In 2011, Tallahassee, Fla., received the Most Livable City in America Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. A number of factors when into making Tallahassee the choice of the conference, but one of the key aspects that put it into the forefront of contenders was the city’s electric utility. The electric utility served as a case study and key contributor to the Executive Office of the President of the United States for the White House Grid Modernization Summit in 2011, and in 2012, the American Public Power Association (APPA) named Tallahassee’s electric utility as the top public utility in the country.
The utility received APPA’s E.F. Scattergood System Achievement Award for “enhancing the prestige of public power utilities nationwide through sustained achievement, exemplary leadership and customer service excellence,” as well as the 2012 Energy Innovator Award for its “innovative and highly successful Neighborhood Reach program.” APPA noted Tallahassee was recognized for its authority on smart grid innovation and adaptive strategies to meet rapidly changing customer needs.
“These awards bring national attention to our city again and they show what we’ve known all along – that Tallahassee is a great place to live and do business,” Mayor John Marks said at the time of the award.
Serving approximately 113,000 customers in a 221-square-mile territory, Tallahassee’s electric utility is the fourth-largest municipal electric utility in Florida and the 22nd largest in the United States. The utility is vertically integrated with generation, transmission and distribution operations.
“The electric utility is committed to enriching the quality of life in Tallahassee by providing clean and reliable service to our customers through a professional and diverse workforce that is committed to safe, responsible, cost-effective and customer-focused operations,” it says.
Enhancing Reliability
Providing reliable service is a critical aspect of any public utility, and Tallahassee’s electric utility consistently works to ensure it has a system of substations and electric lines in place to meet its customers’ needs. Its Electric Reliability Project, for example, is designed to improve electric service to the growing northeast part of the community. This project has two major legs, with construction set to begin in 2014:
m Line 55 – This aspect of the project involves installing a new transmission line along the I-10 corridor. This project is in the planning phase and the city is working to address easement and use permit issues.
m Line 17 – This project involves replacing the electric poles that run from the electric substation at Miccosukee Road and Riggins Road to the substation near Market Square off Timberlane Road. The utility explains these poles are being placed in the existing corridor and replacing the old poles to modernize and upgrade the voltage of the transmission line.
The city notes that it understands the work on these projects could have considerable environmental impact to the nearby Whitfield Plantation Properties and the wildlife in A.J. Henry Park, but has designed the work so it minimizes impact to the sensitive species that habituate in the area, such as bald eagles, multiple species of owls, ospreys and hawks.
“The proposed design for the power lines will follow the recommendations in the Avian Protection Plan Guidelines prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the installation of power poles and lines,” the utility says. “This includes constructing avian-safe structures that provide adequate clearances to accommodate large birds. In addition, field reviews will be conducted during the design phase and prior to construction to verify that there are not eagle nests impacted by the construction of the project. The preliminary review conducted for the Natural Features Inventory did not identify any nests within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife recommended radius of a 660-foot buffer.”
Protecting the Canopy
The electric utility also is conducting a reliability project on Centerville Road to replace a portion of the existing overhead electric lines underground. Construction began in mid-March and will last about eight to 10 months. The utility notes that many of the power outages in this area occur as a result of the tree canopy, and are caused by interferences from tree limbs and animals. It believes that converting this area to underground service will reduce the likelihood of service interruptions.
The utility has closed portions of the bridal trail as new underground facilities are installed, and it has installed a temporary fence along the bridal trail to ensure a safe work environment and protect the trees. Utility staff is working closely with Roberts Elementary and Montford Middle schools to minimize the impact to students who use the bridal trail to get to and from school.
“The city is making every effort to ensure that tree trimming and removal is kept to a minimum to protect the beauty of our canopy road,” the utility says. “As part of the work being done on this project, while it is necessary to remove some trees located along the bridal path for the underground installation and future line maintenance, additional trees will be planted prior to the project’s completion. Knowing how we treasure our canopy roads, the city worked closely with the Tallahassee-Leon County Canopy Road Citizens Committee to limit the impact to the best extent possible.”
