Fagen Inc.’s Post

Basin Electric energized a new transmission line in western North Dakota on Dec. 17. The Roundup-to-Kummer Ridge transmission line includes 33 miles of new 345-kilovolt transmission line connecting the existing Roundup substation near Killdeer, North Dakota, and the existing Kummer Ridge substation near Johnson’s Corner. Read more about this investment in reliability: https://lnkd.in/gk3puvMa

This graphic is a great representation of the different types of temporary generation as well as the most appropriate use for each.

Know the facts.

I've received many questions about these emergency generation assets that are tools in the CenterPoint Energy toolbox to cover a variety of risks, from load shed (like Uri) to storm response (like Nicholas, the 2023 tornadoes, and Beryl). Like our own toolboxes at home, not every tool is used in every situation, and not every emergency generation asset in our fleet is likely to be used in any one event. The largest (the 32MW units) were acquired post-Winter Storm Uri to bring up entire neighborhoods in the event of another failure to have enough electrons on the grid. The small and medium units are not as useful for that load shed risk we saw in Uri, because they bring up individual premises or much smaller parts of communities/neighborhoods. We need these large units in our toolbox to avoid a repeat of the hundreds of deaths that happened during Uri by bringing up entire portions of the grid on a temporary basis until the electrons are flowing normally again. These large units can be useful in a storm response in the event a transmission outage occurs, and the distribution system is intact enough to take power from the substation. That was not the case with Beryl; there was no material damage to the transmission system. But our small and medium units are life saving in a storm response. And we used our entire fleet of small and medium units, and even brought in more, to power critical facilities that did not themselves have backup power that worked during Beryl. These smaller and medium sized units can be used while we repair the larger distribution grid, until grid power is restored to those critical facilities. The entire fleet is necessary to save human life during emergency events. I understand the frustration of us not explaining before now why we were using the small and medium size units, but not the larger load shed units. I hope we never need to use any of them, but it is better to have them and not need them, than to need them and not have them.

Important new technology for keeping electricity ready to go when you turn on your light switch.

Safe, reliable, zero emissions

Not really a milestone, but a staggering statistic: Bruce Power, the most productive thermal power plant on earth, has now produced, as of the end of 2023, 1,564.6TWh of electricity. It was the first plant to hit 1PWh, ahead of Gravelines in France, and once uprated to over 7,000MW, will be even more productive, not to mention the potential addition of up to 4,800MW of capacity at Bruce C, pushing it over 11,000MW nameplate, making it the largest thermal plant ever constructed.

I love mining. Everything around us comes from the earth...every chunk of iron, aluminum, titanium, tungsten, and on up the chain to the most critical minerals. Once it is liberated from the rock it is trapped in, it becomes the technology and machinery driving every society forward. We owe a great debt to the mining companies and the people who work every day at advanced, innovative mining techniques that extract resources while minimizing risk to the environment. Pairing these mining techniques with nuclear power prevents pollution of the air, the lungs of the earth, and the lungs of all of us citizens of spaceship earth!

Our National Energy Resillency just grew stronger. This Milestone was a long time coming. Safe and reliable energy is at the core of our National Security and Nuclear Energy will play an increasingly important role.

2023: The #1 warmest Jan-Oct period in Texas since 1895. The six warmest Jan-Oct periods on record have all occurred this century. Making provisions for summer heatwaves and extended periods of warm weather has never been more important for Texas RECs and their members. Let’s start the conversation about how distributed generation can help. #DistributedEnergy #ERCOT #RuralEnergy