Image

Delays/Outages..Are You Not Entertained?

Sept. 28, 2015
NYC subways are vital for the livelihood of millions; when the subways are delayed, the whole city crumbles..

NYC subways are vital for the livelihood of millions; when the subways are delayed, the whole city crumbles; based on the current weak economy, people are worried that they may lose their jobs for being late. It is easy to blame the MTA; however, I am sure they are doing their best to ensure everything is on schedule and minimize any delays. Just imagine how many things could go wrong every day, hint: sick passenger on board.

Recently, a lot of subway stations have free Wi-Fi and cell phone service, which I believe is one of the best solutions for mitigating delays.

We are addicted to entertainment and will do anything to stay entertained; as long as we are able to check how many likes our latest dog/child picture got on Facebook & Instagram, you will not even notice the delay.

There are still some stations without wireless service or Wi-Fi, whether those stations are still planned or due to their intense depth, it may not be feasible to have service there. Myself and other passengers tend to complain while being on the F train on the way from Manhattan to Queens when the train is delayed, for that same reason. For some people, being stuck on a train and not being able to tweet about it is even worse.

In comparison, losing power is another major obstacle that interferes with our daily entertainment plans and especially with our kids’ entertainment who cannot breathe without their gadgets. During Sandy, kids were lined up next to all the stores that had power and offered them a chance to charge their phones.

Morale of the story: find a way(s) to always keep the phones charged and internet available during any delay and/or outages and less customers will be annoyed, are you not entertained?

About the Author

Ahmed Mousa | Principal Engineer/Adjunct Professor/Board Member/Founder & CEO

Ahmed Mousa, M.S.E.E., has over 12 years of experience in transmission, sub-transmission, substations and distribution systems with industry leaders such as Consolidated Edison, PSE&G, PEPCO, and First Energy. He is a subject matter expert in transmission/sub-transmission, distribution and substation planning. Ahmed has years of expertise conducting PSS/E load flows, i.e. forced & scheduled outages analysis, phase angle studies, voltage analysis, network/non-network load transfers. Ahmed provides analysis and support during heat waves, storms and other system emergencies.

Mr. Mousa is an Adjunct Professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) teaching advanced topics graduate electrical engineering courses.

Mr. Mousa serves on the New Jersey Association of Energy Engineers board as a board member.

Mr. Mousa is currently the Principal Engineer at PSE&G in the Electric Delivery Planning section, where he is responsible for managing power system generation, transmission and distribution simulation studies, developing the short/ long range substation forecasts, analysis and load relief, performing short circuit studies, performing breaker duty analysis, developing transmission and distribution station and feeder designs, reviewing large customer demand proposals. Mr. Mousa is responsible for all Distributed Energy Resources technical evaluations and interconnection agreements.

Mr. Mousa is the Founder/CEO of The Electric Bridge Consulting firm assisting large and small utilities, colleges/universities & consulting firms by providing electric utility services, educational/training services, consulting services, leadership seminars, career consulting, lecturing services, electric professional engineering courses & national & international webinars. 

Mr. Mousa was responsible for the short term, long term (1/5/10/20/30 years), and emergency planning for the area substation, transmission / sub-transmission feeders and the 4 kV system at Consolidated Edison. He has conducted several studies on the impact of electric vehicles, distributed generation, steam to AC conversion, energy efficiency models, and R&D initiatives on the distribution and transmission system.

Mr. Mousa was the project manager for a SCADA GE XA21 Energy Management System and the project manager and project engineer for President Obama’s Department of Energy stimulus grant for Consolidated Edison’s 4 kV system.

Awards include the 2009 3rd Quarter Distribution Engineering ALVA Award for 21st Century Leader, the 2012 “Sustain Energy Reliability” Team Award, and the 2013 Excellence in Design and Genius Engineer (EDGE) Award Nominee for “Developed Load Calculation Tools for System and Transmission Operations.” He has over eight years of experience in providing training in a wide range of subjects including PSS/E, 4 kV systems, distributed generation grid adoption, system operation outage analysis, transformer ratings, voltage studies, basic and advanced power flow, intermeshes, phase angle studies, capacitor bank impact on the grid, smart grid, plant information (PI), post contingency analysis, voltage reduction, and conservation voltage optimization. Mr. Mousa received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Stony Brook University and later a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Manhattan College and has completed the Siemens PTI Distribution and Transmission courses.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of T&D World, create an account today!