Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Profile

www.ladwp.com   Territory: 465 square miles (Los Angeles metro area and Owens Valley) Headquarters:  Los Angeles, CA General Manager and CEO:  H. David Nahai Employees:  8,737 Ownership: City of Los Angeles   2008 Operating Revenues: $2.88 billion Customers ·  1.4 million electric ·  640,000 million water Assets ·  3,643 miles transmission ·  14,885 miles distribution ·  7,023 MW generation   Read more Los Angeles Times L.A. solar energy measure falls short in final count   Los Angeles Times Meeting opposes Green Path North project

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP),  based in Los Angeles, is a water and electricity utility owned by the city of Los Angeles.

Said to be the largest municipal utility in the U.S., LADWP serves approximately 1.4 million residential, industrial and commercial customers in Los Angeles and Owens Valley. Its generating capacity of 7,023 MW is provided primarily by coal and natural gas facilities, with generation also provided by hydroelectric, nuclear and renewable sources.

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Smart Grid

The utility was an early adopter of advanced metering. In 2000 it launched an AMR project, choosing the SmartSynch SmartMeter system. Last year it introduced an AMI and Smart Grid project scheduled for completion in 2013.

Renewables

LADWP currently has over 11,000 gigawatt-hours, representing over 3,000 megawatts, of renewable energy generation projects either existing or at various stages of development. These include proposals for wind, solar and solar thermal, geothermal and “waste to energy” plants. LADWP has been recognized for having the most solar electric generation capacity of any public power company in the U.S.

LADWP is committed to a renewable energy policy that seeks to boost the amount of renewable energy that the utility provides its customers to 20% of retail electric sales by 2010.

Recent agreements include a 10-year agreement in November 2007 for 65 MW of wind power with the Southern California Public Power Agency and Pebble Springs Wind, LLC,  a 15-year agreement in August 2008 with Willow Creek Energy, LLC for 72 MW wind power and an agreement with Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad for 100 MW of power from its Prieto Geothermal facility in Baja. The Pine Tree Wind Farm project for 120 MW wind power generation is scheduled to be in service in 2009.

 Also in the works is the controversial Green Path Power Project that would bring geothermal, solar, wind and other renewable energy from the Salton Sea area of Imperial Valley to Los Angeles via a new yet-to-built electrical transmission line through a sensitive desert eco-system.

For vendors only …

The utility’s infrastructure is 40-70 years old. According to its 2008-09 FY budget: “Reliability indices are showing a negative trend,” which indicate the need for a major reliability improvement project.