Public Power - November/December 2007 - (Page 42)

Wiring Up for BY WILLIAM ATKINSON Double-Digit Growth and off for more than 20 years. “We have some history in knowing how to deal with these issues,” said Dave Wright, general manager. Over the last 10 years, Riverside’s median electric load growth has been about 15 percent a year. However, its peak has grown by 40 percent. New customers are obviously adding more load, but existing customers are also adding more load. “Since they have seen their houses significantly increase in value, they decide that they not only want to stay, but they want to add on, such as adding second stories to their homes,” said Wright. The utility has added 140 megawatts of electric production capacity over the last five years and is working to add another 100. Growth in Riverside will continue. The City Council has moved to expand the city’s boundaries by annexing territory. Riverside is currently about 70 square miles, and the council wants to annex another 30 to 40 square miles. “This has obviously led to the need for additional generation and additional substation interconnections,” Wright said. “We didn’t expect to need these until about 2015. Now we are trying to add the additional generation by 2009 and the additional substation by 2010 or 2011.” If the utility does not add new generation by 2010, based on the last five years of experience, it anticipates rolling blackouts, because it simply will not be able to deliver enough power to its customers. Riverside Public Utilities is making plans now. About two-thirds of the utility’s current generation is powered by coal. For new resources, Riverside it looking at renewables, primarily geothermal, but also some wind and solar, said Wright. Another challenge is finding enough qualified people to handle the generation and substation projects. Unemployment in the region is low and about one-third of the utility’s current employees are over 50. “We are placing our senior employees on these two huge projects,” said Wright. “We are then giving our upper-medium level employees opportunities to advance.” The utility is also outsourcing a lot of development-related work, both on the engineering side and the field side. It does not want to staff up during high periods, have growth stop temporarily, and then have to lay off people. Salt River Project—Population growth in Phoenix, Ariz., has followed the same pattern as that in Riverside, with 25 percent growth—from 3.3 million in 2000 to 4 million in 2006. “We are growing very rapidly,” said Charlie Duckworth, manager of energy management and information. “In April 2007, we PUBLIC POWER An article in growing cities2007each stateUSA Today listed the the April 5, issue of top five fastest in (2000 to 2006), using the U.S. Bureau of Census as its source. Of 250 metropolitan areas listed, 25 with populations over 100,000 experienced growth of 15 percent or more. Of these, 11 are served by public power utilities. The article did not specify whether the growth was the result of an increased commercial/industrial base, or the result of influxes of retirees. However, in its May 2007 issue, Inc. magazine helped clarify this question. It listed 60 cities with the greatest growth in employment. Several of these with growth of 15 percent or more are also cities served by public power utilities. Combining these two sources, it turns out that seven cities served by public power utilities have populations over 100,000, total growth of 15 percent or more, and job growth of 15 percent or more. The growth in population and employment base is a doubleedged sword. While public power utilities work tirelessly to serve their communities, they are then tasked with the responsibilities associated with building the necessary utility infrastructures and ensuring adequate sources of power. Here’s how five of the seven have achieved this balancing act. Riverside Public Utilities—Riverside, an inland bedroom community for Los Angeles and Orange County, has grown in population from 3.3 million in 2000 to 4 million in 2006, a 24 percent growth. Riverside has actually been a high-growth area on 42 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - November/December 2007

Public Power - November/December 2007 Contents Washington Focus 10 Questions Connecting with the Customer Through Automation AMR or AMI? The High Court’s Antitrust Thunderbolts California’s Push for Demand-Response Plug-In Partners Get Plugged In Wiring Up for Double-Digit Growth For Engineers Safety Community Broadband For Governing Boards DEED Customer Service Hometown Connections Index to Advertisers Parting shot

Public Power - November/December 2007

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