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APS recognizes climate change is one of the key environmental issues facing the global community, and it will have significant impacts on the electric utility industry. While there is no national climate change policy or regulatory scheme in place in the United States, there is sufficient reason for our company to take prudent actions. APS was one of the few electric utilities to sign the Climate Challenge Participation Accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to 1990 levels. APS met its year 2000 commitment. The APS service territory, however, has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade. Meeting this growth and its associated increased electricity demand has required APS to augment its existing energy generation capacity. This demand has largely been met through more efficient use of existing sources, such as the up-rating of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, improving the availability of existing fossil plants and the addition of state-of-the-art gas-fired generators. Over time, the net effect of customer growth and increased electricity demand has been an increase in the overall company CO2 emissions, but with a corresponding reduction in CO2 intensity (lbs/MWH). This means that APS has become more efficient at providing electricity to our customers with fewer CO2 emissions per megawatt-hour generated. This trend is projected to continue through 2012.
In addition to our efforts in renewable energy, here are some of our climate change response actions: Ash Sales: U.S. power plants produce millions of tons of coal fly ash annually. APS is using its fly ash to help reduce greenhouse gases while adding to its bottom line. APS sells much of its fly ash to Salt River Materials Group for use in concrete production. Selling flyash offsets energy used for cement production and reduced overall greenhouse gas emissions by over 136,000 Tons of carbon dioxide in 2004. SF6 Partnership: In 2004, APS joined the EPA’s SF6 Emission Reduction Partnership for Electric Power Systems. This is a voluntary, collaborative effort between EPA and the electric power industry to identify and implement cost-effective solutions to reduce sulfur hexafluoride (SF6 ) emissions. SF6 is a highly potent greenhouse gas used for insulation and current interruption in electric transmission and distribution equipment. As part of this partnership, APS is taking voluntary efforts to significantly reduce SF6 emissions. PowerTree: To achieve additional CO2 reductions, APS joined 24 other electric utilities in the PowerTree Carbon Company, which plants trees in ecologically sensitive areas of the lower Mississippi Valley in cooperation with local and national, governmental and conservation organizations. Planting began in 2003 and over 2 million tons of CO2 are expected to be sequestered over the 100-year life of the project. Trees for the Rim: APS also partnered on Trees for the Rim, an organization dedicated to replanting trees on Arizona residential, commercial and community lands damaged by the Rodeo-Chedeski fires of June 2002. APS donated $25,000 and transported trees, provided volunteers, dug holes for the trees and will continue to be involved as the project unfolds. Changes to Generation Mix: In addition to our other greenhouse gas-reducing projects, changes to APS’ generation mix have helped reduce the intensity of CO2 emissions measured in pounds per megawatt hour of energy. From 2000 to 2003, APS reduced CO2/MWh by more than 9.2 percent. Through 2012, cumulative reductions of more than 20 percent are expected. The addition of natural gas capacity and the continual improvements at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant have been key to these reductions. Each year since 1990, Palo Verde has avoided more than 20 million tons of CO2 emissions annually (more than six million tons of that attributed to APS’ ownership share of Palo Verde) and efficiency improvements have raised this amount to nearly 30 million tons per year since 1997. The company is also actively pursuing renewable energy generation as another method of decreasing our carbon intensity. Participation in Industry Climate Change Activities: APS employees build their knowledge of climate change issues through active involvement with industry groups with effective Climate Change programs and activities, including the Edison Electric Institute, the Electric Power Research Institute, the Center for Clean Air Policy and others. GHG Emission Reporting: APS voluntarily reports GHG emissions and GHG reduction results to the US Department of Energy through the DOE’s 1605(b) voluntary GHG reporting program. APS also provides an annual report to the EPA (starting in 2005) regarding results in SF6 emission reduction through the EPA Utility SF6 Partnership program. Early GHG reduction efforts, in the absence of a national regulatory program or a consensus methodology for GHG reduction credit tracking, have a risk of becoming stranded in future regulatory programs. APS is aware of this risk and is making efforts to try to preserve the value of early GHG efforts to the extent possible, including ongoing monitoring and evaluating of evolving GHG reporting programs and registries. Coordinating climate change efforts with our generation forecasting and planning efforts better allows APS to evaluate the potential financial and operating impacts of proposed legislation and regulatory programs, including cap and trade programs, and facilitates appropriate early actions for responding to this evolving issue in a competitive manner. Return to Air Emissions
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