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MTE Reflects on historic year at 2021 Annual Meeting

MURFREESBORO, TN – Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE) leadership updated cooperative members on the organization’s health and answered questions directly from its members during its Annual Meeting, held virtually Aug. 28.

In their report to the membership, Board Chairman Mike Woods and CEO Chris Jones discussed the major components that made 2020 an unusual but successful year. MTE’s merger with Murfreesboro Electric Department in July of 2020 increased the organization’s membership to 315,000 members, making it the second-largest electric membership cooperative in the United States. To celebrate the merger and the start of a new era, MTE rolled out a new branding campaign, including a new logo, for the combined company. It was just the third such change since MTE’s founding.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted every element of the way MTE operates, and leadership acted quickly to implement policies and practices that would ensure the safety of members and its employees while continuing to maintain high standards of service. MTE line crews worked tirelessly last February to restore power after a devastating ice storm wiped out power for thousands of members. In addition, Woods and Jones touched on subsidiary United Communications’ continued efforts to expand its broadband footprint to members.

“Though 2020 was a difficult year in many ways, I am proud of how the entire MTE team pushed through and stepped up to provide assistance to our members when it was needed the most,” said Jones. “Ultimately, this year allowed us to evolve and expand in ways that will continue to have a positive impact on our community.”

A business session followed the video presentation, during which Treasurer Jim Mills spoke about the healthy financial position of the organization.

Per the cooperative’s bylaws, the results of the election for five seats on the Board of Directors were announced during the Annual Meeting. Five members were re-elected: Ann Little – Williamson County, David Lee – Rutherford County, Ross Bradley – Rutherford County, Dr. Shervondalonn Brown – Rutherford County, and Jim Mills – Wilson County.

MTE board members serve staggered three-year terms, and the Nominating Committee is responsible for nominating next year’s board of director candidates.

The 2021 Nominating Committee election resulted in the appointment of Donald Lampley, Karen Paris and Juanita Patton from District 1 – Williamson County; Thomas “Teb” Batey, Jamey Faulkner, Danny Sapp and Richard Stone from District 2 – Rutherford County; Jeanne Melton from District 3 – Cannon County; and Zachary Butler, Ken Howell and Quintin Smith from District 4 – Wilson County.

In an organizational meeting following the Annual Meeting, the board re-elected Mike Woods of Rutherford County as chairman, Steve Seger of Williamson County as vice chairman and Jim Mills of Wilson County as secretary-treasurer.

A Q&A session was conducted and questions from members were answered live. Members inquired about broadband, COVID, member programs and a variety of current topics.

“It would have been wonderful to see our members in person at this year’s Annual Meeting, but we are grateful that we are still able to share information, gather feedback and keep our members updated in a comprehensive manner,” said Woods. “Our members are the backbone of MTE, and we are honored to fulfill our purpose of making their lives better.”

Robert White (L), Vice President of Member Services and Community Relations, and Chris Jones (R), MTE President and CEO, during the Q&A session. Image via WGNS.

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Amazon to Create 500 New Jobs in Clarksville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Amazon officials announced today that the company will establish a new, state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Clarksville.

“This fulfillment facility comes on a wave of recent announcements of Amazon investing in Tennessee,” said Gov. Bill Lee. “The creation of 500 new jobs will bolster the economic growth that Montgomery County is experiencing, and it will support Amazon’s initiatives across our state.”

“TVA and Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation congratulate Amazon on its decision to locate operations and create hundreds of new job opportunities in Clarksville,” said John Bradley, TVA senior vice president of Economic Development. “Working with our partners, like the Clarksville Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, to support job creation and investment in the Valley is fundamental to TVA’s mission of service. We are proud to celebrate this announcement and look forward to Amazon’s continued business success in the region.”

Amazon will create 500 full-time jobs with comprehensive benefits at the new one-million-square-foot fulfillment center, where employees will pick, pack and ship larger customer items, such as bulk paper goods, sports equipment, patio furniture and larger home goods and electronics. The facility, which will house innovative Amazon technologies and energy efficient, zero-emission power industrialized truck (PIT) equipment, is expected to launch in 2022.

The Clarksville facility will be Amazon’s tenth fulfillment and sortation center in Tennessee and the fourth to be announced in the past 19 months. In 2020, Amazon committed to creating 1,000 jobs at new facilities in both Memphis and Mt. Juliet and most recently in February 2021, the company announced a new fulfillment center project in Alcoa, tacking on an additional 800 new jobs.

Amazon currently operates fulfillment and sortation centers in Charleston, Chattanooga, Lebanon, Memphis, Murfreesboro and Nashville. The company is in the midst of building Amazon Nashville, a new downtown office that will bring more than 5,000 tech and corporate jobs to Nashville.

Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than $13 billion in Tennessee, including infrastructure and compensation to thousands of its employees in the state. Amazon’s investments in Tennessee contributed an additional $13 billion into the state’s economy, and using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 39,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s more than 25,000 direct hires in Tennessee.

Amazon’s innovative Career Choice program pre-pays 95 percent of tuition for courses in high-demand fields. Since the program’s launch, more than 30,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few. In addition, Amazon has pledged to invest over $700 million to provide upskilling training for 100,000 U.S. employees for in-demand jobs. Programs will help Amazonians from all backgrounds access training to move into highly-skilled roles across the company’s corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfillment centers, retails stores, and transportation network, or pursue career paths outside of Amazon.

Over the last five years, TNECD has supported nine economic development projects in Montgomery County, resulting in approximately 2,550 job commitments and $708 million in capital investment.

To learn more about working at Amazon, visit www.amazondelivers.jobs.

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Efficient and Safe Farming Technologies

As farming technology advances, farmers are finding new ways to reduce costs, improve efficiency and increase crop yields. The newest trend of technological advancements for farming is precision agriculture, a strategy where farmers use advanced technologies to control the growth of crops and raising of livestock more accurately and efficiently.

As precision agriculture has grown in recent years, the technologies have become even more technical and precise by using data analytics and machine learning. With a whole suite of benefits, like reduced costs, standardized data and metrics and minimizing resource waste, it’s no surprise that technologies and strategies for precision agriculture are becoming more commonplace.

The initial wave of precision agriculture in the 1980s was made possible by GPS (global positioning system) devices, which were first placed on tractors. GPS-connected devices could control a tractor and automatically steer the tractor based on the field’s GPS coordinates. This helped reduce any overlap while driving, making farming practices more efficient.

Beyond autonomous tractors, there have been many innovations in farming technologies that are part of precision agriculture. One technology is the crop-monitoring drone, which can take aerial views of fields and help give the farmer a bird’s-eye view of their land. Connecting the drone to special software and GPS can also allow the drone to automatically take photos, making it even easier to use. When combined with GIS (geographic information system), the drone can help analyze the geospatial field data in real-time for the farmer.

Using robotics for precision agriculture can be applied to many kinds of machines. For example, robotic milking machines can be used to automate the cow milking process. These machines help farmers reduce their labor demands while also increasing efficiency, freeing up time for farmers to work on other parts of their farm. Since the machines are optimized to work efficiently, they can also help to remove more milk per cow and provide more rest for the cows.

If farmers want to optimize their crop production, then variable rate technology (VRT) can help. VRT allows the farmer to use a variable rate schedule for application of fertilizer or for irrigation. Although there are several different options for using VRT, the basics consist of a computer, software, GPS and a controller. Farmers can choose to use VRT in either a map-based or sensor-based way, depending on need of the farm. Using VRT helps farmers accurately measure water and fertilizer, save time and maximize irrigation and fertilization efficiency.

To properly use these new technologies, there are some important safety tips to consider. When learning to use any new technology, be sure to fully read the manual and understand the instructions before beginning any work. This can help farmers avoid preventable accidents. Different types of farm equipment will also require different safety precautions. For example, when working with grain bins, farmers should be especially careful to follow training procedures when it is necessary to work inside the grain bin.

Being aware of the best safety practices when working with a specific technology is the best way to avoid accidents. Additionally, since these technologies are digital, the threat of cybersecurity comes into play. Appropriate use of any USB thumb drives and being aware of spear-phishing cyberattacks will help prevent malicious entities from gaining access to the farmer’s confidential data.

Although the benefits are clear, there are a few barriers to using these new agricultural technologies. Having a well-established broadband connection is crucial for some of these technologies, and a lack of high-speed internet access can limit the use of precision agriculture technologies. Furthermore, using precision agriculture comes with a relatively large upfront financial investment, which may not provide a return on investment quickly enough to the farm.

Before incorporating precision agriculture technology into any farm, planning and preparation will be crucial to make the best use of the technology.

Maria Kanevsky writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56% of the nation’s landscape.

 

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Working Together to Combat Cyber Attacks

Computer hacking is a top news story these days, and for years electric cooperatives have focused on blocking cyber threats from interfering with the nationwide electric grid of wires and poles that keeps our lights on.

You can also help defend against that electronic mischief. And you should. Because when use internet-connected devices like your smart phone, you’re instantly connected to the grid.

The network of power lines, transformers and substations adds up to an incredibly complex system that reliably brings us conveniences of modern life. That network is transforming into a “smart grid” that does an even better job of delivering electricity. It’s adding renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, which calls for sophisticated software to figure out how to keep power flowing at night or when the wind isn’t blowing. Computer algorithms make plans for the most efficient and reliable operations when forecasts call for storms, wildfires or times of high-power use.

Making such modern miracles happen means joining with another dominant part of today’s world—the internet.

The blink-of-an-eye speed of balancing the generation of electricity with your flip of a light switch relies heavily on the electronically connected world. The internet is incredibly useful, but also a target of troublemakers from lone, self-taught experts to international crime rings.

Electric utilities know this and work every day through their own offices and national organizations on cyber safety.

You can take smart steps too, to protect yourself, and the electric grid. Because the power grid uses the internet, that means that any of your internet-connected devices are also part of the grid: computers, security cameras, printers, smart TVs, health monitors––even cars and light bulbs can be connected to the internet.

Here are the top tips experts advise to defend against hackers:

Lock the front door.

If you have wireless internet in your home, the traffic comes in through the router. If you take just one step, create a strong password for that router, and set a reminder to change the password regularly.

Use a secret code.

Weak passwords make things easier for hackers. A study found the most-used password in 2021 was, you guessed it, “123456.” A more secure option uses combinations of upper-case and lower-case letters, combined with numbers and special symbols like “&” or “!”

There are apps to help you remember passwords. A simple old-fashioned notebook can also work, as long as you’re certain you’ll never lose it and no one else has access to it. And be aware that every major internet-connected appliance comes with its own factory-installed password you should change right away. The password for my smart TV was, you guessed it, 123456.

Stay vigilant.

If you receive an e-mail with an attachment you weren’t expecting, don’t open the attachment. If you get a message with a link you didn’t know was coming, don’t click it. Even if it’s from a friend, phone them and ask if they sent it—hackers can send messages using your friend’s address.

Stay state-of-the-art.

Your computer and other devices will regularly offer updates—install them. They often contain security updates to protect against the latest cyber threats. And they will come to you directly through your computer, phone or printer—don’t be fooled by an e-mail or message saying it’s an update. You can also go online and ask about any updates to your device.

Next month is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the Department of Homeland Security has titled this year’s theme, “If you connect it, protect it.” That’s good advice for your home—and for the electric grid.

Paul Wesslund writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56% of the nation’s landscape.

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