Washington City Power Board hears generation, substation and solar updates; approves agenda and minutes

The Washington City Power Board on July 1 received routine operations, generation and project updates and approved the meeting agenda and minutes.

Rick, a utility staff member, told the board June’s system peak was about 49.4 megawatts, roughly 3 megawatts below June of last year, and said generators have been running four to 10 hours per day depending on temperature and market pricing. He reported the board’s power cost adjustment (PCA) has remained negative for about a year and was “just under 1.4¢ a kilowatt-hour.”

The largest project update was on the Grapevine Substation. Rick described work that began last year and will continue through the current year, including a poured transformer pad, control building foundations and drilled piers. He said the piers are about 9 feet deep and roughly 30 inches in diameter and that crews have encountered a slow seep of groundwater at the site; crews are using pumps to keep concrete pours dry. He said transmission-structure drawings were approved and anchor bolts should arrive in five to six weeks, with structures likely to be set in the fall.

Rick also described conduit pull opportunities created by the Red Hills Parkway widening, which will allow the utility to pull new cable on a route that will not affect existing loads and provide a backup feed to an area now served by direct-buried cable. He said pole replacements and riser work are underway in Quail Ridge and other older neighborhoods.

On distributed generation, Rick said solar interconnection applications varied: April had 13 applications, and May and June each had two. He said the utility is nearing deployment of a new solar display and an app for customer monitoring and that some residential Itron meters are being replaced. He also reported the utility sent a revised pull-attachment policy to Lumen, GoFiber and TDS and is awaiting comments.

Rick reported a vehicle strike last Saturday at the Harley‑Davidson dealership that heavily damaged a transformer and associated equipment. He said primary cables were reusable, secondaries were damaged, and crews restored service temporarily; he estimated the replacement cost for damage and downtime would be “in the 25,000-plus range” for the insurance claim. “You’d be surprised at how many [drivers] just take off,” he said, praising the driver who remained on scene.

On regional projects and procurement, Rick said the board’s prior recommendation to the city council to approve a resolution to proceed with a transformer upgrade for the Central St. George project was approved at the council’s most recent meeting and that the work will be phased over roughly five years. He described the NEBO project and a prepay resolution that is generating savings through UAMPS participation, noting realized savings have been “in that $1.90 range” for the life of the prepay arrangement. He also reported Veil plant generator repairs will take another eight to ten weeks and that a full replacement generator could be 18–24 months out.

Rick summarized ongoing planning for a new natural-gas project in Millard County, where the generator-step-up transformer is a long-lead item; the board previously authorized ordering certain long-lead items. He said UMPA has agreed to participate in one Idaho project and that the Fremont Solar 1 project remains a likely near-term solar project. He noted continuing uncertainty over federal tax-credit language that could affect geothermal and solar project economics.

The board handled routine business at the meeting. A motion to approve the agenda for July 1 passed, and a subsequent motion to approve the minutes passed. No other formal actions were taken at this meeting; most items were reports and updates.

Board members and staff also discussed wildfire-related public safety power shutoff alerts and communications. Rick said Washington City was put on alert during a recent red-flag-type event but that, in his view, available information at times caused “more anxiousness than was probably warranted.” He urged residents to have plans for water, food and medical needs in the event of preventive outages.

The board was reminded about the member conference in August at Palisades Tahoe; members were asked to notify staff (Rachel) about travel plans for booking. The board did not plan a meeting in August; the next scheduled meeting is Sept. 2.

That concluded the report and the meeting adjourned after routine motions to close.