Northern Wasco County PUD General Manager and CEO Details Dramatic Growth
By: Paul Ciampoli, News Editor, APPA
Oregon’s Northern Wasco County PUD has experienced dramatic growth over the last decade and various factors including additional new data center loads are expected to further drive that growth in the next few years, said Roger Kline, General Manager and CEO of the PUD.
“Our utility has grown substantially over the last decade,” Kline said in a Q&A with Public Power Current. In 2016, the PUD’s annual revenues were $32 million and its 2024 revenues will exceed $120 million, Kline said.
“With more new data center loads and residential growth coming online in the next few years those numbers are expected” to reach $300 million relatively soon, he noted.
“For a small semi-rural utility, we’ve had the opportunity to build new substations, transmission lines, change our enterprise resource system, rebuild hydroelectric power stations, complete an AMI installation and other projects, already.”
The PUD is “partnering with other local governmental entities to bring fiber to the home in the near future. All of these things are very exciting and do take a lot of work. I’m very thankful for the support of our Board of Directors and their focus on good policy governance which allows us to consider what is possible for the benefit of our community. It is a lot of work and we’re very proud to do it!”
Northern Wasco County PUD provides nearly 25,000 people and businesses with electricity in Wasco County, Oregon.
In the Q&A, Kline also provided an overview of his role and responsibilities as CEO and General Manager for Northern Wasco County PUD.
“As the executive with overall responsibility for the organization, I find myself primarily focused on strategy, organizational culture and tying our performance indicators back to the alignment with our strategic plan and the various perspectives of our community members, staff, and Board of Directors. While also supporting our executive team to achieve the same goals,” he said.
Kline said his “everyday guiding questions are: Are we going in the right direction? If so, how do we know that? What risks to the enterprise are we currently facing and what/where are we monitoring for hinderances of ongoing or future success?”
Electric Vehicle Project
Northern Wasco County PUD was the lead applicant for an American Public Power Association Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments program grant for a research effort tied to the feasibility of a Self-Service Ride and Drive and Rural electric vehicle sharing program for EVs.
“Society and industry speak to ‘the energy transition.’ As a long-time near-zero carbon energy supplier, thanks to the hydroelectric power provided by the Federal Columbia River Power System, that hasn’t been our primary driver, but it does resonate with our community,” Kline said.
“The opportunity to help interested community members experience electric vehicles seemed like a good community benefit as well as a data point for electric vehicle adoption within our more rural setting. Similarly, we are working with other regional organizations in exploring electric tractors and similar vehicles to see what will work best for all.”
When asked to detail the key takeaways for Northern Wasco County PUD from this effort, he said that EV adoption “and charging infrastructure availability are very much linked. Level 2 chargers for home charging is preferred for the electric distribution system so we provide rebates to support those efforts. Working with many other entities on DC fast charging locations for our community is equally important from a planning perspective,” Kline said.
“Our utility greatly appreciates the DEED program as it allows us to participate in R&D like organizations much larger than ourselves. The collective learning of APPA is beneficial for our community as well as its own membership,” he said.
APPA Recognizes Northern Wasco County PUD
Northern Wasco County PUD has been designated a Smart Energy Provider and a Reliable Public Power Provider by APPA.
Kline was asked to detail the steps that the PUD has taken to earn this recognition.
“In any business or enterprise, you want to adopt best practices and learn from others to be the best or highest performing as possible,” he said.
The RP3 and SEP programs “allow us to learn from the standards and continuously improve to meet them, and keep meeting them, over time.”
Story originally published by the American Public Power Association - Link here