David Wichner Tucson Electric Power Co. says it’s got plenty of power to meet expected higher demand peaks and keep air conditioners humming this summer.
“Our energy supplies are adequate and we feel as well-prepared as we can be for the high temperatures and high energy demands of summer,” TEP spokesman Joe Barrios said. “However, we’ll keep a close eye on the weather and our regional energy market, and we have contingency plans in case any emergencies arrive.”
Planning challengesRegionwide, resource planning has become more difficult amid extreme summer temperatures and drought, constraints on power imports from California, and supply-chain and other factors affecting solar and storage projects, Lee Alter, resource planning director for TEP and UES, told regulators.
Tight power marketAlter said that amid the West’s tight power market, it’s harder to find enough supplemental energy resources, like firm contracts for future power deliveries, to expand reserve margins. On the plus side, TEP last week began participating in the Western Energy Imbalance Market, a real-time wholesale power market of about 20 utilities managed by the California Independent System Operator.
“Maintaining regional reliability will hinge on whether utilities can add new resources quickly enough to meet this growing need and will require a pace of development largely unprecedented for the region,” the study concluded. “While this risk might seem remote in normal times, supply chain disruptions, materials shortages and a tight labor market are already impacting project timelines across the country,” the study said.
UES issued a call for bids for up to 170MW of renewable and energy efficiency resources and up to 150MW of firm-capacity resources. He cited Public Service Co. of New Mexico, which told regulators it didn’t have any capacity reserve margin for July or August.