CDE Lightband is proud to announce that it has received the prestigious 2024 Energy Innovator Award from the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) program. The award was presented at the APPA National Conference held in San Diego, CA. Jim Manning, Chief Customer Officer of CDE Lightband, accepted the award on behalf of the company.
The DEED program is renowned for fostering innovation in public power. Each year, it recognizes exceptional utility projects that demonstrate innovative approaches and significant contributions to the industry. CDE Lightband was honored for its innovative work in improving emergency response capabilities, particularly in the more vulnerable outage areas within its service territory.
To tackle this, CDE Lightband created a data lake that combines various data sources to identify where improvements are needed, like burying power lines underground. They found 29 areas with frequent power outages caused by storms. They also identified the best location for a large-capacity lithium-ion battery to help maintain power in these areas during outages. This planning is expected to save the community and businesses over $232 million.
Brian Taylor, General Manager of CDE Lightband, expressed his pride in the team’s achievements, stating, “I am so proud of our team as they focus on innovative methods to improve the reliability and resiliency of our distribution system. Our use of innovation helps to make us leaders in our industry.”