Duke Energy, Indiana’s largest electric utility, serves 69 of Indiana’s 92 Counties, including Clinton, Carroll and Boone Counties.
Frankfort’s power system through IMPA (Indiana Municipal Power Agency) has a generation partnership with Duke Energy to make the sure the lights stay on.
Dagny Zupin, Duke Energy Government and Community Relations Manager working out the Lafayette office gave a briefing to the community at the Frankfort Rotary Club at Arborwood Thursday noon.
Duke Energy is preparing for the electricity needs of the future by planning to convert the Cayuga Generating Plant near Terre Haute from coal to natural gas, with an additional 470 MegaWatt capacity built into the planned upgrade. Duke Energy is committed to an “all of the above” energy generation strategy throughout its six state area. Solar, Wind, Coal, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Hydro and Small Modular Reactor plants may provide a diverse, reliable tapestry of energy sources to deliver the reliability and capacity electricity customers demand.
Currently there are no SMR or “Small Modular Reactor” nuclear plants in the entire United States, however the Indiana Legislature has addressed the possibility of such energy sources in the future and Duke Energy has already applied for Early Site Permits for SMR technology at its Belews Creek site in North Carolina.
Duke Energy’s footprint includes services in six states: Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida. Duke energy in Clinton, Carroll and Boone County are part of the Northwest Indiana Region working out of Lafayette. This region includes:
- Tippecanoe County
- Clinton County
- Carroll County
- Fountain County
- Montgomery County
- Benton County
- Boone County
One of the challenges electric utilities always have to deal with is the weather. Duke Energy now employs a “Self Healing Technology” system that has the ability to automatically reroute electricity and isolate the problem areas. This quickly avoids prolonged outages over a wider area.
When a major storm is on the horizon:
- Duke’s full-time meteorologists forecast the event.
- The location and magnitude of the weather event is identified and the required resources are computed.
- A command structure with daily meetings respond and help from outside the affected areas are called in if necessary.
- All needed resources are deployed and monitored as needs change.
To minimize weather related outages, vegetation crews are separate from line crews. Vegetation crews not only respond to storms and clear debris from downed lines, but separate vegetation crews work continually to mitigate future outages by clearing debris and growth from lines before they become a problem.
Customer Outage Maps are available to all customers by downloading the app available at: www.duke-energy.com/safety-and-preparedness
Future electric consumption needs in Indiana may include data centers coming to the state. Duke Energy is used to large projects added to the grid that require 25-30 MegaWatts of power. Now, with data centers wanting to locate to the state, Duke Energy is recieving requests for “80 to 150 MW of power.” Future projects may include requests for SMR technology bundled with the project and perhaps paid for, in part, by the data center owner.
All major Electricity suppliers, including Duke Energy, must file many reports to the ISRC (Indiana State Regulatory Committee). Every several years Duke Energy submits a report that outlines not only current usage, but must project in detail, the future needs for electricity and detail the needed resources to achieve these projections.
Duke Energy in Indiana at a Glance:
- Largest electric utility in Indiana
- 23,000 square miles in service area covering 69 of 92 Indiana Counties
- 910,000 customers
- 38,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines
- 32 operation centers in Indiana and 9 community relations managers
- 2,400 Duke Energy Employees
In Clinton County recently,
- Duke Energy donated $10,000 to support mobile food pantries in the Clinton County Area
- Donated $3,500 to Clinton County EMS for windproof and waterproof shield jackets
- Gave a $5,000 grant to provide trauma and tactical assistance training to responders.
- Gave $8,000 to United Way for Clinton County for Summer food program assistance to benefit Michigantown, Kirklin and Colfax areas
- Gave $4,000 to the Early Learning scholarship fund in Clinton County
The Duke Energy office serving Clinton, Carroll and Boone Counties and the entire Northwest Indiana region is located at 3395 Greenbush Street in Lafayette. More information is available at Duke-Energy.com