Worked to harden the grid and power homes with carbon-free energy
Company Website:
http://aps.com
PHOENIX -- (Business Wire)
APS knows what it takes to power an Arizona summer. The utility never
stops planning to ensure the energy grid is ready with enough
electricity and redundancy in place to continue to provide reliable
electricity to its customers.
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APS is ready to deliver the extraordinary amount of power it takes to keep the lights on and the air conditioners running during Arizona's hot summers. Helping ensure reliability is the nation's largest electricity producer: the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station, which produces 80 percent of Arizona's carbon-free electricity. (Photo: Business Wire)
This was the topic of today’s annual summer preparedness briefing at the
Arizona Corporation Commission. The plan’s highlights include:
- Hardening the Grid – APS performs predictive maintenance
throughout the year, using infrared equipment to locate “hot spots” on
the APS system. These hot spots can be indicators of wearing out
infrastructure. APS crews then further inspect the equipment and
replace components as needed. Crews also have used the cooler months
to install more steel poles as “stopper poles.” This helps prevent
longer stretches of poles coming down during high monsoon winds.
- Prepared to Meet Energy Demands – APS is forecasting a summer
peak of 6,986 megawatts (MW). With nearly 8,500 MW of power available
to serve customers, APS is well prepared to meet its customer’s energy
demands during the hottest days of the year.
- Powering Customers with Clean Energy – The energy serving
customers this summer is cleaner than ever before. The Palo
Verde Nuclear Generating Station has been the nation’s largest
power producer for 24 years running, and it provides 80 percent of
Arizona’s carbon-free energy. APS also is deploying more natural gas
and less coal. And, the utility now has around 1,300 MW of renewable
energy on the system. The solar
plants from the APS AZ Sun Program are especially helpful; using
panels that track the sun, these plants operate between 80 to 90
percent of their full capacity on late summer afternoons.
“We are ready to deliver the extraordinary amount of power it takes to
keep the lights on and the air conditioners running during a hot Arizona
summer,” said Pat
Dinkel, APS Vice President of Transmission and Distribution
Operations. “Our crews know our customers rely on energy to power their
lives. We do our job to ensure there is reliable power flowing to their
homes and businesses. And, if the power does go out, we want to make
sure our customers know that we have crews working through the night to
repair damage and get the lights back on.”
Last summer, APS customers experienced the highest wind-, rain- and
lightning-related outages in five years. In fact, the summer saw the
second wettest May and the second hottest August on record. In total,
APS lost 568 power poles. But the utility took the lessons learned and
immediately put them to practice, building a stronger, faster, smarter
grid for the benefit of APS customers.
“While promising no outages is outside of our control, we are heading
into another Arizona summer well-prepared,” Dinkel said. “Summer is our
season.”
APS,
Arizona’s largest and longest-serving electricity utility, serves nearly
1.2 million customers in 11 of the state’s 15 counties. With
headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle
West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW).
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160428006374/en/
Contacts:
APS
Media Contact:
Jenna Shaver, 602-250-4403
Website: aps.com/newsroom
YouTube
Video: THIS
IS OUR SEASON
Source: APS
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