Happy New Year. I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you the very best in 2024. I would like to highlight a few of the key projects that your board of directors approved at their last board meeting when they discussed our 2024 workplan and budget.
Renewables: Oakdale Electric Cooperative (OEC) continues to support renewable energy with our community solar garden and helping members connect their own member solar projects to our grid. Our two solar garden projects constructed in 2023 are online. One of them is a 1.5-megawatt (MW) system and the other is a 3.0 MW system. In 2024, we will not be building anything new, however, we decided to work with other Wisconsin cooperatives to leverage grants and purchases so that we can build a 4.0 MW system in 2025.
Electric Rates: Last October we had an increase in the residential facility charge. Currently, we are not expecting to have to raise rates in 2024. However, as costs continue to increase, we will need to continue to evaluate. If changes have to be made, we would notify members in advance.
Technology Updates: In 2024, we plan to start the upgrade of our end-of-life load management system with a newer system that will complement our automated metering system. This upgrade was originally planned for 2023, however, we delayed it as this will take a few years to fully implement the new system. There are many benefits to upgrading our load management system including the ability to implement new control strategies to help with newer rate designs.
We are also continuing to administer new hardware on our distribution lines to help monitor and restore outages and voltage information remotely.
Electric Vehicles: We are expecting to create a special electric vehicle (EV) charging rate for our members to use when charging their EV at home. Originally this was planned for 2023, however, due to continued changes in the industry, we decided to move this project into 2024. We are also looking to install more commercial chargers in our service territory to ensure accessibility throughout rural areas.
Construction: Supply chain issues were prevalent again last year. Although 2024 is looking better, there are still constraints and pricing increases, especially on transformers. Lead times and costs continue to rise.
In 2024, construction will start on two new substations in the Clearfield and Oakdale areas to increase power delivery and reliability. Major construction will take place in Mauston, Lyndon Station, North Tomah, Warrens, and Oakdale areas. There are many smaller areas that we will also be working on to reduce the likelihood of outages during major storm events.
Every decision made at OEC is thoroughly planned out with all members' best interests in mind. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us at info@oakdalerec.com or 608-372-4131.
Again, on behalf of everyone at OEC, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year.