High Alert Messages

RP3 Application Webinar 2010

Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Cost: Complimentary

Moderator: Puesh Kumar, Engineering and Operations Manager

APPA’s Engineering Services department will be hosting a 2nd RP3 Application webinar on July 29, 2010 at 2pm ET due to high demand and the success of our previous webinar. If you did not have the opportunity to attend the first RP3 Application webinar this is your chance. This complimentary webinar will guide our returning and potential RP3 members step by step of the RP3 application. We will be covering all four sections of the RP3 application: Reliability, Safety, Work Force Development and System Improvement. If this is your first time around, this is a great opportunity to learn what materials will be required to fill out the application. If you are a returning RP3 designee, this webinar will provide you with changes and updates for RP3 cycle six application. Register today! Whether you are a returning or new applicant, this webinar is a great tool to get you started on APPA’s cycle six RP3 application.

If you would like to obtain the presentation from June 8 RP3 Application webinar please visit https://appanet.cms-plus.com/files/PDFs/2010RP3Webinar060810.pdf
For webinar login and general information, please contact: Alejandra Franco at 202/467-2922 or via e-mail at AFranco@APPAnet.org or RP3@APPAnet.org

Issues accessing the webinar, please contact Kimani Kinyua via e-mail KKinyua@APPAnet.org, or by calling 202/ 467-2955

Press Release
Contact:
Peggy Georgi, Indiana Municipal Electric Association
317.727.1954 / peggy_georgi@gpl.bz

For Immediate Release

Adapted from APPA Public Power Daily
Auburn Among Public Power Utilities to Get Share of DOE Smart Grid Investment Grants
Auburn Electric Department was among 18 public power utilities to receive monies to pay for the cost of upgrading the city’s electric utility. Auburn will receive $2,075,080 for the project from the federal government and the city will pay the same amount for the upgrades, which include installing a “smart” meter network, upgrading cyber security, expanding grid monitoring and improving responses to power outages.
In addition, the Carmel-based Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, a non-profit organization, will get $17,271,738 to install, test, integrate and monitor 150 measurement units in 12 states, a $34.5 million project.

Utilities in 49 states will share in $3.4 billion in stimulus money devoted to modernizing the power grid under the Smart Grid Investment Grant program.
Speaking at Florida Power and Light's DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, the president said this is the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history.

Stuart Tuttle, Auburn Electric Department Superintendent, was pleasantly surprised by news of the award. Tuttle credits a great team effort in meeting the requirements of the application which earned the utility 50 percent of the request to further develop its electric system. “These funds will enable us to be proactive in ensuring we can meet the electric utility needs of our community and customers now and in the future,” noted Tuttle.

The $3.4 billion in grant awards are part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and will be matched by $4.7 billion in recipient funding for a total public-private investment of more than $8 billion. The grants will go to utilities, cities, private companies, manufacturers, grid operators and other partners. Roughly $550 million of the grants are to go to public power utilities.

In addition to Indiana, the other states where public power utilities received federal grants as part of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program include: Arizona (2), California (5), Colorado (1), Connecticut (1), Florida (5), Georgia (1), Guam (1), Iowa (1), Illinois (1), Louisiana (2), Massachusetts (2), Missouri (1), Nebraska (2), Ohio (2), Oregon (1), Tennessee (3), and Washington (1).
Full listings of the grant awards by category and state are posted on the DOE Web site. A map of the awards also is available at: www.energy.gov/recovery/smartgrid_maps/SGIGSelections_Category.pdf

In the coming days, Obama administration officials will travel to project sites to discuss how this investment will create jobs, improve the reliability and efficiency of the electrical grid, and help bring clean energy sources from high-production states to those with less renewable generating capacity, DOE said. These awards “represent the largest group of Recovery Act awards ever made in a single day and the largest batch of Recovery Act clean energy grant awards to date,” the Energy Department said.

Once the projects have been completed, they will make the nation's grid more reliable and will reduce peak electricity demand by more than 1400 MW, the Energy Department said. “Since peak electricity is the most expensive energy, and requires the use of standby power generation plants, the economic and environmental savings for even a small reduction are significant," DOE said.

The projects are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs, and “consumers in 49 states will benefit from these investments in a stronger, more reliable grid,” DOE said.

(posted 10/30/09)

For Immediate Release
Source: APPA/FedConnect

Heads-up for those of you who may be looking for a new grant opportunity from the Department of Energy (DOE). Check it out.

New Grant Opportunity: Workforce Training for the Electric Power Sector Grant
The purpose of this grant is to help develop the electric power sector workforce, which will be especially important when implementing clean energy initiatives, along with smart grid. Funding is available in two (2) areas: A) Developing and enhancing workforce training programs; and B) Smart Grid workforce training. The first area (A), has your basic training and development initiatives, but it also has a subtopic called STEPS (Strategic Training and Education in Power Systems). This subtopic is separately evaluated and has its own pot of money, it’s meant to support educators at universities and colleges to develop new curricula and training activities. The second area (B), is more focused towards smart grid – basically supporting the smart grid investment grants they’ve already put out, criteria are listed in the grant itself.
Application deadline is 3 p.m. EST, November 30, 2009.

For eligibility and instructions on how to apply go to: https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/?doc=DE-FOA-0000152&agency=DOE