Mayors Endorse Expansion of Distributed Generation Technologies

A policy resolution was passed at the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting supporting and encouraging the use of distributed generation as a way to supply cities and their citizens with more resilient, reliable and affordable energy supplies.

Full Text of the Resolution:

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION AND DECENTRALIZED ENERGY CREATION/DISTRIBUTION

WHEREAS, city governments recognize the growing importance of reliable energy for economic development and also know that the local deployment of distributed resources helps mitigate three drivers of higher power costs: transmission and distribution upgrades, fuel costs, and air emissions compliance; and

WHEREAS, grid systems built to power industrial factories and mechanical processes do not provide the reliability needed to retain and attract modern, electronic enterprises and increasingly, city businesses face unacceptable risks of periodic, acute power disruption (i.e., blackouts and brownouts) as well as constant, chronic power quality fluctuations (i.e., surges and harmonics); and

WHEREAS, uninsured losses due to equipment damage, product loss, and business interruption mount and income and employment from financial transactions, health care, education, lodging and entertainment lag as a result; and

WHEREAS, technological advances now make it possible for city businesses to access power not only from the traditional grid system of central power plants and transmission wires, but also from distributed resources: small-scale modular power technologies as well as nongenerating measures, such as energy efficiency, demand response and load substitution; and

WHEREAS, deploying distributed resources at or near their point of use provides unique benefits to power companies and customers, reducing loads on transmission and distribution (T&D) systems can postpone or eliminate infrastructure costs; and

WHEREAS, modular micro generators can produce more reliable power at lower costs and can be interconnected with intelligent controllers in micro grids which are more efficient in terms of fuel use and air emissions; and

WHEREAS, a decentralized system of many dispersed generating units becomes more resilient, able to recover more readily from natural disasters or malicious attacks than a centralized system with a single point of failure; and

WHEREAS, businesses combining resources can achieve extraordinary efficiencies in the local use of combined heat and power services;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors recognizes distributed generation as a viable means of providing reliable energy.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors supports the use of distributed generation in supplying the citizens of our cities with more resilient, reliable and affordable energy and urges cities to evaluate existing infrastructure and power supply chains to identify areas in need of improvement and prioritize the system’s most pressing concerns.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors recognizes that energy generation and distribution must change with the evolving power needs of the increasingly technology-based nature of the country’s economic development.

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Increased Municipal Utility Formation the Goal of Legislation in Massachusetts

In an effort to clarify and strengthen state law, lawmakers in Massachusetts have introduced legislation to enhance the ability of communities to acquire electric distribution equipment from investor-owned utilities in order to form municipally-owned electric companies.

The bill (H3294) spearheaded by Rep. Jay Kaufman, would remove from state law a clause that effectively defends utilities from municipal takeover. The new legislation would require power companies to sell local distribution system assets to cities and towns once a fair price has been determined. H3294 also creates a review process for the economics of new municipal utilities and set limits of 3 per year that can be formed. Supporters of the new language say that the current law allows investor-owned utilities, such as NStar, to reject reasonable offers to purchase their distribution system assets.

The bill directs cities that vote to establish a municipal utility to first try to negotiate directly with the investor-owned utility. If a price is not agreed upon after 150 days, the city can request that the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy to review the public interest aspects and feasibility of the sale. The Department is directed to issue its findings within 6 months and those may include what price the community should pay for the utility's assets.

There are currently 41 municipally-owned utilities in Massachusetts serving 15 percent of the state's electric customers. No new city-owned utilities have formed in Massachusetts since 1926.

Chief arguments from supporters is that municipally-owned utilities will provide better service and cleaner power at lower costs. One group, the Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice, says that municipal rates are 24 percent lower on average than private utilities.

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First City-wide Broadband Over Powerline (BPL) System Brought Online By Municipally-Owned Utility in Manassas, VA

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Broadband internet accesss over existing power lines is now available for about 12,500 residential customers and 2,500 commercial businesses. BPL works through the local electrical utility and allows people access to the Internet simply by plugging their computers into electrical sockets throughout their homes and businesses. At the press event announcing the program, COMTek said that they already have 700 customers in Manassas, with another 500 requests for service now being processed.

The city began the BPL process back in May 2001 when it received a grant from the American Public Power Association (APPA) to establish a BPL pilot program in the city. Based on the success of the pilot program, the Manassas city council made the decision to proceed with city-wide deployment in October 2003. It took the city another two years to put the necessary infrastructure improvements in place and to integrate the electric system with the fiber optic network and with COMTek's network services.

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Morris shows that President Carter was indeed asking for individual sacrifice; but as a small part of an aggressive, national campaign. On the flip side, President Bush is asking for individual sacrifice instead of an aggressive campaign.

Click and view the full text of the column