PDF of Press Release 

Electric Industry Consultant Presents Draft Integrated Resource Plan to TDPUD Board

Truckee, Calif. (Feb. 20, 2024)—Truckee Donner Public Utility District’s board of directors meeting on Feb. 7 included a detailed presentation and discussion led by industry-expert consultant Aspen Environmental on the TDPUD Integrated Resource Plan. It also included a lot line adjustment between local public agencies to facilitate the proposed new Truckee library.

Electric and water utilities operate in a complex legal, regulatory and market environment. They must plan for the future and adapt to changes today. For electric utilities, integrated resource plans are a powerful tool to determine the electric resources that will need to be procured in the future by:

• Understanding current customer demands and available resources.
• Projecting customer demand by year, month, day and hour.
• Identifying opportunities to work with customers to help them control their energy usage.

In 2023, TDPUD’s board awarded a contract to Aspen Environmental for their team of industry-leading experts to create TDPUD’s first integrated resource plan. This extensive project reviewed:

• TDPUD’s current customer demand, electric resource portfolio, and opportunities to work with customers to reduce and/or shift demand during a given day.
• Regulatory mandates, like California’s 100 percent clean energy by 2045 requirement.
• Opportunities to procure electric resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and energy storage.

The IRP was presented to the TDPUD board as an informational workshop, and the questions and feedback from the board will be incorporated into a final integrated resource plan, which will be brought back to the board for adoption at a future meeting. The IRP presentation can be found at www.tdpud.org/IRP.

“TDPUD’s IRP will represent a roadmap to advancing power supply to meet financial, environmental and regulatory requirements.” said TDPUD’s electric utility director, Jared Carpenter. “The overall deficiency of power plants in the western United States has made energy procurement more challenging than ever. How and when our customers use electricity matters because each hour of the day has different generation and cost considerations, but this creates opportunities to work together to save money while minimizing our impacts to the environment.”

Other notable items from the board meeting include:

• The board adopted a resolution authorizing lot line adjustments between properties owned by TDPUD, Truckee Donner Recreation and Park District, and Truckee Sanitary District. This collaborative effort was done in a way that minimized the overall costs to execute the lot line adjustments, and each local agency ended up with the same amount of property they began with. The lot line adjustments were one necessary step for Nevada County and the Friends of the Library to move forward with a proposed new library within the Truckee River Regional Park.
• The board awarded a construction contract for almost $3 million for water pipeline replacement work to be done on Northwoods Blvd. in 2024. The award was the result of a competitive bidding process with half a dozen bids received. This water utility construction project is an investment in water infrastructure and will also reduce water loss and TDPUD’s environmental impact from energy needed for pumping.
• TDPUD senior staff kicked off a new process in which they will present high-level updates from their departments to the board every month. Staff updates included:
  • A review of the cause, response timeline and repairs done for a major transmission power outage in January.
  • Nearly half of the water department’s capital improvement projects have already been bid and awarded, setting them up for a successful 2024 construction season.
  • The IT department is working with operations crews to improve radio communications in the field. It has also partnered with four local public agencies to launch the TNT Tech Teens pilot program, which will expose high school students to the variety of technology careers that exist in public agencies.
  • TDPUD celebrated a retirement, two internal promotions and two new employees hired in January.
  • The Public Information Department held a workshop to review its 2024 communications plan, which walked the board through its priorities, goals and outreach tactics for the year.

Information about TDPUD board meetings and access to agendas, minutes, live streaming and archived video can be found at tdpud.org/boardmeetings.

About Truckee Donner PUD:

TDPUD is a public utility district created in 1927 and overseen by a locally elected board of directors. TDPUD is a not-for-profit entity that provides the greater Truckee area with reliable and high-quality water and power services, while guiding the community to conserve resources. For more information about TDPUD, call 530-587-3896 or visit tdpud.org.

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