Company works to modernize the grid and plan for the future
Company Website:
http://aps.com
PHOENIX -- (Business Wire)
Summer is the season APS prepares for all year long. With nearly 35,000
square miles of service territory, APS has employees all over the state
who work year-round to ensure customer power needs are met. Over the
last year, APS has worked to modernize the grid with advanced
technologies, completed multiple high-voltage transmission projects to
further improve reliability and introduced new ways for customers to get
important information. At today’s annual summer preparedness briefing at
the Arizona Corporation Commission, the company described these
innovations brought forth in 2016.
With a forecasted summer peak load of 7,023 megawatts (MW), a strong and
well-maintained grid infrastructure will continue to prove critically
important. Last year, three 500-kilovolt (kV) power lines went into
service in the northwest valley to ensure greater reliability for
customers. This year, the construction of the Morgan to Sun Valley
500-kV line will help to complete this loop of extra high voltage
transmission power lines around the valley. This infrastructure also
allows for increased access to a regional power market that helps
provide customers with the most affordable energy available.
Next month, Daisy Mountain Substation, serving the Anthem area, will
come online to help provide strong reliability for that growing
population. Annual preventive maintenance performed over the last year
by helicopter, foot, drone, car and all-terrain vehicle has helped to
ensure that APS’s 35,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines
are ready for another Arizona summer.
Advanced technologies such as high-efficiency microgrids and utility
scale energy storage, brought into service in the past year, help
benefit customers and the grid during peak times by increasing
reliability and preventing disruptions and outages. The microgrid
located within the Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma already has helped to
secure power for customers during ten separate events since its December
commissioning.
Earlier this year, APS made the switch to the Advanced Distribution
Management System (ADMS). ADMS is the digital platform APS uses to
operate its distribution system. While still in the early stages of
implementation, the system (used by both field crews and operators) has
proven beneficial to improving outage response by introducing advanced
mapping systems and technology that allow all parties to work seamlessly
from the same screen to pinpoint the cause of an outage more quickly and
precisely.
To give customers greater access to information regarding their account,
the company launched its user-friendly mobile
app and outage
map last summer. Customers also have the option to receive text and
email alerts on individual energy use, power outages and payment
notifications. Additionally, customers have hundreds of available energy
efficiency measures, such as smart thermostat and pool pump rebates,
to help them manage and control their usage during the hot summer months
and year-round.
“We have 2.7 million people depending on us to ensure their AC is
running and their lights are on,” said Jacob
Tetlow, APS Vice President of Transmission and Distribution
Operations. “When we send a crew out to a storm-damaged power line, that
one action is the culmination of 365 days of preparation. It’s also an
action refined by 130 summers of operation in this state.
“This summer, we will take everything we have learned, and we will learn
even more to deliver ever more reliable, cleaner and efficient energy to
our customers.”
APS
serves about 2.7 million people in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties, and is
the Southwest’s foremost producer of clean safe and reliable
electricity. Using a balanced energy mix that is nearly 50 percent
carbon-free, APS has one of the country’s most substantial renewable
energy portfolios, and owns and operates the Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station, the country’s top power producer and largest
producer of carbon-free energy. The company is also a proven leader in
introducing technology and services that offer customers choice and
control over their energy consumption. 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/20170425006922/en/
Contacts:
APS
Media Contact:
Annie DeGraw, 602-250-4370
Analyst
Contact:
Ted Geisler, 602-250-3200
Website: aps.com/newsroom
Source: APS
© 2024 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.