which public power is stepping up to meet the challenges of a quickly changing industry will be on full display. On the thousands of different roads our members will take, there are many common strategies to meeting customer expectations, maintaining system performance, dynamically managing loads, and ensuring resource adequacy. In meeting your colleagues in San Diego, you can learn from expert panels, engage in casual conversations with leaders facing issues similar to yours, and bring an inspiring wealth of ideas back to your community. See you there!
