oct-2017

258 259 ty and growth, and find areas for more affordable housing for some of these younger people to either rent or get into a first home.The problem is we’re growing so quickly, it’s trying to hit a moving target. We’re trying to get all these plans in place but the ground is developing faster than anyone ever antici- pated. It’s been a challenge.” Lehi is also working on keeping its energy costs down, both for its residents and businesses. Joel Eves is the city’s Power Director.He talks about plans for a new, natural gas-powered, peaking pow- er generation plant.“We’re looking at doing this to stabilize rates,”he says.“Right now, they can get out of hand if you’re not careful.”As a peaking facility, the plant,which will cost approximately $18 million to build and is expected to generate 6.9 megawatts LEHI CITY, UTAH www.safetypowerinc.com / 1-800-657-1280 / info@safetypowerinc.com A PROUD SUPPORTER OF LEHI PEAKING POWER PLANT clean essential energy Manufacturer of Emissions Aftertreatment for Natural Gas Engines • Fully Compliant with BACT Emission Levels • Up to 98% NO x Reduction • Optional Upstream or Downstream Oxidation Catalyst (40 CFR subpart JJJJ Compliant) • Integrated Hospital Grade Plus Silencing Available • Low Pressure Drop, Options from 4” WC of power, approximately 10 percent of the city’s energy portfolio,will not run full-time, but will be utilized when demand exceeds normal parameters, such as during extremely hot days. In those instanc- es, power costs can rise dramatically. “From a power perspective, our peak consumption is increasing at five percent per year; we crossed 100 megawatts, this year,”Eves says.“And our energy consumption grew ten percent, so our goal is to sta- bilize those rates.As we’re exposed,more and more, to market conditions with our portfolio,we can then react quickly to changing market prices.We’ll have seven megawatt capacity to start with in response to what the pricing might be doing.That’s a draw to keep some of those costs down for businesses as they locate here in Utah.The U.S. average is 13.02 cents per kilowatt hour; Utah’s average is 10.82 cents per kilowatt hour; Lehi’s is 8.7 cents. So,we’re 20 percent lower than Utah’s average.” “We live in an area that’s highly susceptible to inversion and we have some real air quality issues.” Eves adds.“We’ve worked with the Utah Depart- ment of Air Quality to get permitting in place for this project and it’s going to be one of the cleanest natural gas burning plants in the state. So,we’re being responsible with the type of resource we’re putting in here, yet responsive with the market. We’re also evaluating the participation of a utili- ty-scale solar project, but it’s very early in the works; we’re in the non-disclosure arena nowwith multiple contractors that would build the site. It would be a joint venture between multiple cities and utilities.” Building upon its proud pioneer past, today, Lehi City is also proudly pioneering Utah’s future. PREFERRED VENDORS n Wheeler Machinery Co. www.wheelercat.com TheWheeler MachineryCo.is a locally-owned and operated,heavyequipment dealer,servingUtah since 1951.The companyprovides products and services to support the construction,agriculture,gov- ernmental,demolition and scrap handling,mining, landscaping,power generation,and on-highway trucking industries.It offers newand used CAT machines,crushing and screening,power,general construction tools and attachments,and unparal- leled product support. n Safety Power www.safetypowerinc.com