2019 Annual Report: Focused on the Future

In 2019, Hoosier Energy made significant progress on power delivery capital projects to update and improve aging infrastructure, while managing costs to maintain grid resiliency, according to Rob Horton, Chief Operating Officer at Hoosier Energy.

Hoosier Energy created a pandemic plan about 10 years ago when the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health organizations suggested that businesses prepare for an influenza A outbreak.

With a focus on providing grid resiliency, Hoosier Energy employees are at the forefront of measuring system performance. This special edition of EnergyLines focuses on the work power delivery professionals do as they continually provide value for members co-ops and their communities.

Republic Transmission (through a Hoosier Energy and LS Power partnership) together with Big Rivers Electric Corporation, have completed about five miles of the single circuit 345 kilovolt Duff/Coleman line. Spanning 30 miles, this transmission line will cross sections of Dubois County, Indiana; Spencer County, Indiana; and Hancock County, Kentucky.

Clark County REMC is working closely with a high school on a project in hopes that the experience will inspire students to pursue careers in the electric utility industry.

The Demand Side Management (DSM) annual report focuses on program descriptions and data, as well as highlights from the year, the most significant being in the lighting programs. The residential lighting program accounted for nearly 90 percent of 2019 measures, with cooperatives securing more than 9,000 LEDs and members buying an additional 16,000 bulbs through the lighting store.

Wanting to meet the needs of farmers and rural business owners, Hoosier Energy launched a pilot program to conduct rural energy audits and find ways to improve operations.

Reliability is part of Hoosier Energy’s mission for members. Connecting to this mission was a recent event focusing on reliability beyond equipment maintenance. Thought leaders in the industry from the cooperative presented at the International Maintenance Conference with more than 1,000 in attendance from around the world.