AsiaNet  85812

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/--

-- Utility balances its "Tried & True with the New" for greater environmental

   benefits

CPS Energy, the nation's largest municipally owned electric and natural gas

utility, has released its 2019 Environmental Sustainability & Stewardship

Report.  The report, which includes data through calendar year 2019, highlights

the focus and results the utility and community have accomplished together.

Environmental gains include significant reductions in emissions of Carbon

Dioxide (CO2), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Mercury (Hg), and

Particulate Matter (PM), along with reduced water use and waste production.

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The full Sustainability Report can be found here (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2923662-2&h=770485743&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cpsenergy.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fcorporate%2Fen%2FDocuments%2F2019%2520CPS%2520ENERGY%2520ENVIRONMENTAL%2520SUSTAINABILITY%2520%26%2520STEWARDSHIP%2520REPORT.pdf&a=here

).  

"At CPS Energy, our talented team of more than 3,100 dedicated employees work

diligently to provide energy services that are Affordable, Reliable, Resilient,

Secure, Safe and increasingly Environmentally Responsible," said Paula

Gold-Williams, CPS Energy President & CEO. "We have been on a thoughtful

journey for decades to make improvements for the environment and our community.

Our Flexible PathSM strategy, that includes a commitment to reduce our net

carbon emissions by 80% by 2040, demonstrates the balance we need to introduce

more renewables and new technologies, as we reliably serve our customers, now

and into the future. Additionally, we are now working toward full carbon

neutrality by 2050 in support of the City of San Antonio's Climate Action &

Adaptation Plan (CAAP), which our Board of Trustees endorsed on August 26,

2019."

Understanding the importance of diversity on every front --that includes

expertly implementing new energy solutions, embracing more environmental

opportunities, and ensuring its team remains curious and flexible-- CPS Energy

is proud that 60 percent of its top leaders are women and people of color.

Further, CPS Energy's 3,100 talented team members focus every day on diligently

serving San Antonio, Texas, the seventh largest city in the United States,

while collaborating, whenever it can to improve the environment.  

Its new Sustainability Report highlights the company's many accomplishments,

over a 20-year journey, which is revving into high gear. The major

accomplishments are summarized as follows:

    -- Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Reduction -- Carbon intensity has been on a

       downward trend since 1980. With an increasingly diverse combination of

       gas, coal, wind, solar, and nuclear energy sources, as well as value-

       driven commitments to customer energy efficiency and conservation, CPS

       Energy lowered its CO2 emission rate from 2,000 pounds per megawatt

       hour of generation to 827. The improvement was made despite the

       utility's total generation quadrupling from 1980 to 2019 to power an

       economically robust and growing community.

    -- Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Reduction -- By implementing NOx emissions

       controls on power plants, including low NOx burners, separated

       overfire air (SOFA,) and selective catalytic reactors (SCRs,) and

       closing its two oldest coal units (J.T. Deely), CPS Energy has reduced

       NOx emissions by 78 percent since 1997.  

    -- Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Reduction -- CPS Energy has reduced SO2 by 97

       percent since 1997.  Its two older coal units were closed at the end

       of 2018.  Additionally, its remaining and much younger coal units at

       its Spruce Plant have highly efficient Sulfur Dioxide Scrubbers.

    -- Particulate Matter (PM) and Mercury (Hg) Reductions -- The largest

       drop in PM emissions was in 2007 and 2008, when Deely's older

       precipitator control technology was replaced with more effective

       baghouse particulate removal systems.  Both Spruce units were built

       with these more effective baghouse systems, which have the capability

       of removing over 99 percent of PM.  

    -- Water Usage Reduction -- CPS Energy built Braunig and Calaveras Lakes

       in the 1960s to cool our power plants. These well-maintained lakes

       became recreational community assets. By using treated wastewater, CPS

       Energy saves around 11 billion gallons of drinking water every year.

    -- Waste Reduction -- Each year, we recycle most of our waste material

       rather than disposing of it in landfills. From 2018-2019, 16,000 tons

       less waste went into landfills.

    -- Save for Tomorrow Energy Plan (STEP) -- STEP's goal was to save 771

       megawatts (MW), equivalent to a large power plant, of electricity from

       2009 to 2020 through a variety of residential and commercial energy

       efficiency and conservation programs. CPS Energy, in partnership with

       its customers, exceeded this goal and accomplished 845 MW of

       cumulative demand reduction, a year early and without incremental debt

       or capital spend for 13 years.  

In concert with its Flexible Path, CPS Energy will launch a Request for

Proposal (RFP) in late 2020 for its FlexPOWER Bundle(SM). It will seek to add

up to 900 MW of solar, 50 MW of battery storage, and 500 MW of additional

firming capacity, which will help cover instances when the solar farms are not

producing power (i.e. during bad weather, at night, technical outages, etc.).

The company is also seeking solutions for FlexSTEP(SM), the next iteration of

energy efficiency savings and conservation programs to help meet the changing

needs of customers.  

To learn more about CPS Energy, please also read the 2019-2020 Annual Report (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2923662-2&h=222821187&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cpsenergy.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fcorporate%2Fen%2FDocuments%2FFinance%2F2019-2020-AnnualReport.pdf&a=2019-2020+Annual+Report

).

About CPS Energy

Established in 1860, CPS Energy is the nation's largest public power, natural

gas, and electric company, providing safe, reliable, and competitively-priced

service to 860,934 electric and 358,495 natural gas customers in San Antonio

and portions of seven adjoining counties. Our customers' combined energy bills

rank among the lowest of the nation's 20 largest cities -- while generating $8

billion in revenue for the City of San Antonio for over seven decades. As a

trusted and strong community partner, we continuously focus on job creation,

economic development, and educational investment. True to our People First

philosophy, we are powered by our skilled workforce, whose commitment to the

community is demonstrated through our employees' volunteerism in giving back to

our city and programs aimed at bringing value to our customers. CPS Energy is

among the top public power wind energy buyers in the nation and number one in

Texas for solar generation.

SOURCE:  CPS Energy

CONTACT: Dana Sotoodeh

         dsotoodeh@CPSEnergy.com