Aqua Pennsylvania (Aqua) officials said they have been able to serve all
of their customers despite the storm by maintaining water treatment and
distribution facilities using emergency generators.
Aqua Pennsylvania President Steve Tagert said the company’s Crum Creek
and Ridley treatment plants in Delaware County, its Neshaminy treatment
plant in Bucks County and its Ingram’s Mill treatment plant in Chester
County are all running on generators. In addition, the company’s Bryn
Mawr headquarters, three operations’ centers and numerous well and
booster stations are also off the power grid, using generator power.
“We’re fortunate that our facilities have alternative power sources to
use during times like this when our power partners are faced with
significant challenges like those brought on by the ice storm,” said
Tagert. “Our customers are benefitting today from investments we decided
to make to help ensure that we can continue to operate during times like
this. Most customers aren’t even aware that we are without traditional
power because of the back-up generators, without which many customers
could possibly have lost water pressure.” Tagert said while there are no
absolute fail safes when it comes to significant weather events, the
company’s proactive planning, which includes 170 million gallons of
storage capacity, has allowed its customers the benefit of continued
service during the region’s first major ice storm of 2014. He said the
same was true during Hurricane Sandy.
In addition to using its generators to maintain service during
unavoidable power outages like those that have hindered the region over
the last several hours, Aqua participates in the regional electric grid
operator’s, PJM, electricity demand response program. This program
provides a company or institution a way to lower its electric costs by
reducing its electric demand on the grid during key high-demand periods
when the price of wholesale electricity skyrockets. As an added bonus of
participating in the demand response program, Aqua has been able to
realize a net positive to its annual electricity budget of more than
$500,000.
By participating in this PJM program, Aqua provides PJM with a valuable
tool to reduce demand for a few hours during the summer events when the
grid is stressed. This reduced grid demand is a benefit to all electric
consumers in Pennsylvania since wholesale electric prices increase by
over ten times during the periods prior to PJM calling a demand response
event. Once PJM calls a demand response event for the specified period,
Aqua puts its plan into action to help stabilize the grid and electric
prices.
Aqua has also initiated a variety of sustainable energy initiatives,
ranging from solar arrays that power some of its water plants to running
compressed natural gas trucks and service vehicles fueled at the
company’s own natural gas fueling station in Springfield, Delaware
County.
Aqua Pennsylvania serves approximately 1.4 million people in 31 counties
throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Visit AquaAmerica.com for
more information, or follow Aqua on Facebook at
facebook.com/MyAquaAmerica and on Twitter at @MyAquaAmerica.
Copyright Business Wire 2014