American Municipal Power recognizes the Town of Bedford Electric Department for Public Power Week

October 10, 2026 – AMP recognized Bedford Electric, during Public Power week, for helping to make renewable energy more accessible to its community through its Renewable Energy Rider program. The program gives customers the opportunity to purchase a renewable component of Bedford’s Community Solar and James River Hydro projects. Customers also have the flexibility to participate at either the 50 percent or 100 percent level.

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Blue Ridge Power Agency and City of Salem Electric Department attend 2026 Career Quest

October 6-7, 2026 – We hosted over 4,000 7th graders across Southwest Virgina at our Powertown Demonstration Booth at the 2026 Career Quest at the Salem Civic Center.  The Powertown is a mini town model with electricity that is used to demonstrate power safety tips in different scenarios.  Our friends from CBEC were also there and took a video of our demonstration. 

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Leveraging Battery Storage for a More Flexible, Resilient Grid

September 2, 2026-Utility-scale battery capacity in the U.S. reached nearly 52 GW by June 2026, with another 54 GW anticipated by the end of 2029. For smaller public power systems in particular, batteries can help reduce expensive transmission and capacity charges by shifting electricity usage away from peak periods.

A key example is Virginia’s Blue Ridge Power Agency (BRPA), which partnered with Lightshift Energy to develop five 5-MW battery storage facilities serving Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative, and the Salem Electric Department. BRPA General Manager Alice Wolfe said the primary motivation was escalating transmission expenses:“The number one reason we began looking into it was rising transmission costs, which have skyrocketed in the last decade or so.” She estimated that BRPA’s transmission expenses have quintupled over the past 15 years.

The batteries will allow members to shift electricity use away from costly peak periods, and the projects are expected to be online before the end of 2026 and save BRPA members approximately $100 million over their lifetimes. Wolfe emphasized that the broader objective is long-term rate stability:“We want our members to stabilize their rates, we want them to be looking at everything, and we try to get our rates as low as we can.” She added that BRPA wants members to“look ahead and make purchases that will help them stabilize their rates regardless of anything else going on. It’s just the right thing to do.”

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