RMEL eNews
RMEL Report
  

From the Desk of RMEL Executive Director Rick Putnicki

The In-Person RMEL Fall Convention Experience is BACK!
RMEL FALL CONVENTION - October 10-12, 2022, Hilton Denver Inverness Hotel, Denver, Colorado
Register Now and Book Your Discounted Hotel Room

Registration for the RMEL Fall Convention is now open! Attend one of the premier events for electric energy leadership and connect with 300 of your electric utility industry peers for lively and enjoyable discussions centered on a program focused on strategically addressing today’s top concerns for electric utilities. Here’s what you can expect at this year’s Fall Convention:

  • Elite Convention Speakers - RMEL is building a phenomenal line-up of influential and thought-provoking industry leader speakers to make this an effective and inspiring convention that you won't want to miss.
  • Meet Other Industry Leaders - C-Suite Executives along with Directors, Managers, and emerging professionals, will all be there!
  • Build your Professional Network - The networking opportunities have earned an exceptional reputation due to the decision-makers and thought leaders in attendance. RMEL is committed to providing a relaxed and productive forum for our members. The focus of the Fall Convention is on value, substance, and making connections.
  • Dedicated Networking Opportunities - A golf outing, receptions and meals, a RMEL Foundation silent auction, and networking breaks will provide valuable opportunities to connect with your industry peers.     

Exciting program details will be announced soon, and you can expect a solid lineup that will include keynotes, the popular CEO Panel, the inaugural Emerging Professionals pre-conference workshop, and more. We look forward to seeing you at the Hilton Denver Inverness in October!

Support Scholarships and Donate to the RMEL Foundation Auction
Donation Deadline is September 16, 2022

If you were unable to participate in the Annual Golf Tournament, you can still contribute towards the scholarship fund through at the Annual RMEL Foundation Auction. The auction will be held during the 2022 Fall Convention on October 11 and is a primary resource for the 501c3 charity to support the funding of scholarships for the next generation of electric energy industry professionals. We will use the same bidding app that we have used for the past couple of years. We will send more details to access that app before the auction. Over the past 22 years, more than 500 scholarships have been awarded totaling more than $1 million. Your support is needed to continue the Foundation's scholarship efforts. You are encouraged to donate an item to the auction and join the VIRTUAL auction to bid on donated items.

Annual Golf Tournament Recap
The 2022 RMEL Foundation Golf Tournament was held on July 26, 2022 at Arrowhead Golf Course in Littleton, CO

The 2022 Golf Tournament, hosted by the RMEL Foundation, had a fantastic turnout with 144 participants raising over $30,000 for future industry professionals! All proceeds will go towards funding scholarships for college students pursuing careers in the electric energy industry. Congratulations to the First Place Winners of the tournament: Trey Neidert (HDR), Brandon Buerkle (HDR), Mike Fletcher (CORE Electric Cooperative), and Shand Zaruba (Ward Electric Company, Inc.). It was a fantastic day out on the course and we’re already looking forward to the next RMEL golf outing.

Access On Demand Spring Conference Sessions, Plus Many More On Demand Offerings
Register for RMEL On Demand Offerings (Many Are Complimentary)

If you didn’t get the chance to join us at the Spring Conference, more than 20 On Demand Spring Conference Sessions are now available for your viewing. We recorded video, audio and presentations slides for most of the sessions, and you can sign up to access those now. These sessions include Day 2 Keynote Brad Jones, CEO, ERCOT; the Executive Panel General Session; plus many of the sessions from the Generation, T&D and Management tracks! Take a look at the Spring Conference brochure to get more details on the On Demand sessions available. If you attended the Spring Conference, you already have access to these sessions. Use your Swapcard login to access the sessions. Please contact us if you need assistance logging in.

Upcoming Events Sneak Peek

We are finalizing the details for several exciting in-person and virtual events in the weeks and months ahead. Stay tuned for more details about RMEL’s informative and engaging webinars, roundtables, and more, to come. We will continue to add events to the RMEL calendar, and we look forward to continuing RMEL’s traditions (since 1903) of education and networking for the electric energy industry!

Education and Upcoming Events

RMEL Fall Convention --- October 10-12, 2022 (Denver, CO)

   
Burns & McDonnell
   
RMEL Member Information
RMEL's trusted network is now accessible on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. These are forums intended for RMEL members only. Working side-by-side in a cooperative manner, RMEL members band together for the common goal of bettering the industry and improving service for utility customers. For more than 100 years, these key principles have proven successful, and more importantly, are tried and true methods for building strong business relationships.
 
RMEL Champions is a prestigious group of RMEL supporters with access to useful and beneficial promotional opportunities. Thank you 2022 RMEL Champions!
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Industry Information
The bill contains tax credits to spur clean energy production, domestic clean energy manufacturing as well as consumer incentives for energy efficiency and electric vehicles. It also contains funding for transmission development.
 
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has announced up to $6 million available for research and development (R&D) projects that will repurpose domestic coal resources for products that can be employed in clean energy technologies such as batteries and advanced manufacturing. 
  
Costly impacts from climate change have gotten our collective attention as we search for ways to mitigate those impacts and transition to a carbon-free future. The U.S. hydropower industry is poised to make a significant contribution to clean energy production as part of the Biden Administration’s efforts to reduce fossil fuel use.
Pattern Energy expects to begin full construction of the SunZia transmission project and the SunZia wind projects next year, with operations for the bi-directional power line set to start in 2025, and the wind farms coming online in early 2026, according to the company.
 
   
CopperLeaf Technologies Inc.
   
  
A 350 MW wind farm paired with a 137 MW/204.6 MWh battery storage facility is now operational in Texas. The Azure Sky project in Throckmorton County is Enel Green Power's first hybrid wind+storage project. It features 79 wind turbines— a mix of Nordex and Vestas models. Wärtsilä supplied the battery storage system.
Management at Ford Motor Company continues to move aggressively to advance the company’s goals of converting its fleet to electric vehicles in the years to come. 
Summer capacity constraints and rolling blackouts are not viewed as a near-term risk to U.S. public power and electric cooperative credit quality, Fitch Ratings says.
  
The project would be owned by ConnectGen, and is designed to include up to 149 wind turbines. In addition to the turbines, the proposed project would include access roads, collection lines, substations, control buildings, meteorological towers and other related infrastructure. 
The creation of a West-wide regional transmission organization could generate between 159,000 and 657,000 permanent jobs through 2030, as well as up to $79.2 billion in additional gross regional product per year across the 11 Western states.
   
Tyndale Company
   
Member Announcements
TEP and SRP jointly support project which will change the economic future for Northeastern Arizona cities transitioning away from coal. 
 
Western Area Power Administration announced a record of decision​, or ROD, approving the interconnection of the proposed Rail Tie Wind Project to WAPA’s transmission system.
  
The Climate Registry announced that Salt River Project (SRP) has been awarded Climate Registered™ Platinum Status, the first electric utility in the U.S. with this distinction for the 2020 reporting year.
Xcel Energy has begun developing the Minnesota Energy Connection, a new power line in Minnesota that will connect renewable energy to the existing grid at the Sherco power plant, which will retire all coal generation later this decade.
Nebraska Public Power District’s (NPPD) wholesale electric rates have once again ranked amongst the lowest in the country compared to roughly 800 wholesale electric providers.
WAPA and Tucson Electric Power announced a joint participation agreement to rebuild approximately 60 miles of the Parker-Davis Project transmission system.
 
At their July board meeting, Basin Electric directors authorized the retirement of more than $13.2 million in patronage capital credits as well as a $15 million bill credit to be implemented on members’ July 2022 wholesale power bill.
White Paper
Fuel cells often fall short when it comes to operating at temperatures beyond 100 degrees Celsius owing to their dependence on water as a proton conduction medium. To overcome this issue, a team of researchers designed a new hydrogen-bonded starburst-shaped metal complex consisting of ruthenium (III) ion and six imidazole-imidazolate groups.
A peel-off patterning technique could enable more fragile organic semiconductors to be manufactured into semitransparent solar panels at scale.
Researchers have designed a fuel production system that uses water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and sunlight to produce aviation fuel. They have implemented the system in the field, and the design could help the aviation industry become carbon neutral.