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Ukiah electric utility updates: new Hastings service center, AMI study, solar audit and undergrounding work
Summary
Electric utility director described near-term and longer-range plans including moving into a new service center at Hastings, restarting an advanced metering infrastructure study, auditing solar accounts, EV charging expansion and undergrounding lines tied to county roundabout work.
Cindy Sowers, Ukiah’s electric utility director, and Dan Quarles, the electric utility superintendent, updated the council on a series of operational and capital projects for the municipal electric utility, including the near-complete Hastings electric service center and work on metering, solar accounts and undergrounding.
Sowers told the council the electric service center project is “effectively done” with a few punch-list items remaining and staff hopes to move into the new facility in the next few weeks. She said consultants are working on how best to optimize solar and battery systems for the Hastings site.
Sowers also said the city plans to revisit an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) — smart meter — project that had been deferred. "We did a business case for this project in 2015, and I think it's probably a little dated. So we'll probably go ahead and look at doing a business case in the near future," she said, adding the city is not CPUC-governed but wants to prepare for changes in metering as renewable resources increase on the grid.
On solar accounts, Sowers said staff are auditing accounts and “we are making significant progress. All the residential accounts are done. We are continuing to work on commercial.” The council also heard that the utility is continuing work on EV charging stations and pursuing larger behind-the-meter renewable projects.
Quarles described construction projects including new switching equipment on Gobi Street, replacement of primary wires and live-front transformer replacements. He said the utility’s major ongoing work is a fire-mitigation project on the West Side that will place primary electric lines underground; delivery delays for transformers required a schedule extension but work remains a priority.
Quarles and Sowers discussed a planned fiber-optic backbone between the substation and the hydroelectric plant; the project was delayed because the county’s roundabout project required a redesign of conduit runs in that corridor. The county’s two roundabouts near the northbound and southbound on-ramps and in front of In-N-Out will require the utility to extend undergrounding further north and south to avoid future conflicts.
No formal policy or vote resulted from the presentation; directors said staff will continue design work, perform business-case updates for AMI, complete the solar-account audit and coordinate with the county on undergrounding and fiber design work.
