2011 Annual Report

Downtown Lighting

By replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with LEDs in the downtown area, we're saving 37,200 watts every hour they're lit.

The Holland Board of Public Works and the City of Holland collaborate in a number of ways to help reduce the City’s energy use.

Last year, we replaced traffic lights downtown with new, more efficient LEDs, which last much longer and are less expensive to operate than traditional incandescent bulbs. This year we replaced 248 decorative and pedestrian street lights downtown with mercury-free LEDs. Each light reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 75 metric tons per year and saves 150 watts when compared to the metal halide

bulbs they replaced—a total reduced energy footprint of 37,200 watts every hour they’re lit.

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

We're investing in our future with seventeen electrical vehicle charging stations throughout the city.

There’s little doubt that electric cars are the way of the future—at least for now.

This year, the Holland Board of Public Works was one of the recipients of a grant made possible through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). ChargePoint America is the program sponsored by Coulomb Technologies for the installation of seventeen electrical charging stations throughout the HBPW service territory. To date, two electrical charging stations have been installed on 8th Street: one west of Columbia Avenue, and one west of River Avenue. In

the coming year, we plan to install at least fifteen more throughout the community.

This is one more way the Holland Board of Public Works is investing in our future and Holland’s quickly emerging Advanced Energy Storage economic cluster.

EARTHCARE

EarthCare is a program created this year that rolls a number of initiatives into one, the main goal of which is to promote a sustainable future for our community.

The Holland Board of Public Works is committed to providing utilities that you can depend on day after day at competitive rates, while remaining a good steward to the environment.

EarthCare is a program created this year that rolls a number of initiatives into one, the main goal of which is to promote a sustainable future for our community. From our snowmelt system, which keeps the streets downtown clear of snow using excess heat given off by the James De Young Power Plant, to our Electrical Charging Stations, to our Holland Sustainability Committee, which is dedicated

to addressing issues of sustainability and conservation throughout our community, the Holland Board of Public Works is committed to an environmentally friendly and sustainable future.

One of the EarthCare initiatives, our Energy Smart program, which began in 2009, has been a resounding success.

This year, we continued to provide energy audits for low-income residential customers, as well as providing replacement compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs to help reduce energy usage. In some cases, we also replaced older, less efficient appliances with new, Energy

Star appliances. We also distributed vouchers, which residential customers could use at local and independently owned hardware stores to receive CFL bulbs.

In most homes, refrigerators are one of the appliances that consume the highest amount of energy. The Holland Board of Public Works implemented a program by which residential customers could receive cash for trading in unused or underused second refrigerators, which were then properly recycled.

Fifty eight businesses took advantage of Energy Smart

incentives to upgrade lighting and equipment, saving nearly four million kilowatt hours collectively.

And as always, the Holland Board of Public Works hosted a number of educational seminars for both residential and commercial customers aimed at improving energy use and efficiency throughout the community.

Our EarthCare projects have been a huge success, and we’re excited to see what else we can accomplish in the years ahead.

SMART GRID

For our residential customers, Smart Grid means the ability to monitor and control energy usage digitally. For the community, it means more reliable power.

The Holland Board of Public Works continues to look for innovative ways to better serve our customers.

Smart grid means a number of things for our customers: for our residential customers, smart grid means the ability to monitor and control energy usage digitally. For the community, it means more reliable power.

In October, we completed the planning phase of our smart grid implementation strategy, and since then we’ve installed a new smart grid technology: Automatic Fault Location, Isolation, and System Restoration equipment on three

of our North side circuits. These devices automatically detect faults in the circuit, isolates these sections, and restore electricity to as many customers as possible within 60 seconds, allowing us to respond almost instantaneously to outages.

As new technology becomes available, the Holland Board of Public Works will continue to expand the smart grid system and look for new ways to better serve our community.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

We're testing the viability of a wind farm farm that could mean more than 200 Mw of sustainable wind energy for West Michigan.

The Holland Board of Public Works is always looking for new, reliable sources of renewable energy.

Last September, we installed two meteorological towers in Allegan County to test the viability of a wind farm that could mean more than 200 MW of sustainable wind energy for West Michigan. We don’t have all the facts yet, but so far, the project looks promising.

We’ll continue to monitor conditions to consider whether a wind farm in this part of west Michigan would be a good investment for our community,

as well as remain on the lookout for new opportunities to explore alternative energy.

COMMUNITY ENERGY PLAN

We're developing integrated plans for reducing the economic and environmental impact of energy use.

The Holland Board of Public Works is committed to a sustainable future.

Last year, the Holland Board of Public Works and Holland City Council approved a contract with Garforth International, a consultancy based in Toledo, Ohio specializing in developing integrated plans for reducing the economic and environmental impact of energy use, to develop a long-range, 40-year energy efficiency and conservation strategy plan for the City of Holland.

The bulk of that work is well underway, and we expect to see results by the fall of Fiscal Year 2012.

BROADBAND AND FIBER OPTICS

The communities of the future will rely on ultra-fast communication to stay connected.

The communities of the future will rely on ultra-fast communication to stay connected.

Last year’s nationwide race for Google Fiber spawned a lot of excitement around this technology throughout the community. But for more than four years, the Holland Board of Public Works has been re-examining the viability of extending our fiber network beyond its current use by area businesses. And last year we revisited our Fiber Business Plan, which details the goals, justifications, and necessary actions in order to take the City of Holland further into the information age.

While we’re not quite finished, we have completed our first draft, which we are now in the process of revising. We expect to have a completed draft within the coming year.

RP3 DESIGNATION

This year we received recognition from the American Public Power Association (APPA) as a Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3).

This year, the Holland Board of Public Works received recognition from the American Public Power Association (APPA) as a Reliable Public Power Provider (RP3).

RP3 is an APPA program that scores utilities from 0-100 in four areas: reliability, safety, workforce development, and system improvement. This year, the Holland Board of Public Works was awarded the Platinum level designation, scoring 99.5/100. Of the more than 2,000 publicly owned utilities in the United States, only 154 utilities hold the RP3 designation, placing the Holland Board of Public Works among

the top 7% of public utilities nationwide.

We’re proud of our outstanding reliability and safety records, as well as the workforce development programs and spirit of innovation that made this designation possible.