Duke Energy is proposing a six-year plan they say will reduce the number of power outages by at least 17% — and the length of outages by at least 19%.
Duke Energy Indiana filed its plan with Indiana state utility regulators Tuesday that officials say involves using a combination of advanced technology and infrastructure upgrades to improve the reliability and resilience of its statewide network.
“We’re creating a smarter electric grid that helps prevent outages and gets the lights back on sooner when problems do occur,” Duke Energy Indiana President Stan Pinegar said. “Our reliability ratings are good, but we need to prepare the electric grid for what’s to come, including electric vehicles and more customers generating their own green energy.”
Duke Energy estimates its grid improvement strategy would increase rates an average of about 1% per year between 2024 and 2029.
But first, the plan must be approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. If the IURC gives the go-ahead, any customer rate impact would have to be approved by state regulators and would be gradually released as work is completed.
Duke would submit semi-annual filings over six years to the commission to review progress and requests to recover the costs of investments made.
Proposed improvements include hardening the electric grid to better withstand the effects of weather. One of the biggest causes of power outages is severe weather. Grid strengthening measures include work such as upgrading wood poles to steel ones, modernizing substations and placing some outage-prone power lines underground, a Duke Energy news release states.
Some of the plan’s key benefits include fewer and shorter power outages through smart-thinking technology, according to the release. While not all outages can be prevented, the utility states smarter technologies can make the electric grid more resilient and better able to recover when power outages do occur.
Duke, which delivers electricity to more than 860,000 Hoosier customers, including those in Bartholomew County, states it wants to broaden its ability to automatically detect and isolated outages, so fewer customers are affected. The utility states this can be done by rerouting power to other lines, which could restore service in a matter of minutes.
Currently, 11% of Duke Energy’s Indiana customers are supplied from a circuit with automation. After the completion of the proposed plan, an estimated 65% of customers will be served by automated circuits.
Some proposed changes in the plan include allowing all residents to sell their excess solar power back to the utility, the release states. That’s difficult to do with today’s grid, which many say is built for one-way power flow from power plants to power lines that supply customers. However, Duke officials state a smart-thinking electric grid can detect, react, and adapt to changes in power usage, as well as better accommodate power generated by customers and support greener power options.
Utility officials state that by developing electric infrastructure at high-potential, key economic development sites, the upgrades will attract new businesses and help communities thrive and grow.
Modernization efforts have actually been underway since 2016, when Duke received approval to make upgrades such as replacing a limited amount of aging infrastructure.
Duke Energy estimates the modernization work will generate or support 1,270 Indiana jobs. In addition, the work is estimated to generate an additional $4.3 million in state and local tax revenue annually.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission will set a schedule for hearings in the case. A decision is expected by July 2022.
