Two major exhibit areas became as poles of a huge magnet at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 15-20.Their "lines of force" attracted 11,855 registrants, including about 2500 international attendees, to the 14th IEEE/PES Transmission & Distribution Conference and Exposition. Between the two exhibit floors there was plenty of space to house the hundreds of paper and panel sessions. The exhibit areas and the session conference rooms filled about 170,000 sq ft of the center's 2 million sq ft.

General Chairperson Fernando Calderon, Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power, Los Angeles, California, U.S., was delighted with the international and the domestic participation at the conference. He said that the International Business Center, sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, and the international panel sessions were keys to the conference's success.

International attendees were encouraged to visit the center where translators were available. The center's staff provided a briefing from show management for each delegation upon arrival at the show. The center provided face-to-face meetings between exhibitors and international attendees.

Frank Spector, international trade specialist, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, stated, "The goal of the International Business Center is to facilitate trade between the United States and other countries. To that end, we have three staff members here. Our role is to give short-term export counseling to companies that are here."

Utility personnel who could not attend the conference could still participate by using the Internet to listen to the opening session and the keynote speaker for the first day's luncheon. This was the first time this option was available to IEEE members. Additional information about the conference was available on the conference's web site.

The opening session, "Meeting the Challenge of Transmission Open Access and Retail Wheeling," included a panel discussion involving Henry Duque, commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission; William Timmerman, president, SCANA Corp.; Curt Hebert, commissioner, Mississippi Public Service Commission; and Charles Falcone, senior vice president, American Electric Power Corp. The session was moderated by Robert Dent, director, System Studies, New York Power Authority, and president of the Power Engineering Society of the IEEE.

Several of the panels generated interest from attendees. Of particular interest in the panel, "Global Markets and Opportunities for Transmission and Distribution Business," chaired by Jack R. Waizenegger, Los Angeles Dept. of Water Power, was a discussion by Dr. Zuhal, director general for electricity and energy development, Dept. of Energy, Republic of Indonesia. He covered investment opportunities in the power sector development in Indonesia. According to Dr. Zuhal, Perusahaan Umum Listrik Negara (PLN), the State Electricity Corporation of Indonesia, grew 15% per annum from 1969 to 1994. The same growth rate is anticipated for at least the next 10 years.

By 1994, PLN's generating capacity was 13,200 MW, and the total capacity of privately owned generation was about 8400 MW or about 39% of PLN's capacity. The government, through the Foreign Commercial Borrowing Team (Team PKLN) has approved US$6.9 billion to be used by the private sector to construct 5835 MW of generating capacity.

"Here we see an opportunity to continue to involve the private sector on a project basis to finance new investment by identifying transmission schemes that can be undertaken using the Build Maintain Transfer (BMT) or Build Transfer Leasing (BTL) formula," said Dr. Zuhal. BMT gives the private sector responsibility for building and maintaining a specific section of new transmission line and the related substations, but leaving full operational control with PLN. The private sector is paid a performance-linked fee for keeping the line available, very similar to the capacity charge in a BOO (build, operate, own) generation project. At the end of the contract period the ownership of the line reverts to the host utility.

The first private transmission facility in Indonesia will be developed by private investors as part of the trade agreement of Sengkang's Combined Cycle Power Plant in South Sulawesi in the form of a BOO agreement. PLN will lease the transmission facilities in accordance with the supplied energy.

Underground Distribution Another high-interest-generating session was the worldwide distribution cable practices panel chaired by Harry Orton H.E., Orton Consulting Engineers, Int. The panel consisted of presenters from the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Korea, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, North America, Holland, Sweden and Brazil.

Presenter Mitsuhiro Aoyagi listed underground distribution voltages at Tokyo Electric Power Co., Japan, as extra-high voltage (33 and 22 kV); high voltage (6.6 and 3.3 kV); and low voltage (415, 200 and 100 V). Generally, XLPE cables are used, except for the low-voltage cable which is PVC insulated. Splices for the 6.6- and 22-kV cable are usually prefabricated, while some use the insulating tape winding type.

Germany's electric supply is three-phase 50-Hz ac. According to Horst Blechschmidt, Oliver Frank and Bernd Hochstein of Hessische Elektrizitats-AG (HEAG), Darmstadt, usual underground distribution network voltages are 10-, 20- and 30-kV medium voltage, 400-V low voltage and 110-kV high voltage. HEAG serves 772 sq miles (1999 sq km) in the Rhine-Main region south of Frankfurt am Main. Residential consumers are supplied with 400 V. Splitting the three-phase house connection into circuits results in the usual 230 V for appliances. Total length of the medium-voltage underground network is 174,213 miles (280,309 km); low-voltage, 419,060 miles (674,268 km); and high-voltage, 2721 miles (4378 km). Today in Germany, nearly all cables being laid for 20 and 30 kV are XLPE. EPR is applied only in special cases, for example, for flexible cables or for mining cables.

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), Seoul, Korea, mainly uses 22.9-kV concentric neutral XLPE vinyl sheathed cable and padmounted transformers for its underground system, according to Byung Kwon Song and Sung Hwan Bae. KEPCO is upgrading primary distribution voltage to 22.9 kV to economically meet the rapidly increasing demand and to transfer the load effectively during outage time. KEPCO's peak load has increased an average of 11.7% per year during the past five years. KEPCO plans to install a distribution automation system near Yeoido (southwest of Seoul).

Attendee Comments The conference attendees generally had positive words about the show.

T. Hjartarson, technical manager, Iceland State Electricity, said the conference and the show had been worthwhile. "We had a full day at the conference yesterday, and just that one day was worth the trip here!" he said. "We're looking into cable accessories and cable because we are doing a lot of replacing overhead lines with underground cable and we found a lot of interesting things there that are going to help us in the future." Hjartarson said his utility uses heat shrink splicing but they are looking into cold shrink.

Oscar E. Gonzalez, manager, Chilectra, Santiago, Chile, said, "We are trying to implement new technologies. We are going digital right now. We just constructed the first 400-MVA substation and we are using this Siemens LSA protection equipment. It is all digital. All of our step-down substations are going digital, too." Gonzales said he came to look at the new, state-of-the art equipment. His utility already has a SCADA. Now it is looking into optimized distribution and automating the distribution system. "It has to have the ability to open with load a line, a feeder, and then isolate a fault," he said. Gonzales said that in the area of deregulation, his utility was considering transmitting power across international borders to Argentina.

Daryl E. Thorson, manager engineering services, East River Electric, Madison, South Dakota, U.S., said that the conference gave him a chance to visit with the manufacturers' representatives to find out about the latest innovations. He said the technical sessions also showcase new products and development. Thorson's utility has been dealing with power quality problems.

"Customers are more sensitive to power quality problems, and we need all the different technologies required for problem-free service. Keeping the customer happy is the name of the game," he said. Roland Youngberg, supervisor of substation engineering, Mid American Energy Co., Davenport, Iowa, U.S., said one of the best products he had seen at the show was the "bumpless transfer" shown in the S&C Electric exhibit.

"There are places where it is very important that the customers don't have interruption of service, Youngberg said. "Those with equipment like computers can't withstand what a typical utility would do in a standard transfer scheme. We have some bid jobs and it is nice to have all the suppliers here so we can talk to them."

Exhibitor Bob Thiede, distribution standards supervisor, Wisconsin Public Service Co., Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S., found out how "the shoe fits on the other foot" this year when his utility marketed its training, testing and contracting services at the show. He had been an attendee at past shows. "I had been asking the manufacturers the hard questions; now I am on the other side and I have to behave myself and answer all the questions myself," he said. TDW