Clarksville, TN – CDE Lightband is proud to announce that it has received the prestigious 2024 Energy Innovator Award from the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) program.
The award was presented at the APPA National Conference in San Diego, CA. Jim Manning, CDE Lightband’s Chief Customer Officer, accepted it on behalf of the company.
The DEED program is renowned for fostering innovation in public power. Each year, it recognizes exceptional utility projects that demonstrate innovative approaches and significant contributions to the industry. CDE Lightband was honored for its innovative work in improving emergency response capabilities, particularly in the more vulnerable outage areas within its service territory.
To tackle this, CDE Lightband created a data lake that combines various data sources to identify where improvements are needed, like burying power lines underground. They found 29 areas with frequent power outages caused by storms. They also identified the best location for a large-capacity lithium-ion battery to help maintain power in these areas during outages. This planning is expected to save the community and businesses over $232 million.
Brian Taylor, General Manager of CDE Lightband, expressed his pride in the team’s achievements, stating, “I am so proud of our team as they focus on innovative methods to improve the reliability and resiliency of our distribution system. Our use of innovation helps to make us leaders in our industry.”
For more information about CDE Lightband and its initiatives, please visit www.cdelightband.com.
About CDE Lightband
CDE Lightband, the municipal electric and broadband provider for the City of Clarksville, offers electric, internet, video and voice services to customers within the Clarksville city limits. CDE Lightband serves over 80,000 metered homes and businesses with electric service and nearing 30,000 customers with broadband services over our Fiber to the Premise Network.
CDE Lightband provides reliable utilities delivered at the speed of light. Our service area, consisting of 100 square miles within the municipal boundaries, includes 892 miles of power lines and 960 miles of fiber optic cable.
Our world-class Fiber Optic Network keeps electric costs low and allows us to deliver exceptional products and constant innovation. The network provides savings of over $1 million annually in operating costs and provides over $5 million annually in income for electrical grid improvements that result in half as many large scale power outages compared to peer cities.
Additionally, access to our network increases home values by 3% or an average of over $5,000, according to the Fiber to the Home Council. Based in large part on access to the superior digital products provided by CDE Lightband, Clarksville has been designated a first 50 “Next Century City.”
CDE Lightband offers Electricity, Internet, Digital TV and Telephone services with blazing fast speed and superior performance … with the additional convenience of 24/7 local support and bundling all your utilities into a single bill.
Our staff includes 200 full-time employees, a management team with over 100 years of combined industry expertise and governance provided by a board of five local business leaders.
For more information, visit their website at www.cdelightband.com
