Keeping safety and reliability front and center
Station G is our newest substation, built to serve
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Keeping the lights on is always job number one, and we remained laser-focused in 2023 on supporting the ongoing maintenance and reliability of the grid, as well as building in more capacity. Every step we take to get closer to a clean energy future must come with deepened resilience of our grid.
In 2023, we again kept rate increases for our customers below the rate of inflation. On average, SMUD’s rates are 54% below those of neighboring PG&E, which keeps about $2 billion in our local economy each year.
To reduce risk to the grid and maintain reliability, we performed extensive maintenance work, trimming more than 95,000 trees, replacing over 1,200 poles and replacing more than 250,000 feet of underground cable.
We secured the grid and built in more resilience in multiple ways this year: by powering up Station G, a state-of-the-art substation serving downtown Sacramento, starting construction of our 85.5-megawatt Solano 4 Wind Project and executing a Power Purchase Agreement for more solar and energy storage through our Country Acres project.
Station G serves about 1,300 downtown customers currently and provides extra load-serving capacity to meet demand – about 60 megawatts. Aligned with our regional decarbonization goals, Station G uses advanced technologies to support Sacramento’s clean energy transformation for decades to come, while improving grid resilience and ensuring a dependable power supply for the ever-evolving energy needs of the Sacramento area.
Our Solano 4 Wind project will significantly expand our renewable, clean energy output at our existing Solano Wind Farm, with commercial operation on track for mid-2024. The Solano 4 Wind project includes replacing 23 existing wind turbines with up to 19 new modern turbines. This will generate 85.5 megawatts of renewable energy to deliver to our grid.
The Country Acres project will secure 344 megawatts of solar and 172 megawatts of battery storage, providing more clean energy and reliability to our grid. Once complete, it’ll provide enough zero carbon electricity to power more than 80,000 homes a year, which is equal to taking more than 25,000 cars a year off the road. This project will also contribute more than $41 million to the local economy and support more than 360 jobs in the county during the construction phase.