Residents of Grand Marais who are generating their own power from renewable resources such as sun and wind will now be able to sell extra power back to the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC). On February 20, the PUC board approved guidelines and a contract for customers generating 40 kW or less of power.
According to the document outlining the guidelines, “The primary purpose for the guidelines is to ensure that any generation system installed functions reliably and does not adversely affect the safety and reliability of the electrical distribution system and those working on the system.”
If a customer sends more power to the grid than they use off the grid in a given billing period, his or her account will be credited according to the current rate for that customer class.
Leaky pipes
Despite improvements to the city’s underground water and sewer pipes in the last decade, small leaks continue throughout the system to the extent that about 30 percent of what enters the pipes is seeping out. “There are no major leaks, but the old pipes tend to ooze through the joints,” City Hall Secretary Tina Hanson wrote in the minutes of the February 6 PUC meeting.
The loss is costing the city $5,000-7,000 a year.
Annual electric report
PUC Electrical Supervisor Mike Taylor reported to the PUC board on March 6 that no accidents were reported in 2012. “Safety is very important in the Electric Department,” he wrote in a memo to the board. Equipment, tools, and even rubber gloves are tested on a regular schedule. Monthly safety meetings are held, and before working on any projects, a tailgate meeting is held.
Planned for 2013 are rightof way clearing and the completion of a new distribution line in Croftville, which will bury lines between the shoreline and people’s homes.
The Grand Marais power plant operated its generators a total of 165 hours in 2012. This includes the required monthly exercising of the engines. The department generated 312,180 kilowatt hours and burned 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel, paid for by the cooperative, Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, which supplies most of the city’s electricity.
Each year, the department must tally the average number of interruptions per customer, the average time of each interruption, and the average total minutes of interruption per customer. State statute requires the PUC to give customers notice of any planned outages expected to last longer than 20 minutes.
In 2012, the system had one transmission outage and nine distribution outages. Known causes were wind, lightning, trees, a broken wire, a faulty arrester, and a squirrel.
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