Southern Power District 2007 Annual Report

Engineering/Operations Report:

Southern Power District has experienced significant growth over the years, and initially, 2007 had been established as a year to address some of that growth. However, the ice storm at the end of 2006 completely changed our focus in January from one of “growth” to “recovery”. Many of the projects scheduled for 2007 were pushed to the back burner while we undertook an incredible effort to replace our severely damaged facilities. The effort and dedication of our engineering and operations staff was inspiring, and the added manpower of hundreds of linemen from across the United States allowed us to complete years worth of work in just a few months.

As we wrapped up the “recovery” from the storm’s aftermath, we went right to work on our priority to address areas of growth. A major project slated for 2008 was an immediate priority for Southern. The addition of the Aurora West ethanol plant will be completed in 2008, and much of the planning for this project occurred in 2007. Our Engineering staff worked to design the upgrade to include a conversion from 34.5 to 69 kV. This type of upgrade will benefit Hamilton County, allowing for more reliability with the large addition of the ethanol plant, plus any future additions of new load.

Our engineering/ operations staff continues to be watchful of the impact from irrigation conversions. In 2007, we informed our customers that new services would not be guaranteed due to the tremendous post-storm workload. However, our area managers were able to effectively manage the workloads of their staff and complete a total of 198 new services, which added 10,000 hp to our system.

Due to the fact that a large number of poles were replaced in 2007, Southern opted to bypass its pole inspection program for one year. However we will resume regular inspections to assure that we have a reliable system for years to come.

Looking ahead, we are taking on a challenge to complete much of the work that had been delayed during ice storm recovery, and are striving to complete that work with our own staff. It will require some aggressive work, but as we proved in 2007, we are certainly capable of taking on a challenge!

Other information inside the 2007 Annual Report