Duke Energy and JCREMC Plan for Power Grid Resilience in Johnson County During Times of High Demand

By Aspire Economic Development + Chamber Alliance | | 7.18.24

During the hotter times of year when energy usage is high, power suppliers like Duke Energy Indiana and local utility providers like electric cooperative Johnson County REMC proactively manage the grid to keep the lights on in Johnson County’s homes and businesses.

"Duke Energy maintains a diversity of power generation from natural gas and coal-fired power to renewables that are designed to meet the 24/7 energy needs of our 900,000 customers across the state," said Jean Renk, Government & Community Relations Manager at Duke Energy.

“We operate a fleet of 12 power generation units with a total capacity of 6,300 megawatts, along with 37,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines.”

This mix of array of energy sources is crucial for handling the increased demand that typically occurs during summer months.

"We see increased demand in the summer months, but Duke Energy is prepared and plans year-round for extreme conditions," said Renk.

To manage this, the company performs annual maintenance on its plants and upgrades the grid throughout the year, including installing smart, self-healing technology to minimize outages. Duke Energy utilizes the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission guidelines to update its 20-year Integrated Resource Plan every three years.

Because demand for energy in the Midwest has outpaced supply during emergency situations, JCREMC and every other local utility in the region will run “rolling blackouts” to reduce demand for a number of customers, but only if ordered by a regional transmission coordinator. Local news media outlets will send out notice in advance if this might occur.

“It doesn’t just happen with Johnson County REMC, it would also occur at the regional level,” said John Sturm, CEO of JCREMC. “We have an entity called the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) that is like the air traffic control for the power grid of the entire region.”

Sturm said that if power plant capacity for generation falls short of the demand, then MISO would notify utility providers like JCREMC to make public announcements asking customers to reduce power consumption any way they can.

“If there is a power shortage in our region, MISO requires utilities to blackout at a pro-rata amount. In other words, if they need to reduce demand by 5%, they will ask all the local utilities to reduce their demand by 5% as well,” he said.

Sturm emphasized that such rolling blackouts are rare and would almost always be short term, impacting individual customers approximately 20 to 30 minutes at a time before the issues in the power grid are resolved.

“As far as what customers should be aware of with the overall system is if we get very broad and widespread heat across areas of the country, that is our biggest risk for rolling blackouts,” said Sturm. “Usually if it is hot in some areas, we can bring in power from other states, but if it gets hot everywhere, then we will not be able to share power back and forth.”

Duke Energy is also investing in a six-year plan. "Right now, we’re in the midst of updating our plan, which is a yearlong, public process in which we reevaluate our plan based on changing factors such as energy demand, environmental regulations, power generation technology, and fuel and power prices," said Renk.

"From self-healing technology that can restore outages automatically, to grid efficiency improvements that enhance power quality while helping us do more with the power we generate, a smart-thinking grid is built to better serve our customers," said Renk.

This includes adding state-of-the-art sensors to power lines and hardening the system against severe weather by replacing wood poles with steel and undergrounding power lines in outage-prone areas.

In recent years, Duke Energy has made significant upgrades in Johnson County, including rebuilding or replacing power lines along U.S. 31/Morton Street in Franklin and between the Morgantown, Bean Blossom, and Samaria substations.

Duke Energy works closely with local utilities like Johnson County REMC to ensure energy resilience.

"We sometimes have to coordinate, for instance, during storm response if there is damage to grid infrastructure that supplies both utilities," Renk said.

This collaboration, along with substantial investments in the electric grid and advanced technology, has helped prevent over 185,000 power outages since 2020.

One such technology that is being adapted to the grid is battery and storage systems connected to JCREMC substations.

“Traditionally you get central power transmission to all of the substations,” said Sturm.

“As we put more resources on the distribution side, we can increase resilience and decrease cost because we are less dependent on the wholesale market. In terms of reliability, batteries can work in concert with our substations in the event of outages.”

Sturm noted that although they have only one battery system currently connected to a substation in Johnson County, JCREMC plans to eventually have as many as five connected and spread out at key strategic points to increase resilience and reliability.

Sturm also described the economics of distributing the area’s power supply.

“Power is more costly when the demand is high, so we incur higher costs,” said Sturm. “The more customers can minimize their usage during high demand times, the better it is for everybody.”

To keep the power grid running optimally, Renk suggested several energy-saving measures for local homes and businesses:

Inspect and service HVACs: Ensure it is operating efficiently. ENERGY STAR® certified equipment can yield annual savings of 10%-30%.

Check for air leaks: Use caulking and weatherstripping to block leaks and save 10%-20% on cooling costs.

Change air filters regularly: A clean filter can reduce energy consumption by 5%-15%.

Set the thermostat wisely: Use the highest comfortable setting or install a smart thermostat to manage cooling costs.

Operate ceiling fans in a counterclockwise direction: This helps push cooler air down.

Close curtains and blinds: This helps prevent the sun from heating a home on warm, sunny days.

For more tips, visit duke-energy.com/SummerSavings

As power and utility providers like Duke Energy and JCREMC continue to adapt and innovate their systems of electric generation, storage and distribution to meet demands, it is important to remember that the power grid functions as a shared, common resource and the key to the system’s resilience is the energy-conscious decisions of every home and business.