November 2007
Global Viewpoint
The Next Generation Asks
Recently, I had to Address the Next Generation of Engineering Students who attended the North American Power Symposium (NAPS) hosted by New Mexico State...
Features
From Critic To Advocate
It is a Fact of Life that People do not Like Change. But when Southern Company decided to implement a standardized geospatial information system (GIS)...
Lines Versus Cables: Consider All Factors
In Recent Years, the Evolution and Enhanced Performance of Underground Cables with extruded insulations such as cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) has refocused...
Eskom Integrates Area SCADA Systems
In September 2004, Eskom's Distribution Division Commenced a Program to Replace Five of its Regional SCADA Systems. The objective of the program was to...
Control AC and DC From a Single Platform
For More than a Decade, Industrial Personal Computers have Controlled High-Voltage DC Installations all Over the World, processing not only the inverter...
Hydro Ottawa's Project Portfolio Optimization
The Importance of Equipment Maintenance and Replacement Strategies Addressing System-Reliability Issues in North American power grids is growing. The...
Dynamic Rating Allows More Wind Generation
Xcel Energy has Significantly Reduced Wind Farm Curtailments in the Buffalo Ridge Region by monitoring a thermal line constraint through the use of real-time...
Business Developments
IEEE PES Launches Career Website to Address Critical Worker Shortage
The IEEE Power Engineering Society has created a career website (www.PES-Careers.org) that allows engineering students in the United States and Canada...
Demand-Response Efforts Grow
Demand-response and advanced-metering programs have grown significantly over the past year, according to a recent report by the Federal Energy Regulatory...
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I just read with great interest your viewpoint Open and Honest Feedback [August 2007]. Right on! It is a real shame that companies that used to care for...
Schneider Electric Donates Equipment
Schneider Electric's North America Operating Division (Palatine, Illinois, U.S.) has partnered with the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech University...
Xcel Switches to Soy-Based Transformers
Beginning in 2008, Xcel Energy (Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.) will use renewable soy-oil-based dielectric coolant in all new single-phase transformers...
Technology Updates
ABB to Supply Power Equipment for World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm
German utility E.ON Netz GmbH has awarded ABB an order worth more than US$400 million to supply the power equipment that will connect the world's largest...
Siemens to Deliver HVDC Technology for Low-Loss Power Supply Via Submarine Cable to San Francisco
Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution (Erlangan, Germany) has secured an order to construct an undersea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission...
IID at the Vanguard of Change in Renewable Energy Transmission
The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Board of Directors has adopted two major policy initiatives designed to bolster renewable energy development in...
Garland Enhances Customer Service
The City of Garland, the third largest municipal utility in the state of Texas, has successfully implemented the Ventyx's (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.) latest...
ACS Upgrades DTE's Substation Automation Systems
Advanced Control Systems (ACS; Norcross, Georgia, U.S.) delivered to Detroit Edison (DTE; Detroit, Michigan, U.S.) six Connex 30 substation manager upgrades...
Characters with Character
Man of Steel
If One Person's Trash is Another Person's Treasure, Then Joe Clifton is a Prosperous Man. Monday through Friday, Clifton realizes the rewards of a successful...
Products & Services
PRODUCTS & Services
Total-Cost-of-Ownership Calculator The True TCO Calculator is a free resource from the Uptime Institute that provides a comprehensive framework for modeling...
Straight Talk
Keep Our Assets Healthy
Worldwide, Most Utilities have Created Asset Management Organizations over the past 5 to 10 years with the goal of better investing in building and maintaining...
Electric Utility Operations
James Robison
Born in 1965 in Laconia, New Hampshire. Married to high school sweetheart, Sheila, for 21 years and has three children Nicholas, Zachary and Abby. Worked...
How to Train Future Linemen in Safe Work Practices
At the Salt River Project's climbing school, students earn their place in the sun not only by successfully climbing to the top, but also by safely finding...
Balancing Maintenance and Construction
CPS Energy (San Antonio, Texas) serves a growing population of more than 673,000 electric customers. This growth requires our linemen to wear many hats...
Mobile GIS Improves Productivity in the Field
Linemen today log on to laptops in their trucks to view digital maps and pinpoint locations on the transmission grid. Rather than relying on paper-based...
Digital Transmission
Technology Confusion
Despite All that has been Written About the Intelligent Grid and Its Advanced Technologies, it is still very much misunderstood. Go to a gathering of...
Technologies Advance Transmission System
Does it Feel as Though Life is Moving at Warp Speed? Do you have trouble keeping current with technology? Are newer technologies being introduced before...
Substation Intelligence
The Term Intelligent Grid Often Conjures Up Ideas About Smart Meters, remote-controlled thermostats, appliances controlled by the utility, two-way communication...
Utilities Relieve Grid Congestion
Around the World, the Demand for Electricity is Steadily Increasing, and the delivery system is being severely challenged. In industrialized countries,...
