Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Saturday, September 26 2020 - 09:36
AsiaNet
CPS Energy Releases 2019 Sustainability Report
SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/--

-- 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. 

Photo - 
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1281738/CPS_Energy_ESR_2019_blog_image.jpg 

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/528746/CPS_Energy_Logo.jpg 

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
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