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Operations update: board briefed on wholesale purchases, Grapevine substation, AMI rollout and staffing
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Summary
Staff updated the board on efforts to secure wholesale power (one proposal at about $80/MWh), progress at the Grapevine Substation, an AMI meter rollout, a possible bump to the solar program cap after a large multi-unit request, and upcoming retirements and open positions.
City power department staff told the Washington City Power Board they are pursuing additional wholesale power purchases to cover a resource gap before two newly approved natural gas plants come online and the board was briefed on multiple capital and technology projects in progress.
Rick (staff member) said one proposal the department received would average about $80 per megawatt-hour and cover many non-peak hours; staff are negotiating clarifications and hope to secure additional proposals to benchmark pricing. He said the purchases would help position the utility for the extended day-ahead market (EDAM) transition and related scheduling requirements.
Staff gave progress reports on the Grapevine Substation project: a battery system award to SPS and relay panels awarded to Keystone, with delivery expected by summer. Steel for the substation is out to bid (bids due Jan. 31), and ICPE is preparing foundation and below-grade bid documents. Transmission pole bids returned Dec. 31 and are under review; reported lead times ranged from about 26 to 51 weeks.
The department is pressing forward on several technology upgrades. Four of six DCUs for the AMI/IMI project are installed and remaining units were expected imminently; staff said Aclara will host the software and the first shipments of meters (roughly 400'00'00'00—00'00'00'00—— pproximately 400——rames) are expected late February or early March for gradual deployment. The GIS upgrade is roughly complete and SCADA software will be updated next week; staff said integrated data flow between AMI, GIS and SCADA should improve outage response.
Operations staff also reported field work: directional bore conduit installed along Red Hills Parkway near exit 10 to provide a new feed to Canyon Breeze and nearby commercial areas to replace aging direct-buried cables, and reconductoring on Telegraph is slated to finish before summer. The department ran generators briefly to exercise them and scheduled emissions testing in April as required by the State Department of Air Quality.
Staff noted a surge of solar work for a single multi-apartment project (the ASH Apartments) that would add roughly 215 small rooftop solar systems; combined with production and main meters at the site, staff estimated about 425'—50 meters associated with that complex. The department currently caps distributed solar at 4 megawatts and staff said they expect to propose increasing the cap to about 5 or 6 megawatts to accommodate the application and remaining available capacity.
Personnel updates included the announced retirement of Wayne Whitwer (final day Jan. 15) and three current job openings; staff reported three prior offers that were not accepted and planned additional interviews. December peak load was about 18 megawatts, slightly higher than last year and roughly level with 2022. Staff said the power cost adjustment (PCA) remains negative at about 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour but may move slightly depending on final bills.
Staff also summarized regional matters: Millard County peaker project formation and progress on UAMPS-related capacity planning for Central St. George substations and transformer purchases over the next several years, and continuing work to close out a DOE carbon-free project award.
No board action was taken on these operational items; staff requested questions and participation in upcoming work sessions and events, including a UAMPS member conference in August.
