Electric Utility Industry Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance News Newswire

Draft Construction Document Open for Public Comment

Tue, 21 Jun 2024 18:03:49 GMT

The ‘For Public Comment DRAFT EUISSCA Construction Services Playbook V10' is now available for download and public comment. It has been developed by the Alliance Utility and Supplier Affiliate members to support the identification and adoption of sustainable construction service practices. Please review the document and provide feedback on the content or recommend additions by July 25th, 2022 directly to [email protected].

The document is based on successful practices compiled by Alliance utility and suppliers members and addresses opportunities in: general construction, civil construction, transmission and distribution, electrical construction, pipe replacement, and vegetation management. Throughout the document additional resources and case studies are provided to highlight sustainability challenges and successful practices.

The comment period expires on July 25th, 2022 and the final report will be presented at our EUISSCA Supply Chain Sustainability Conference September 28th and 29th, 2022. Please send your comments or questions to [email protected].

Download the Document

EUISSCA Hosting Investor Engagement Workshop

Wed, 02 Mar 2025 15:04:54 GMT

EUISSCA is hosting Investor Engagement Workshop on March 15^th from 1-3 Central. This members’ only workshop is an opportunity to learn about current and future expectations and to identify opportunities to improve our practices.

Supply chain expectations within the investor community are changing rapidly. This workshop is an opportunity for us to learn about current and future expectations and to identify opportunities to improve our practices.

The Alliance hosted Investor Engagement Workshop will highlight supply chain’s role in investor engagement. During the workshop, we’ll hear directly from investment companies (including S&P, MSCI, and SASB), utility peers and suppliers. The content is tailored to multiple audiences including investor relations, procurement, and corporate sustainability. Below is the agenda for context.

The Alliance, as an association made up of 23 utility members representing over $100 billion in spend and 60+ supplier members, has the ability to make a big impact by advancing our sustainability practices.

EUISSCA Announces the 2022 Supplier Affiliate Member Advisory Board

Wed, 02 Mar 2025 13:59:13 GMT

Electric Utility Industry Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance announces the election of the 2022 Supplier Affiliate Member Advisory Board. The mission and purpose of the board is to represent all Supplier Affiliate Members and utilize their expertise in the industry to collaborate with all members of the Alliance to advance sustainability within the electric utility supply chain.

Linette Casey, Director Power Systems Development, Siemens Energy

Lionel Chailleux, Product Leader, GE Grid Solutions LLC

Doug Dietrich, Sustainability Manager, Strategic Initiatives, Burns & McDonnell

Gabrielle Garcia, Marketing Support Specialist, Ferreira Construction

Andrea Turley, Managing Partner and COO, ExecuPOWER LLC

Dane Zumbahlen, National Director of Utility Programs, United Scrap Metal

Founded in 2008, the Electric Utility Industry Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance is a registered 501(c)6 non-profit organization. Our membership is composed of 23 electric utilities and 75 Supplier Affiliate Members who have an interest in advancing sustainability within the electric utility supply chain. The Alliance’s goal is to work with electric utility industry suppliers and other interested parties to improve environmental performance and advance sustainable business practices.

EUISSCA Announces 2022 Executive Committee

Wed, 02 Mar 2025 13:50:42 GMT

Wendy Wellener the Vice President of Shared Services for Dominion Energy, Richmond, Virginia was elected as Chair of the organization and leading the 2022 initiatives. A few of the highlights planned for the year are:

1. Increasing awareness and value of member activities

2. Supporting our members in establishing a strategic approach to supply chain sustainability efficiency

3. Defining the key sustainability risks and opportunities across the materials and services purchase

4. Collaboratively define, prioritize and address value chain opportunism and challenges in meeting this moment

Joining Wellener on the Executive Committee are:

Vice Chair, Pardeep Gill, Vice President of Supply Chain and Chief Procurement Officer with Ameren, St. Louis, Missouri;

Secretary, David O’Brien, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Officer with Exelon, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;

Treasurer, Marlon Merritt, Vice President and Chief Supply Officer at Entergy, Houston, Texas;

Working Team Lead, Juli West, Vice President of Supply Chain & Chief Procurement Officer at Arizona Public Service, Phoenix, Arizona.

2021 Work Teams and Roundtable Summaries

Wed, 15 Dec 2024 18:02:20 GMT

Practice Sharing Work Team

In 2021, The Practice Sharing Work team identified supplier affiliate member best practices to share with the Alliance broadly. The team organized 7 monthly practice sharing webinars presented by SAMS (including a co-presentation with a member) which covered a variety of topics from CO2 reduction to extending the useful life of assets to positive social benefits that can accompany environmental initiatives.

Assessment Work Team
Over the course of the year, the Assessment WT has conducted improvements to the 2021 TSP Assessment and led multiple assessment implementation practice sharing sessions. To further support suppliers in assessment completion, Assessment trainings and GHG calculation trainings were conducted. The team is now in the process of evaluating the Assessment path forward and has recently finished a second round of presentations/demos from potential future assessment providers (most of which have been recorded for reference). The team is working on ranking these potential providers, from which a short list will be selected, and additional details needed to finalize a recommended path forward will be identified. Though the evaluation of the various platforms has been the focus of this work team’s recent calls, team members have also shared updates on their progress towards goals tied to this year’s Assessment completion. As the next version of the Assessment gets solidified, the Alliance team will support utilities in integrating results into decision making.

Conference Work Team
The Conference WT is proud of the successful 2021 Sourcing Conference, Spring and Fall CPO Roundtables, and the SAM/Utility Event that they coordinated in 2021. The team was able to bring together content that made the virtual platform engaging, informative, and fun. The Sourcing Conference had close to 200 registrations with an average of 3 attendees per utility. High participation on the WHOVA platform was a clear indicator of high attendee engagement. The team received feedback on the Conference and other member events and will consider these comments during 2022 planning. The decision as to whether the 2022 Sourcing Conference will be virtual, or in-person will be made in Q1 2022.

Social Aspects Work Team

The Social Aspects WT has maintained great momentum through 2021 with engagement around member sharing on practices on supporting SCOC compliance and assessments, aligning with the UN SDGs, and defining and measuring diverse and local spend. With input from many members, the team developed a guide to map utility actions to the UN SDGs and benchmarked local & diverse spend-related metrics. The last SA WT call was centered around a presentation from Bryan Umstead on Duke Energy’s Supplier Diversity University, a 2-day educational conference for the development of diverse vendors, and a presentation from Venus Randle on a variety of DTE’s social sustainability programs that engage suppliers in supporting underrepresented communities. Building upon the achievements of this year, the team will dive deeper into implementation of human rights policies and codes of conduct, key risk hotspots, and other strategic social aspects.

Construction Value Chain Work Team

In 2021 the Construction WT developed and finalized the Sustainable Construction Materials Playbook this year. It was informed by utility and supplier affiliate member insights and practices, as well as insights from global best practice reports. The report was released at the annual conference with further reinforcement of its value and the importance of addressing opportunities in the space. Further the team initiated the next document in the series Sustainable Construction Services Playbook. This Services Playbook will be a key focus for 2022 along with use of the existing resources, engaging the value chain on improvement opportunities and ultimately pursuing impact reduction.

Renewables Work Team
This year’s Renewables Work Team was centered around peer-to-peer learning and guest presentations from SMEs and SAMs. The team also initiated the production of a Solar Guidance Document which is expected to be finalized and distributed in the coming weeks. During the November WT call, the team reviewed recent updates in state and federal policies that indicate larger trends of increasing momentum, financial incentives & assistance, and legislation around clean energy programs. Members planned for 2022 and discussed updates and new sections for the team’s solar guidance document. This team is expected to transition into workshop sessions that engage internal RE stakeholders to help increase visibility in this space within member’s organizations.

Investment Recovery Work Team
Throughout the year, the Investment Recovery Work team built a strong community for sharing successful practices and commodity EoL options, as well as discussing joint challenges. Some of the key highlights from 2021 include benchmarking investment recovery metrics and sharing member practices on contract specifications, supporting material recovery, and efforts to move towards circularity. The IR November WT call kicked off with a conversation on challenges associated with recycling lithium-ion batteries. Team members also spoke about difficulties and solutions related to internal redeployment of equipment, ownership of waste management, and joint efforts with procurement/sourcing teams. The team ended the call with a discussion on 2022 workshops as a mechanism through which the team can address gaps in circularity initiatives that require cross-departmental collaboration. The IR team will continue to meet in 2022, though the WT will transition to a round table structure, supplemented with workshops on integrating circular economy principles within utilities.

Investor Engagement - Supply Chain Focus - Work Team
2021 was centered around deepening an understanding of trends in ESG interest and procurement practices to better understand emerging expectations and how to meet those demands. As part of this effort, interviews were conducted with MSCI, JP Morgan, SASB, EEI, Vanguard, S&P Ratings, and Glass Lewis. Some of the successes this work team should be proud of include the development of an inaugural EUISSCA metrics request, benchmarking Investor Relations requests and successful practices, and building on the Alliance’s relationship with EEI’s ESG Scorecard effort. During the November Investor Engagement call, the team reviewed insights from complied ESG Metrics, such as the extent to which utility members include sustainability in supplier performance evaluations, ranges in local & diverse spend precents, and tracking of GHG emissions, among other topics. Members then reflected on key takeaways from a meeting with representatives from S&P Global’s ESG Research team which emphasized upcoming increased scrutiny and reinforcement of existing expectations (i.e. CoC, transparency, measures to manage risks, etc.). Finally, the team started planning for 2022 and intend to pick up again early in the new year to start preparing for a pre-reporting season workshop.

Supplier Carbon Goals Work Team

Despite being the newest WT, the Supplier Carbon Goals WT has several notable achievements from 2021. The team piloted a custom Hotspot Tool for utilities to gain a deeper understanding of most material S3 emissions sources. Based off results from the hotspot analysis, the team has been working through an evaluation of emission sources by key purchase categories to focus reduction efforts by areas with high potential impact. The team also held a peer-to-peer CDP support group to help maximize points given for existing practices within the organization. Recently, the team identified key impact areas from the assessment and began to define where there are leverage points for reduction opportunities. This involved a discussion on what is best to address at the alliance level versus the company level to drive progress. That discussion naturally evolved into a conversation around 2022 proposed efforts, including engagement with suppliers around opportunities & challenges in key categories; identifying common elements that the Alliance can collectively develop guidance on & influence; and goal setting around S3 carbon and using the assessment to support that.

Active Roundtables

SF6 Alternatives Roundtable
Over the course of 2021, the SF6 team met three times to discuss regulatory developments, utility activities, innovations, and more. The team also had a presentation by EPA on their SF6 alternatives Total Cost of Ownership tool and effort. The last SF6 WT call kicked off with a status update on the CARB Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear which is expected to receive final approval from the state’s Office of Administrative Law and go into effect early 2022. Thereafter, team members discussed recent developments, activities, and areas of interest within their organizations around SF6 alternatives, such as anticipated SF6 alternative replacements, and industry level movement. Due to the slow pace of developments outside of California, this team intends to check in less frequently on progress but will continue to monitor developments in this space.

SAM Performance Roundtable (Note Exclusively for our SAMs)

In 2021, the Supplier Affiliate Member (SAM) Performance Roundtable brought together our SAMs to discuss a variety of topics including: verifying a GHG Inventory, key industry trends, increasing interest in sustainability from utility customers, sustainability assessments, and more. The SAMs also used this Roundtable as an opportunity to provide feedback on Alliance goals, plans, and events.

For more information on any of these calls or to be added to a meeting please contact [email protected]">[email protected].

For more detailed information, minutes from calls (once they take place) will be available on the KSP.

To be added to any work team calls please email [email protected]">[email protected]

Work Teams

Practice Sharing Work Team
The Practice Sharing Work team reviews supplier affiliate member submissions for practice sharing and helps to organize monthly practice sharing webinars. In 2021, this team will work to identify additional practice sharing opportunities beyond webinars, and will work to promote these via our more ambitious social media and promotion efforts.

Assessment Work Team
The assessment work team is responsible for engaging suppliers and members and encouraging integration of the Supplier Sustainability Assessment into members’ processes.
Work Team Priorities Include:

1. TSP update based on 2020 feedback

2. Focusing on getting suppliers to develop and work on achieving their improvement plans, as well as reporting data, metrics, and targets

3. Reporting of 2020 results by key industry groupings via webinar series

4. Promotion of 2021 Assessment

5. Development of a preliminary spot verification process

Conference Work Team
On top of our annual conference in late September, the Alliance will also be adding in two virtual spring events – a Spring CPO Roundtable and a Spring Supplier Affiliate Member event. This team will play an active role in shaping the approaches and agendas, identifying speakers, etc. In 2021, we will build on the momentum of the previous conferences to engage our industry stakeholders and drive performance improvement.

Topic Work Teams

Social Aspects Work Team
In 2021, the Social Aspects Work Team objectives include:

1. Providing guidance on connecting supply chain practices and opportunities to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

2. Researching recommended metrics and guidance on capturing value from social initiatives

3. Continuing to share successful practice in pursuing the positive aspects of social efforts

Scope 3/Supplier Carbon Goals – Work Team

In response to utility member interest in better understanding, preparing for and developing our strategies around supplier carbon goals/Scope 3 we have launched an additional work team. This will focus on supporting utilities in understanding leading practice in the area and defining their expectations for their suppliers.

Construction Value Chain Work Team
The Construction Work Team will convene utility (procurement, specifiers, engineering) and SAM (sales, product development, sustainability) stakeholders to develop construction materials playbook of successful practices, resources, and case studies.

Renewables Work Team
The Renewables Work Team will explore the sustainability challenges of renewables (e.g., solar, wind, storage) and share solutions to common problems. The aim of the Work Team is to engage internal peers and educate on key renewable energy issues.

Investment Recovery Work Team
This utility work team will support members in understanding successful practice and maximizing benefits from investment recovery efforts. In 2021, this team will explore discussions on circularity. Work Team objectives include developing metrics guidance and a first draft of a Commodity Playbook.

Investor Engagement - Supply Chain Focus - Work Team
With the rapid growth of investor focus on sustainability within the utility space this work team will work to better understand the emerging expectations for supply chain, successful practices in meeting and addressing those, and developing guidance on meeting these growing demands.

Innovations Beyond the Cable Advance Sustainability How Prysmian Group is Enabling the Energy Transition in North America

Mon, 13 Dec 2024 17:35:25 GMT

As the world leader in the design, manufacture and sales of wire and cable products and services, Prysmian Group offers the widest possible range of products, services, technologies, and expertise to North American customers. We also serve the most comprehensive range of markets including power transmission and distribution, telecommunications, construction and infrastructure, energy projects and specialty industries for countless applications, providing an unparalleled wire & cable portfolio, technologies, and services. This positions us as a key partner in North America as focus turns toward sustainable business practices and infrastructure.

As the country is moving away from fossil fuels, customers are demanding that utilities move toward renewable power with ESG targets to achieve in the next few years. We know that you are finding various ways to supply this sustainable energy, either through new projects or purchase power agreements, to enable an energy transition and meet growing demand for clean energy sources in North America, but also need solutions that enable you to meet these targets.

Sustainability is part of our DNA. We are leading global thought in the industry and action on critical climate issues by adopting a science-based approach, recently approved by the SBTi, with a goal aimed at achieving net-zero emissions targets for Scope 1 and 2 by 2035 and for Scope 3 by 2050.

This is where it is important to us that we partner with customers and other suppliers, like those in the Alliance, to gain a shared commitment on sustainability and together take the steps necessary to ensure the region achieves its net-zero carbon emission targets for a better future.

As part of these efforts, we are investing in our facilities to make them more energy efficient by investing between 7-10% of our CAPEX during the next five years to impact between 7,000 – 10,000 tons CO2 Emission Reductions. Key areas of interventions are LED lighting, installation of solar panels and general equipment upgrades. In addition to these immediate actions, we are also committed to funding Research and Development activity to create products to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. To support this, we are executing at a global level an investment plan in excess of $500 million by the end of 2022 (over 50% of total company investments), with a special focus on North America. We have also completed the launch of 50 new product families in 2020 and have strong collaboration with research centers and universities across the U.S.

Sustainable innovation drives our product and service developments forward, making progress towards energy transition and digitalization possible. As we develop solutions to support cleaner energy, we will continue to work in partnership with customers to help them accomplish their goals. One example is our new North American program, Renewables+, which bundles cable products together with added solutions such as reel tracking and management, monitoring and testing services and a full portfolio of splice kits and accessories for wind and solar energy projects to maximize impact toward decarbonization and designed to offer a more direct sustainable model that contributes to CO2 emission reduction.

We are committed to provide products and solutions that are the green lifeblood that brings energy to homes, infrastructures, and cities around the world. Our offering includes the CL^TM Advantage cable, which is the smallest, lightest and most efficient cable on the market. Its design allows for longer lengths, fewer reels to site and less trucks needed for delivery, allowing for a smaller carbon footprint. However, we know that you are not only looking for suppliers to develop more sustainable products, but also sustainable packaging and transportation, making product design, material selection, post-production packing, transport and ease of installation key areas for innovation.

Innovations that go beyond the cable set us apart, enabling you to meet today’s great challenges. Reel tracking, through ALESEA, reduces the carbon footprint by utilizing returnable metal reels that can be located and returned in a full and efficient manner, eliminating wooden reels. Our breakthrough PRY-CAM technology provides long-term system reliability through proper testing and monitoring, helping prevent system failures and gathering data including conditions of use, malfunctioning or overheating.

These solutions result in a more efficient system. In addition to an emissions reduction of 10% from the cable, the program reduces emissions by tracking information for the whole life cycle, totaling to a 20-25% reduction overall.

It is imperative that suppliers join forces with customers to build the U.S. clean energy infrastructure and facilitate the region’s energy transition and diversification to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This will require constant innovation including design optimization and prevention in renewable electrical systems. At Prysmian Group, we are proud to lead the digitalization of North America and the development of 5G in the U.S. and Canada, making the connected future possible for millions and delivering information where and when it is needed most.

Sustainable products are only part of the puzzle – sustainable social business practices are also important. We are accelerating our sustainability commitments by adopting social targets focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. In line with our core values, we recognize the need to develop employees at all levels, actively promoting the transition towards a more equal, diverse, inclusive and enriched working environment and are actively taking the steps necessary to establish an overall social ambition and D&I action plan that targets policies and practices related to pay equity, parental support and professional development. An example of this is the Sustainability Scholarship offered to women in STEM and for the children and/or grandchildren of our employees to support them in their higher education journey.

The bottom line is that it will take all of us to build a better future, and we are proud to be a piece of that puzzle throughout innovations, initiatives, and partnerships like those we have through the Alliance.

Prysmian Group is committed, are you?

Learn more about our Sustainability Manifesto in this video

The article was written by Maura Nespoli, VP Sales for Innovative and Sustainable Products Power Distribution North America and David Peredes, Director, Marketing

Case Study: Eaton's 2030 Sustainability Strategy

Thu, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Eaton has organized its sustainability strategy under four pillars: Engagement, Customer solutions, Footprint, and Doing Business Right & Transparency.

Notable commitments under these pillars include:

· Committing to sharing minority & gender pay equity results and ensuring no human rights violations from key suppliers

· Reducing carbon emissions from operations by 50%

· Achieving carbon neutrality

· Certifying 100% of manufacturing sites as zero waste-to-landfill

· Certifying 10% of manufacturing sites as zero water discharge

· Reducing scope 3 emissions by 15%

Eaton is integrating its sustainability targets into the broader business strategy by establishing an executive sustainability council chaired by the CEO. Moreover, the company plans to invest over $3 billion in research and development over the next 10 years to create sustainable and energy efficient solutions for customers. By 2030, Eaton aims to achieve a science-based target and carbon neutral operations through implementing energy efficient solutions in operations, optimizing renewable energy generation and purchases, greening energy contracts, and purchasing carbon offsets where necessary. The company’s sustainability strategy also involves accelerating their zero waste-to-landfill initiative and replicating their waste reduction approach to achieve their zero discharge water target. To determine and prioritize the key issues to address, Eaton conducted a materiality analysis with input from a diverse group of internal & external stakeholders. Recognizing the importance of engaging their workforce of more than 90,000 employees (globally) to meet their targets, Eaton has implemented numerous interdepartmental engagement, education, and empowerment initiatives.

Case Study: GE Renewable Energy's Strategy to Achieve Carbon Neutrality

Wed, 18 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

GE Renewable Energy is achieving carbon neutrality in its operations through maximizing efficiencies and utilizing cost savings from emissions reductions projects to fund investments that will further drive reductions in the next decade and beyond. Despite setting a short-term goal with 2020 as their first year of carbon neutrality, GE Renewable Energy sees its transition as a long-term effort. The company recognizes that a lot of offsets will need to be purchased to achieve their short term carbon neutral goal, but it’s a transition tool first and foremost, while they are simultaneously developing operational reductions. For example, they have invested in various upgrades to equipment in their manufacturing sites and switched all their electricity supply to green options. GE Renewable Energy aims to eliminate the need for offsets over time, which ultimately depends on the availability of needed technologies and relevant regulations as well.

The 5 workstreams GE Renewable Energy are running to achieve carbon neutrality are as follows:
1. Account for operational GHG emissions in each business.
2. Reduce emissions by finding efficiency opportunities within energy, waste, logistics, and mobility.
3. Power with renewables by sourcing renewable electricity for sites through onsite installations, Power Purchase Agreements, and Environmental Attribute Certificates.
4. Offset Emissions by investing in carbon credits that fund emission reduction projects worldwide, while supporting Sustainable Development Goals.
5. Campaign, Engage, Lead by sharing what we learn, celebrating employee contributions and engaging customers and partners.

Beyond GE Renewable Energy’s ambitious carbon neutral strategy, the company has also invested in circular economy initiatives. This includes, for example, extending the useful life of wind turbines, recycling turbine blades, innovating to reduce material waste and introducing the groundbreaking g3 (pronounced g-cubed) to replace the highly potent greenhouse gas SF6 in its Grid Solutions products and operations.

PG&E collaborates with other energy companies and suppliers on the importance of Environmental Responsibility

Tue, 13 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

This year PG&E announced it exceeded California's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) goal requiring energy providers to deliver 33 percent renewable energy by the end of 2020. In fact, more than 88 percent of the electricity PG&E provided to customers last year cam from greenhouse gas (GHG)-free resources.

PG&E's concern about the environment and sustainability also extends to its suppliers.

Last year PG&E worked with the Electric Utility Industry Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance to analyze the source of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the company's suppliers. The analysis showed more than 60 percent of these emissions come from construction services, vegetation management and materials manufacuing.

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