APPA Approves Six New Projects for Grant Funding

by Jackson Bedbury
APPA News
November 29, 2022

The Board of Directors for the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) program met in Burlington, Vermont, from October 27-28 to review open projects and allocate new funding. Of the 13 projects submitted for review, six projects across four states were awarded grants totaling nearly $600,000.

The largest grants awarded $125,000 each to Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Massachusetts) for its Energy Management Park and Educational Project, Stowe Electric Department (Vermont) for its Deployment of Distribution Automation Technologies Pilot Project, and Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant (Massachusetts) for its Deployment of Distribution Automation Technologies Pilot Project.

Smaller grants were also awarded for the Northern California Power Agency’s (California) Hydrogen Project Development Plan, CDE Lightband’s (Tennessee) Artificial Intelligence Enabled Visual Surveillance Demonstration Project, and Anaheim Public Utilities’ (California) Sustainability Education Center.

When reviewing proposals, the DEED program considers criteria including the project’s applicability to other public power utilities, the development of new equipment or methodologies, the timeliness of potential results, and overall customer value.

In addition to the project grants, the board approved three Lineworker & Technical Education Scholarship applications for $2,000 each and five student internships for $4,000 each.

The current DEED Board of Directors comprises Board Chairperson Mike Noreen, Conservation and Efficiency Coordinator, River Falls Municipal Utilities (Wisconsin); David Burnett, Power Director, Brigham City Power (Utah); Brian Meek, Director of Training and Safety, Kansas Municipal Utilities (Kansas); Jennifer Rogers Smith, Director of Member Services, Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (Oklahoma); Darryl Strother, Electric Operations Manager, Rocky Mount Public Utilities (North Carolina); Rachel Huang, Director of Energy Strategy, Research, and Development, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (California); Jared Combs, Business Intelligence Analyst, CDE Lightband (Texas); Jackie Pratt, General Manager, Stowe Electric Department (Vermont); Kyle Roadman, General Manager, Emerald People’s Utility District (Oregon); and Kenneth Roberts, Supervisor of Safety/Training/Mutual Aid Coordinator, ElectriCities of North Carolina (North Carolina).

For more information on the DEED program, to become a DEED member, or to apply for a DEED grant, see the APPA website.