When reducing costs and improving education share top priority, the University of Mississippi gives up a little reliability to gain some
Like many schools, the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss., is always interested in maintaining its quality of education without increasing costs. The university wanted to increase funds available for educational programs without raising fees, so when it learned of a load curtailment initiative introduced by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) that would allow it to reduce its electricity costs, it was eager to participate.
TVA's load curtailment plan is simple. In exchange for granting TVA the right to cut off its power during peak demand times for as many as 72 hr per year, UM has qualified for significantly reduced kilowatt and kilowatt-hour rates on its overall power usage. Darrell Russell, physical plant engineer at the university, says the reduced rates add up to more than $1 million in annual savings, cutting the school's electrical energy costs by 25% to 30%.
Load curtailment initiative details. The TVA, a power producer with a service region covering 80,000 sq mi, sells its power to 158 distributors and 62 large industrial and federal direct-serve customers.
TVA introduced the load curtailment plan to reduce its costs and better manage its resources. The plan allows TVA to curtail customer demand rather than invest in more generation facilities or pay higher market prices for excess power during peak demand periods.
The university qualified for the program because its overall electric load was more than 5,000kW and it was willing to make its entire electric load interruptible. The school also agreed to as little as one hour's notice before curtailment, although TVA tries to provide advanced notice whenever possible.
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