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 Western invites utility customers in the Rocky Mountain Region to a workshop Aug. 4 on the Bottom Line Benefits of Geoexchange for Utilities, presented by the Colorado Geothermal Working Group.

Geoexchange systems offer utilities numerous advantages, from lowering peak demands to saving heating and cooling costs for their customers.  Yet few Colorado utilities are embracing this technology at a scale that could produce significant bottom line results.  

 This workshop will discuss utility and customer benefits, examine sample business models and explore creative financing mechanisms that favor the geoexchange business model.  Case studies from Colorado and other national utility companies will demonstrate how these programs work—and the financial advantages they provide.

The agenda includes speakers from the geothermal industry, as well as utility and government leaders. Presentations will highlight experiences with geoexchange in the region.

The meeting will be held at the Tri-State Generation and Transmission headquarters in Westminster, Colo., from 1 to 4:30 p.m.  This workshop is free and open to the public, however must RSVP to reserve your place.

The American Public Power Association’s 2011 Customer Connections Conference,  Nov. 6 to 9 in Savannah, Ga., will feature a full track of sessions devoted to energy services topics.

The conference will cover:

• Low-cost ways to deliver Smart Grid benefits to your community
• Smart grid stories: sharing smart practices
• Justifying your utility’s energy-efficiency programs
• Energy-efficiency technologies for C&I customers
• Programs to meet your energy-efficiency and renewable portfolio standards
• Changing infrastructure developments

The Customer Connections Conference also offers sessions on key accounts, public communications, marketing and customer service, as well as roundtable discussions, networking breakfasts, receptions and other opportunities for networking and information exchange.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to attend a full-day pre-conference seminar on Sunday, Nov. 6, on “Energy Services that Work: Commercial Energy-efficiency Programs.” This in-depth seminar will focus on commercial energy-efficiency activities, energy audit programs and the importance of evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V) of results. It has close ties to the new APPA publication, Energy Services That Work, produced with the association’s Demonstration of Energy-Efficient Developments program.

Conference fees are $645 for APPA members and $1,290 for non-members who register before Oct. 14. Pre-conference seminars require a separate registration fee.

Public power providers often team up with local schools to encourage science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM) talent in their communities. Now, a competition is offering utilities and schools the opportunity to share their experiences—and win prizes and recognition for their innovative programs.

Ashoka’s Changemakers is partnering with Carnegie Corporation of New York and The Opportunity Equation to unleash the talent of professionals in STEM-related fields to engage students, particularly our highest-need students, in rich STEM learning. Partnering for Excellence: Innovations in Science + Technology + Engineering + Math Education, an online collaborative competition, will spur creative ways for companies, universities and other organizations with expertise in the STEM fields to partner with the public schools that need their talent. Sponsors include the Jhumki Basu Foundation, Alcoa Foundation, Amgen Foundation, ExxonMobil Foundation, Google, The Mind Trust, AFT Innovation Fund and Noyce Foundation.

The competition is looking for program models that find new ways to bring STEM resources from the private and not-for-profit sectors into the classroom, promote mentorship and introduce students to opportunities in STEM industries. Winners are eligible for more than $150,000 in cash and in-kind prizes that could be used to expand an existing program or kick-start an initiative that has been sitting on the “drawing board.”  Submit your innovative solutions by 5PM EDT on August 3, 2011.

And don’t forget to tell Energy Services about your program while you are at it. We don’t offer prizes, but we would love to feature your program in the Energy Services Bulletin.

Utilities may be comfortable in the knowledge that current capacity reserve levels in North America are more than sufficient to meet demand. However, aging infrastructure and re-licensing generation units, along with new stresses on the grid from intermittent renewable resources and market pressures, could turn resource adequacy into the next hot topic. Resource Adequacy and the Cost of Reliability, a new report from EcoAlign Marketing, frames the issue as one of the most critical facing the electricity industry.

This is the fifth report  in the Series of Regulatory Choices published by Distributed Energy Financial Group LLC, EcoAlign’s parent company. The report calls for a new look at resource adequacy, and for a fuller understanding of opportunity costs. The traditional approach to resource adequacy and system reliability has provided the nation with high reliability at reasonable cost—but those choices were made a generation ago. The study concludes that there is a short window to make good policy choices pertaining to resource adequacy, and that all types of demand-side resources must be actively considered to complement traditional approaches.

Visitors can download the report at no charge. DEFG and EcoAlign welcomes comments on the report from utilities.

Public participation—it’s the lifeblood of every successful consumer-owned utility. It’s the “public” in “public power,” and yet it is a constant challenge for utilities to keep their customers engaged. Making that effort, however, pays big dividends, not only in high customer satisfaction score, but also in harnessing your community’s “people power” to meet utility goals.

The next Clean Energy Ambassadors lunchtime webinar will give you examples from two public power utilities—one small and one much larger—with energy efficiency programs their customers have made a success. River Falls, Wis., serves less than 6,000 customers and has won national recognition for its energy-efficiency programs, which are based on the theme of local choice and empowerment.

With more than 40,000 meters, Colorado Springs, Colo., makes its mission to provide hometown services. Its website tells customers,  “It’s how we’re all connected,” and this utility really means it. Among Colorado Springs’ many clean energy achievements, it sponsored one of the first and most successful green power programs in the United States. A new public process, launched this past spring, is looking at ways for Colorado Springs Utilities to:

• Provide 20 percent of total electric energy through renewable resources
• Reduce average customer electric use by 10 percent
• Maintain a 20 percent regional price advantage on the residential electric bill

That tall order will take full participation and vigorous support from the whole community. 

Learn the how-tos of successful public participation efforts at the free lunchtime webinar Tuesday, July 19, at noon Central time. Register today…and spread the word!