TWN Communications: Fiber Update
Nearly 23,000 members, in Mohave Electric’s service territory, now have access to 100% fiber-to-the-home internet. Are you connected?
Still thinking about switching to TWN and want to know what sets TWN’s 100% fiber internet service apart from the competition?
Bandwidth and Speed. Bandwidth refers to the maximum amount of data your connection can handle, while speed refers to the maximum rate you can transmit data. Basically, bandwidth is your internet’s capacity, and speed is the transfer rate. With 100% fiber internet from TWN, you receive what you pay for. For example, if you sign up for 25 Mbps, you’ll have the same upload and download speeds. No throttling or lag time. You’ll have plenty of bandwidth and speed to support streaming TV, surfing the internet, gaming, and working from home. n
PHOTO BY MEC
KIDS KORNER
COOPERATIVE WORD SEARCH
As a member of an electric cooperative, you’re part of something special! Read the facts below to learn how co-ops are unique, then find and circle the BOLDED words in the puzzle.
WORD BANK:
• COOPERATIVES are local organizations and businesses, so they understand the communities they serve.
• Co-ops don’t have customers; instead, they have MEMBERS
• All co-ops are guided by the same set of cooperative PRINCIPLES
• “Concern for COMMUNITY” is the seventh cooperative principle.
• Co-ops are led by the members they SERVE
• You’re a member of an ELECTRIC cooperative, but there are also housing, grocery and other types of co-ops.
1 ½ lbs. Wrights applewood smoked bacon
1 lb. Velveeta cheese
8 oz. cream cheese
6 cups (divided) 4 blend Mexican cheese
6 oz. evaporated milk
cup sour cream
3 cups (divided) Half & Half
2 cups (divided) whole milk
4 Tbs. bacon grease
2 Tsp. corn starch
2 Tsp. dry mustard
2 Tsp. garlic salt
2 Tsp. onion powder
3 12 oz. boxes small shell pasta
1 16 oz. jar 505 green chilies
Bacon Green Chile Mac & Cheese
Dice bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy, reserve the bacon grease for later. Cook all the pasta shells in salted water, until al dente. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking.
In a large pot add 2 cups of the half & half, 1 cup whole milk, Velveeta cheese, cream cheese, evaporated milk, bacon grease, dry mustard, garlic salt and onion powder. Cook on low until all the cheese is melted. If all the cream cheese doesn’t melt, I use an immersion blender for a couple seconds. Take 4 cups of the cheese and mix the corn starch into it.
Once mixed, slowly add the cheese to the pot, mixing until well combined. Add the remaining half & half and whole milk. Once sauce gets hot again, add remaining cheese. Add ¾ of the bacon to the sauce. Add the sour cream, the cheese sauce should be smooth and creamy now. Throughout this process, stir the mixture a lot.
Adjust by adding more milk or cheese to get the consistency you like. Mix the sauce and shells together. I used two 9”x 12” aluminum pans for baking. Pour into pans, top with remaining bacon and bake at 350 for 30 minutes plus or minus, until sauce bubbles around the edges. You can use heavy cream, instead of half & half, if you want it even richer.
Gary Fiser, GIS Technician for MEC, cooks his Bacon Green Chile Mac & Cheese Recipe.
PHOTOS BY MEC
PHOTOS BY MEC
MarchMay 2024 Community Calendar
MARCH 2
Read Across America
MARCH 16 Colorado River Women's Council Western Auction
MARCH 15
Classroom Grants Applications Due
MARCH 30 Chamber Easter Egg Hunt
MARCH 24 Kiwanis Kids Expo
APRIL 15 Tax Day
APRIL 26 National Arbor Day
APRIL 18 Lineman Appreciation Day
MARCH 31 Easter
APRIL 1 April Fool’s Day
APRIL 22 Earth Day
APRIL 26 MEC Scholarship Applications Due MAY Electrical Safety Month
MAY 12 Mother’s Day
MAY 27 Memorial Day MEC Closed
Keeping the Lights on Since 1961
By Mandi Greenmyer and Chris Jimenez
Arizona Electric Power Cooperative Inc. (AEPCO), a not-for-profit electric generation and transmission cooperative, was established in 1961 by four founding electric cooperative members—Trico Electric Cooperative, Graham County Electric Cooperative, Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative and Duncan Valley Electric Cooperative. Mohave Electric Cooperative joined in 1973, and Anza Electric Cooperative joined in 1979.
AEPCO was created to provide electricity to farmers, ranchers and small communities in rural Arizona that had been overlooked by for-profit, investorowned utilities.
After AEPCO’s first natural gas combustion turbine was installed in 1963, more generation was added throughout the years to provide reliable, local power
to serve the growing population and load growth in electric cooperatives’ service areas. AEPCO’s dedicated workforce at Apache Station in Cochise continues to efficiently operate these legacy units through diligent maintenance servicing and a conscientious focus on keeping operating costs low. These Apache Station resources—along with modest hydropower allocations and market transactions with neighboring utilities— allowed AEPCO to provide stable, reliable and affordable electric service to our members for several decades.
But things are now changing quickly and dramatically. Energy markets are plagued with rising costs as coal generation is retired. The region continues to grow rapidly, and utilities no longer have excess electricity available for purchase. Hydropower resources are becoming increasingly curtailed, and AEPCO’s legacy fleet struggles to compete in newer markets that reward flexibility with more
intermittent renewable power resources available on the system.
Although the world around us has changed, AEPCO and its members have come together to renew their commitment to affordable, reliable and local electricity. The Reliable Energy Plan is how we plan to honor this commitment.
The Reliable Energy Plan uses proven and tested technology—such as the combustion turbines we built in 1963— with newer, more efficient and flexible natural gas generation that will perform well in emerging markets and complement significant investments in solar, wind and battery storage technologies.
Because the electric cooperatives serve some of the most economically disadvantaged areas in the region, it is imperative that AEPCO develops a diversity of new, but proven, resources at the lowest possible cost.
The result of several years of strategic planning with AEPCO’s member cooperatives, an all-source resource procurement process, and a myriad of sophisticated resource planning modeling scenarios, the Reliable Energy Plan will meet load growth, peak demand, market flexibility requirements and improve system reliability.
The Reliable Energy Plan includes:
• Installing battery energy storage systems at three local member sites; in progress.
• Generating flexible, efficient natural gas at Apache Station; in progress.
• Generating flexible, efficient natural gas at Mohave Energy Park; in development.
• Participating in a renewable wind power project; under negotiation.
• Building a new solar and battery energy storage at Apache Station; in progress.
• Building a new solar and battery energy storage project in central Arizona; under negotiation.
AEPCO determined the additions of solar, wind and battery storage—when combined with the installations of new flexible and efficient natural gas turbines—resulted in the most affordable, reliable and diversified energy mix (see chart below).
AEPCO’s future, like its past, must be guided by its member cooperatives for the benefit of the member cooperatives. The result of this process is the Reliable Energy Plan with broad support and participation
among our distribution cooperative and public power members that ensures the generation and transmission cooperative can reliably and affordably keep the lights on for another 60 years. n
Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO) and Sierra Southwest Cooperative Services (Sierra), together, are referred to as the Arizona G&T Cooperatives.
Learn more about AEPCO’s plan to keep the lights on at www.ReliableEnergyArizona.com.
AEPCO’s Reliable Energy Plan Energy Mix
LEFT: AEPCO’s Reliable Energy Plan includes a battery energy storage system installed in Cochise, Arizona. PHOTO BY STEFANIE SPENCER PHOTOGRAPHY ABOVE: An aerial view of Apache Station in 1963. PHOTO COURTESY OF ARIZONA ELECTRIC POWER COOPERATIVE
A Message from the CEO
Introducing the New Currents Magazine
Welcome to our “new” Currents. In our member survey, you told us you wanted a magazine dedicated to local content—and here it is! Enjoy reading everything local with articles on MEC and community events and programs, business spotlight, 100% local business advertising, and a favorite new feature “Chef Boy-MEC.”
In more news, these are exciting, yet challenging times. Never before have our Board of Directors and management been challenged to this degree to maintain affordable electricity costs for members while facing a decreasing supply of wholesale power resources and increased need for electricity by our members.
North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the organization charged by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with protecting the reliability of the grid, has identified the southwest states and California as elevated risk for insufficient dispatchable resources in their 2023-2024 Reliability Assessment. NERC has been warning for years that soaring demand for electricity combined with generation shortfalls put reliable energy in jeopardy, and the latest assessment shows this threat has worsened.
Tyler Carlson
The exciting part is that MEC added a new solar and battery storage system in October 2023, and Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO/AzG&T), our major power and transmission provider, has plans to build significant new resources.
Your support for these projects, as members, has been impressive and essential to accomplishing first steps including Arizona Corporation Commission approval of financing for AEPCO’s new natural gas generation, and Mohave County Board of Supervisors approval of an extension of time on a location in Fort Mohave for the project. Thank you for your support.
In February we held a Town Hall meeting where Patrick Ledger, AEPCO CEO, presented information and answered questions on the proposed new natural gas resource to generate electricity in Fort Mohave.
Here are key benefits of the new units that we talked about:
• Clean, efficient natural gas turbines
• Will help replace resources lost by the forced phase out of older existing coal unit
• Scale up or scale down when solar is not available at night and periods of weather
• Essential to serve increasing demand for electricity
• Local resources are directly within MEC’s distribution network, a big advantage in the event of generation and transmission outages
• Reliability, affordability, and planning for the future
There are many more steps before construction can begin. Read more about this project on page 11 and AzG&T’s resource plan on pages 24 and 25.
We’re on the right track, and your continued support is vital to a reliable, affordable future. We’ll keep you informed on our progress with bill inserts, website, social media, and Currents.