CEC hopes to put Camp Sherman in hot water

Camp Sherman had its second visit this year from Central Electric Cooperative (CEC) chief electrical engineer, Don Lang. Lang met with local residents last March to discuss Camp Sherman's power outages. Last week he returned to offer solutions.

Member services director Alan Guggenheim was also on hand to answer power consumer's questions.

CEC is expanding their already successful Peak Power Project, begun in Tollgate, to the Camp Sherman community.

The Peak Power Project installs timers on hot water heaters to move the peak energy demand from the early morning hours to a point later in the day. It's easier to program than your sprinkler system, and they install it for you. Installation during the pilot program is free.

The project began several months ago when Lang was charged with the daunting task of coming up with a solution for cold-load pickup and the peak demand problem.

"We have 200 hours a year of peak demand," Lang said, "and we have to build a power plant for that peak demand. To address it, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is raising rates."

BPA is the federal utility agency from which CEC purchases its power.

Lang needed to come up with a power-saving solution.

"I came up with the idea to turn the water heater off during the peak demand period," he said.

Attaching a timer to a hot water heater, powering it down for four hours from 5 to 9 a.m. reduces power consumption during peak demand periods.

"Most hot water heaters already have 50-80 gallons of hot water in the tank. Even if you turn the hot water off for 10 hours, it will still be hot," Lang said. "The other benefit for you, as co-op members, is that BPA charges us for the highest peak. If we can change that, we can pass on those savings to our members."

Lang started his first pilot project in Tollgate in February, and already nearly 50 percent of Tollgate residents are participating in the program to great success.

Because of the program's success in the Tollgate community, BPA authorized CEC to expand the program to another environmentally minded community. Ten Camp Sherman residents signed up immediately, and several more committed to sign up for the program.

"We started the project in Tollgate," said Lang, "because they're served off a single feeder and we could easily see the power go up. It's become a movement in Tollgate."

"I was one of the first ones to get it put in," said Tollgate resident Wally Kundert.

Kundert is one of several people in Tollgate who have opted to add additional hours onto the time his hot water heater is turned off.

"The timer shuts off my hot water heater from 5 to 9 a.m., and I shut it off from 6 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.. Why have the water heated all night when we don't use it?

Addressing a major concern of new users to the system, Kundert noted, "We've had company and never really ran out."

A key benefit of the Intermatic timers is that with a push of a button, the homeowneer can temporarily override the pre-programmed timer.

Last week, BPA contacted CEC authorizing them to add 100 people from the community at large that includes those served by the one transmission line. The "at large" area would include Black Butte Ranch.

Camp Sherman residents asked the speakers some tough questions: How does the timer work when the power goes off? With a backup battery good for about eight years, that is no problem.

Timers will also provide a benefit during a power outage. Traditionally, after an outage, power is restored slowly. This process is referred to as cold-load pickup. CEC is currently searching for a timer that will wait one hour after power is restored before delivering power to the hot water heater. That one-hour delay of a heavy-use utility coming on in one house means the house next door will be able to get power that much sooner.

"It excites me to think there's a little we can do to not have to put in another peak power facility," said Tollgate resident Kara Mickaelson. "It's amazing that a little bit of effort on a lot of people's part can make a big difference."