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As lechnology leader in lhe ield o energy aulomalion,
Siemens provides solulions or currenl and ulure dislribu-
lion grid challenges. Whelher lo cosl-eeclively aulomale
and operale primary equipmenl or lo increase supply reli-
abilily and power qualily in order lo quickly ad|usl changes
in lhe dislribulion grid. LNLAS solulions or dislribulion
aulomalion have proven eeclive in numerous applica-
lions worldwide. They are inslalled where il counls - wilh
aulomalion equipmenl direclly in lhe ield.
ln addilion, new superordinaled applicalions such as
aulomalic sel-healing, vollage compensalion and
qualily measuremenl make energy syslems saer and
more reliable. As a resull, all aull deleclion, localizalion
and correclion unclions are covered. Also, bidireclional
load low operalion and aclive conlrol are supporled -
allowing or lhe inlegralion o dislribuled generalors and
eleclric vehicles. All in all, LNLAS solulions in dislribulion
grids ensure energy supply wilh maximum reliabilily.
ZZZVLHPHQVFRPHQHDV
January 2014 | www.tdworld.com 2
Vol. 66 No. 1
CONTENTS
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Inside PG&Es Smart Grid Lab
A unique smart grid testing lab provides prototyping and proof
of concept for Pacic Gas and Electric deployments.
By David Bradley and Ryan Hanley, Pacifc Gas and Electric Co.
Terry Boston:
A Gentlemans Rise in the Energy World
Terry Boston may be one of the most inuential people in the energy world
today. His expertise and innovative outlook have been acknowledged
with awards and accolades from industry groups and publications,
but his success was born in humble beginnings.
By Pamela Kufahl, Contributing Writer
Industry Partnership Instills Best Practices
Line contracting rms partner with OSHA and industry organizations
to implement best practices, train linemen and drive down injury rates.
By Amy Fischbach, Field Editor
The Pulse of the Grid
BPA leverages synchrophasor breakthroughs to provide a quantum leap
in power grid control.
By Dmitry Kosterev, Lawrence Carter and Scott Lissit,
Bonneville Power Administration
The AmpaCity Project
RWE replaced a conventional high-voltage cable system in Essen City
center with a medium-voltage superconducting cable system.
By Frank Merschel, RWE Deutschland AG, and Mathias Noe,
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
MLGW Eliminates Long Lead Times
Strategic alliances help Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division
maintain order and delivery schedules of critical equipment.
By Jason Simon, Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division
44
32
38
ENDURING PRODUCTS & PEOPLE
YOU CAN DEPEND ON
hubbellpowersystems.com
ANCHORS | ARRESTERS | BUSHINGS | CABLE ACCESSORIES | CONNECTORS
CUTOUTS | DRAINS | ENCLOSURES | INSULATORS | POLE LINE HARDWARE
PROTECTION | SWITCHES | TOOLS & GROUNDING
AD_010_043_E
FROM TRANSMISSION TO DISTRIBUTION
WERE CHANGING THE WAY
YOU SEE THE WORLD
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Departments
GLOBALViewpoint
The Accidental Executive. Two out of three executives in the energy space
may be in it mostly for personal gain, but there are plenty of executives
whose rst love is serving customers and doing the do these are the
accidental executives.
By Rick Bush, Editorial Director
BUSINESSDevelopments
MISO Completes Power Grid Integration
Alstoms Integrated DMS to Power Pennsylvania
LIPA Restructures $2.1 Billion in Debt
TECHNOLOGYUpdates
Georgia Exports Green Energy to Neighboring Turkey
Sensored Termination Enables Real-Time Monitoring to Support Grid
Automation in Underground Distribution Networks
Siemens Service Extends Lifespan of Power Cables
INDUSTRYReport
Training and Retaining Future Linemen. As more electric utilities face
recruitment and retention issues, the Transmission & Distribution
Maintenance Management Association is helping eld managers learn
how to nd and train the next generation of line workers.
By George Patrick, TDMMA
CHARACTERSwithCharacter
Building Blocks. Veronica Rivero Gorrin, an architectural engineering
student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, is headed toward a promising
career as a builder of everything from substations to communities.
By James R. Dukart, Contributing Writer
STRAIGHTTalk
Target Your Investments. Using a simulation process, Con Ed is able to
imitate real-life conditions using probability statistics that show where
equipment failures are most likely to occur, and then channel its reliability
investments to retire those components to avoid service problems.
By John Miksad, Con Edison of New York
In Every Issue
ClassiedADVERTISING
ADVERTISINGIndex
CONTENTS
ABOUT OUR COVER:
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Quanta Services www.quantaservices.com
713.629.7600 NYSE-PWR
INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES REDEFINED
TRANSMISSION
s
DISTRIBUTION
s
SUBSTATION
January 2014 | www.tdworld.com 6
Editorial Director Rick Bush rbush@tdworld.com
Technology Editor Vito Longo vlongo@tdworld.com
Senior Managing Editor Emily Saarela esaarela@tdworld.com
International Editor Gerry George gerrygeorge1@btinternet.com
Online Editor Nikki Chandler nchandler@tdworld.com
Technical Writer Gene Wolf GW_Engr@msn.com
Automation Editor Matt Tani mattelutcons@joplin.com
Field Editor Amy Fischbach aschbach@tdworld.com
Contributing Editor Paul Mauldin Paul.Mauldin@penton.com
Art Director Susan Lakin slakin@tdworld.com
Publisher David Miller David.Miller@penton.com
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Visit the website daily
for breaking news, photo
galleries and videos.
Photo Galleries
A Retrospective:
Transmission and Distribution Covers
A look back in
time: The editors
have gone down
to our archives
and gathered
covers dating
back to 1957.
What we found
will amuse and
amaze. Engineers
of yore built
a surprisingly
advanced and
robust system. Take a look. You will nd that our
forefathers were quite advanced in how they
designed, built and maintained our network.
The Grandeur of U.S. Wind
Testing Facilities
Images from
Americas grand
wind testing
facilities,
including
labs in South
Carolina,
Massachusetts,
Colorado and
Texas.
Grid Optimization
Listen Up! Blog
Duke Energy Wind Farm Bird Kill:
Gort Meets Bambi?
Wind farm bird kills are nothing new. But until
now, no ones pushed prosecution because
birds and wind turbines are both protected by
environmental advocacy. That creates a dilemma.
Vegetation Management
Resource Center
A Look Back at the Vegetation
Management Year
Its that time of the year when I like to look back
and take stock to help energize and provide
focus for the future. But before I do, I want
to return to the theme Ive been pressing for
the last couple of months: We need to gain
acceptance of the risks associated with providing
electrical service being not solely a utility issue
but a societal issue.
January 2014 | www.tdworld.com 8
GLOBALViewpoint
The Accidental Executive
I
was at Kinkos picking up a disk that contained scans of
retro Transmission and Distribution covers from the 1950s.
These scans now have been placed in a photo gallery that
you can see on our home page. Talk about a nostalgic trip back
in time. I was pleasantly surprised to see the level of sophisti-
cation our engineers demonstrated back in the day. Here is
a snapshot of what I found: aerial surveying, helicopter-aided
tower construction, mobile substations, cable laying and un-
derground residential distribution. How cool is that?
I struck up a conversation with Sylvia at the Kinkos counter
and had her pull up the scans on her computer screen. Then I
realized that the biggest difference between then and now isnt
the technology but the pace of work. Our lives are so hectic
and so compressed today. Back when I joined Georgia Power
in 1971, work progressed at a more casual pace. We had time
to mentor and to be mentored. We had time for one another.
Sylvia mentioned that she had a previous boss who focused
primarily on upward mobility, and as long as you understood
where the boss was coming from, you could do all right.
In my job as editor of Transmission & Distribution World, I
have met hundreds of executives, and I am quite qualifed to
state that two out of three executives in the energy space have
their primary focus on what is in it for them. However, that still
leaves plenty of executives whose frst love is serving custom-
ers. I call these guys accidental executives.
Accidental Executives
When I got back to the offce and started reviewing the cov-
ers with our art director, Susan Lakin, I found myself in quite
a refective mood. I started to run through some of my friends
who have become accidental executives over the years.
One buddy Lawrence Webb was selling cable for General
Cable when I frst met him. When his marriage hit hard times,
Lawrences wife headed to England, so Lawrence then picked
up stakes and relocated to England to be near his son. To sup-
port himself, he started a business marketing and selling cable
in conduit. He rolled out more products in the telecom space
and his business took off. Lawrence found himself to be an
accidental executive. Years later, I asked Lawrence, How did
you manage to grow the business? What led to your success?
His answer, Rick, I just kept doing the do.
Twenty years ago when I joined T&D World, I found myself
bumping into Jim Lusby, who was managing the T&D business
for Black & Veatch. Jim was always encouraging the folks in his
division to reach higher and make a bigger difference. Jim and
I collaborated to hold several industry executive roundtables
to provide our readers with a bigger vision of what was trans-
piring in all areas of T&D. Never one to grab the spotlight, Jim
was content to provide thought leaders in our industry with an
opportunity to share their perspectives.
Another buddy Keith Lindsey owns a small manufacturing
company that makes everything from volt-
age sensors to sag monitors to emergency
towers. Every time he sees a need, he tries to
fll it. But many of the needs he flls do not
generate any revenue for his company. For
example, Keith has been serving on IEEE
and CIGR standard writing committees
for as long as Ive known him, which spans
at least 35 years. He is a selfess man and an-
other accidental executive.
And the list of people I consider greats
precisely because they dont think of
themselves at all goes on and on.
Now this guy is a classic: Johnny Priest.
He put in one full career at Duke and then
went to run for-proft Duke Energy Servic-
es. I frst met Johnny at an Edison Electric
Institute meeting. He was working the room
hard. I tapped him on the shoulder and
asked him who he was and what he was do-
ing. Most of the executives were complain-
ing about one thing or another. Not Johnny.
Jim Lusby, a long-time Black & Veatch executive, stands in front of the kitchen counter with
chief cook and bottle washer Bruce Fritz, Rick Bush and the dining-room diva Dianne Fritz.
Consulting Engineering Construction Operation I www.bv.com
Overhead lines are asked to do more.
Demands on the grid seem to increase daily, and
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January 2014 | www.tdworld.com
ORDIC FIBERGLASS, INC.
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Sectionalizing cabinets are the solution for housing a variety
of 2, J, or 4point, 15, 25, or J5k7 200600Amp load or
deadbreak junctions with Ustraps.
Nordic box pads are the pad solution for single E three phase
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10
GlobalVIEWPOINT
Editorial Director
He had no interest in looking back. This guy is fawed in that
he cant stop doing the do. Hes moved on to run other de-
livery services companies, but two things remain constant: he
believes in quality, and he believes in his workers and safe work
practices. He is another accidental executive.
Recently, I was talking with Alan Sneath who develops busi-
ness at Black & Veatch, and he mentioned that my buddy Jim
Lusby was retiring after 45 years with the company. Alan hint-
ed that I might want to provide Jim a little printed send-off,
although that is exactly what Jim would like to avoid. So
I invited Lusby out to lunch to his favorite place, Fritzs. This
is a chili joint straight out of the 1960s. Fritzs still has original
red-and-white-checkered linoleum foors and white-speckled
Formica tables. This place is the epitome of Americana.
Fritz and his wife, Dianne, have been serving up chili right
here for decades. This is Jims favorite dive, and I say that in
a complimentary way. Jim and I have been eating lunch here
on and off for years. Now, Jim is so cheap that we always went
Dutch. That bugger. But what wide-ranging conversations we
have had on the future of energy. We solved so many issues
in our own minds right there eating soda crackers and
chili with beans (I get mine with onions and cheese for an
upcharge). When we said our last goodbyes, I wouldnt take
no for an answer and picked up Jims $7 tab. That makes me
the last of the big spenders.
Id like to conclude this piece by lifting up a glass (of Diet
Coke) to all of you out there who came into this industry to
serve. So, whether you ended up in a corner offce, or you are
an engineer cranking away in a cubicle, or your corner offce
is a bucket truck, you are tops in my mind. Because what I
believe truly satisfes a person is to be able to say at the end of
a day, a week, a month, a year or a career I did my best and
made a difference.
Fritzs serves chili only chili. But what Fritzs lacks in a diversied
menu, it makes up for in atmosphere, that is, if 1960s Americana is what
you want. Rick Bush was nally able to convince Jim Lusby to let him pick
up the check. They pose for one last time in front of the luncheon spot
where they exchanged many an opinion.
ntroducing the OrionLXm,
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January 2014 | www.tdworld.com 12
BUSINESSDevelopments
Alstoms Integrated DMS to Power Pennsylvania Smart Grid
Long Island Power Authority Restructures $2.1 Billion in Debt
MISO Completes Power Grid Integration
PPL Electric Utilities has selected Alstom to provide its
Integrated Distribution Management System (IDMS), which
provides electric delivery service to 1.4 million customers in
the state of Pennsylvania. The contract is an integral part of
PPL Electric Utilities three-year, US$38 million smart grid
project to enhance system reliability in the Harrisburg area.
This Alstom-designed technology, known as e-terra distri-
bution 3.0, combines supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) software and advanced distribution management
system (DMS) in one integrated DMS. The project follows
PPL Electric Utilities installation of an Alstom Energy Man-
agement System. The seamless IDMS includes a single-user
interface using a single-network model to provide PPL Elec-
tric Utilities distribution operators with real-time situational
awareness for improved reliability. From one point in its con-
trol room, PPL Electric Utilities can access a suite of smart
applications to monitor and control electricity distribution
and transmission networks, maximizing reliability across the
entire network.
Storm restoration and resiliency is a key concern for distri-
bution utilities. Alstoms IDMS technology offers self-healing
attributes to locate faults, while the automated response capa-
bilities help speed efforts to restore power and improve overall
reliability. The single-platform software architecture was de-
veloped specifcally for three-phase unbalanced distribution
networks and is well suited to handle large volumes of data.
This will help PPL Electric Utilities make informed decisions
concerning both day-to-day operations and outages from se-
vere weather events.
For more information, visit www.pplelectric.com.
The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has successfully
completed a major refnancing of US$2.138 billion of its out-
standing debt at signifcantly lower interest rates. It is the frst-
ever AAA rated deal for a municipal utility.
The transaction, known as securitization, allows LIPA to
replace some of its debt with higher quality and, therefore, less
expensive debt that is secured by a separate charge to be recov-
ered from LIPAs customers on their regular utility bills. Secu-
ritization, authorized as part of the recent LIPA Reform Act
passed by the New York Legislature, will reduce the amount of
debt held by the utility.
The Utility Debt Securitization Authority (UDSA), a sepa-
rate state entity, was created by the state legislature to issue
the AAA-rated bonds, and will collect the fnancing costs via
a separate charge on utility bills. LIPA will reduce its own
charges by an equal amount so that there will be no increase
to customers bills.
Repayment of the securitization bonds is scheduled to be-
gin in March. The bonds will be repaid over their life as a sepa-
rate cents-per-kilowatt-hour charge on the bill that will be set
initially at 1.25 cents per kWh. The charge will be reset in Janu-
ary 2015, and reviewed every six months to recover exactly the
amount needed to meet the UDSA obligations for each period.
For more information, visit www.lipower.org.
footprint of 65,280 miles (105,026 km)
of transmission with total electric gener-
ation capacity throughout MISO of ap-
proximately 196,000 MW, making MISO
one of the largest power grid operators
in the world. This will result in more
effcient dispatch of resources to meet
energy demands across the region.
The integration added 10 new trans-
mission-owning companies, six local
balancing authorities and 33 new mar-
ket participants from Mississippi, Loui-
siana, Arkansas, Texas and Missouri to
MISO. This new region MISO South
includes the following transmission
owners and local balancing authorities:
Entergy (Arkansas, Mississippi, Loui-
siana, Texas, Gulf States and New Or-
MISOs LMP Contour Map offers a detailed
visualization of real-time market conditions.
At the stroke of midnight on Dec. 18,
MISO successfully integrated a four-
state region of the electric grid across
the South into MISOs existing footprint
in the Midwest. The change in control,
or cutover, extends MISOs operation-
al and market footprints from the Gulf
of Mexico to Manitoba, Canada.
In 2012, an independent industry
analysis projected savings of US$1.4 bil-
lion over a 10-year period as a result of
the new members joining MISO. The
study reinforced MISOs core belief that
a collective, regionwide approach to
grid planning and management delivers
the greatest benefts as evident through
MISOs value proposition.
MISO now manages a combined
leans), Cleco Corp., Lafayette Utilities
System, Louisiana Energy and Power
Authority, Louisiana Generating, South
Mississippi Electric Power Association
and East Texas Electric Cooperative.
To prepare for the cutover, MISO and
all of the stakeholders involved with the
integration effort participated in a full
year of readiness activities that included
hundreds of training courses, system de-
velopment, testing and simulations.
Visit www.misoenergy.org.
NECA & IBEW
Your Quality Connection
F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n : w w w . n l m c c . o r g O n l i n e v i d e o ma g a z i n e : www. e l e c t r i c t v. n e t
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January 2014 | www.tdworld.com
BUSINESSDevelopments
14
SunEdison Announces R1.8 Billion in Funding for 60-MW Solar Park
Global solar energy services and technology provider
SunEdison Inc., through its South African affliate, has se-
cured R1.8 billion (US$185 million) in foreign debt funding
from the Overseas Private Investment Corp. This amounts to
75% of the R2.4 billion project cost for the Boshof Solar Park
Project, located in South Africas Free State province near
Kimberley.
Electricity generated by Boshof, with an installed capacity
of 60 MW alternating current, will feed into the South Afri-
can grid, under the terms of a 20-year power purchase and
implementation agreement signed with national power utility
Eskom and the Department of Energy. The plant is scheduled
to begin generating electricity in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Boshof is the frst project in South Africas Renewable En-
ergy Independent Power Producer Program to be supplied
by a local South African majority-owned photovoltaic mod-
ule manufacturer. SunEdison will maintain a 51% ownership
stake in the project, with South African companies holding
the remaining 49%.
The Boshof Solar Park Project is expected to create ap-
proximately 280 jobs during its construction and operational
phases, and through the use of local subcontractors, the proj-
ect is expected to support more than 1,000
jobs. Approximately 50% of the projects
total value will go to South African manu-
facturers supplying local components and
South Africa service providers, including
the SunEdison AP90 single-axis track-
ers that will be locally manufactured for
the project. Total procurement from eco-
nomic-empowered entities is estimated at
R685 million (US$67.9 million).
More than R200 million (US$19.7 mil-
lion) is set aside for projects that will trans-
form the community by improving access
to education and healthcare, and support-
ing enterprise development and other
projects to improve the quality of life for
residents throughout the Free State and
Northern Cape.
Construction has begun on two other
utility-scale projects developed by Sun-
Edison in Limpopo province, Soutpan
and Witkop, which together total 58 MW
contracted capacity. As with Boshof, these
projects rely on local subcontractors to
help improve the overall economy and cre-
ate employment opportunities.
Visit www.sunedison.com.
Greenlee Textron
Acquires HD Electric
Greenlee/A Textron Company has an-
nounced the acquisition of HD Electric
Co., a Waukegan, Illinois, U.S.-based de-
signer and manufacturer of power utility
products.
HD Electric specializes in test and mea-
surement, controls and system monitor-
ing, safety and specialty products for the
electric power industry. The company will
join the Greenlee family of brands along-
side Greenlee, Klauke, Greenlee Commu-
nications and Sherman + Reilly.
Visit www.greenlee.com.
For nearly a century Doble has been amassing an unprecedented amount of
knowledge and experience. Were sharing it with our partners and customers through
products, services and learning programs such as the Life of a Transformer
TM
Seminar.
From commissioning through failure analysis, Doble is with you every step of the way.
Get empowered with Doble.
Register for one of our 2014 Life of a Transformer
14 User Conference
POWER
Y UR
UTILITY
` Get a rsthand look at the newest disaster response tool,
Critical Access Technology, in a live aireld demonstration
` Learn about the latest imagery-derived solutions and how
your industry peers are using them, including high-resolution
corridor imagery, wide-area imagery and 3D solutions
` Discuss with other utility professionals how image solutions
can enhance enterprise operations
` Hear how utilities have used image solutions to solve
encroachment and change detection issues
` Network with infrastructure, government and commercial
professionals through a joint disaster-response panel
Cable rejuvenation offers signicant time
savings compared to cable replacement
and allows power to be restored quickly.
Photo courtesy of Novinium.
Siemens Service
Extends Lifespan
of Power Cables
With Califex, Siemens Smart Grid
Division is offering a new service to en-
ergy suppliers, utilities and industrial
plants (initially in Germany, Sweden
and Norway) that extends the lifespan
of insulated medium-voltage cables.
Siemens is implementing a cable-
rejuvenation process, developed by its
U.S. partner Novinium, that injects a re-
juvenation fuid into a cable under con-
stant pressure. This process increases
the dialectric strength of the cable and
returns its performance to a like-new
condition. Rejuvenated cables can then
be used for many more decades, avoid-
ing declining reliability issues and post-
poning investment in expensive cable-
replacement projects until much later.
Many medium-voltage cables that
were laid in the 1970s and 1980s are
reaching the end of their service life. To
prevent any outages in the medium-volt-
age grid, these older cables are usually
replaced before the end of their service
life. Siemens new cable-reconditioning
service offers an alternative that can be
substantially more cost-effective than re-
placing medium-voltage cables.
During the Califex process, the aging
cable is ftted with an adapter for inject-
ing the fuid. Drawn from reservoir-type
containers, the fuid is injected into the
empty space inside the cable wires until
it emerges from the other end. Then the
cable is re-energized immediately. With-
in about seven days, the silicon-based liq-
uid mixture diffuses into the cable insu-
lation, and the dielectric strength of the
cable increases to a like-new condition.
Visit www.siemens.com.
4
January 2014 | www.tdworld.com 18
TECHNOLOGYUpdates
8erving the utility industry since 1974.
PSE is driven to be your trusted advisor for all of your consulting
and engineering needs.
Our services include:
Communications, IT, Smart Grid Automation,
PIanning, and Design
Economics, Rates, and Business PIanning
EIectricaI Engineering, PIanning, and Design
Procurement, Contracts, and DepIoyment
&2168/7$176
)8//6(59, &(
Visit our website for more information on all of our services:
www.powersystem.org or call 866-825-8895
Greater Springeld Reliability Project
Improves Reliability in Southern New England
The Greater Springfeld Reliability Project (GSRP) a
major transmission upgrade to improve reliability in southern
New England (U.S.) is now complete. Connecticut Light
& Power and Western Massachusetts Electric Co. (WMECo)
fnished the project both on time and under budget, despite
challenging storms that included Superstorm Sandy and the
blizzard of 2013.
As electricity demand continues to grow, a strong, reliable
transmission system is essential to meeting our customers
energy needs and the regions economic health, said Laurie
Foley, vice president of Transmission Projects, Engineering &
Maintenance at Northeast Utilities, parent company of CL&P
and WMECo. We are very grateful for the cooperation and
patience of our customers and neighbors, as well as state and
local offcials, who worked closely with us during this impor-
tant reliability upgrade. With their support, we were able to
maintain an aggressive construction schedule while overcom-
ing severe weather events and challenging terrain.
This transmission upgrade improves the fow of power in
and around the greater Springfeld/north-central Connecti-
cut area while connecting customers to
less expensive, more effcient generation.
The project upgraded 39 miles (63 km)
of transmission lines on an existing right-
of-way between Ludlow, Massachusetts,
and Bloomfeld, Connecticut, with more
than 600 new structures, and 13 new or
rebuilt substations and switching stations.
The project cost was estimated at US$718
million, but CL&P and WMECo came in
more than $40 million below that esti-
mate. In the frst year of service alone, this
project will add more than $13 million to
local municipal tax revenues in Connecti-
cut and western Massachusetts.
Although construction was carried out
during a period of historic storms, the pace
of line work was accelerated during favor-
able weather conditions, which helped
increase productivity and decrease costs.
Additional project costs were saved by con-
tracting early with highly skilled contrac-
tors and making carefully timed purchases
of commodities that included steel and
copper products. The project also brought
environmental benefts to the towns it
traversed with enhancements to existing
wetlands, protection of farmland and criti-
cal wildlife habitat. In addition, the com-
panies used helicopters to string the new
lines, which further reduced impacts to
sensitive areas along the right-of-way and
sped up the construction schedule.
GSRP is just one of the projects asso-
ciated with the New England East-West
Solution (NEEWS). Northeast Utilities is
preparing to break ground on another
NEEWS project, the Interstate Reliability
Project, in eastern Connecticut. Together,
these projects strengthen the reliability of
the power grid within the regional trans-
mission system by ensuring that national
and regional reliability standards are met.
Visit www.NEEWSprojects.com.
January 2014 | www.tdworld.com 20
ployees are an integral resource, which requires creativity and
innovation. The processes of the past generations are not as
successful today.
3. Consider characteristics. Utilities are challenged with fnd-
ing candidates with the physical strength to do line work as
well as the proper attitude and work ethic. Questions of an
applicants teamwork nature, their ability to use sound judg-
ment or make reasonable decisions are all traits instrumental
in the long-term success of an applicant. They must be able to
serve customers, and their personalities must be compatible
to perform as a safe and productive team member with a crew
who they may work with over the next 25 years.
4. Rules and regulations. Lastly as utilities have different
and diverse work management guidelines, the conference
promotes the network of discussions concerning hiring regu-
lations, working within union contract guidelines, and reten-
tion innovations.
Sharing Strategies
While workforce management has been a core topic of
discussion at TDMM conferences over the last few years, the
association also addresses such issues as safety, emergency re-
sponse and asset management.
Back in 1976, the association frst began allowing utilities
to share information about their operation and maintenance
methods and processes. Nearly 40 years later, the mission is
still the same: to provide a platform for the networking and
sharing of information for utility feld managers across North
America. The conference creates an opportunity for manag-
ers and supervisors to meet and network with their peers on
current issues.
As utility managers continue to wrangle with issues of re-
cruitment and retention, they will also continue to share strat-
egies and help train the next group of linemen who will keep
the lights on for many years to come.
George Patrick (george.patrick@santeecooper.com) is
the executive director of the Transmission & Distribution
Maintenance Management Association and serves as the
supervisor of transmission lines for Santee Cooper in Moncks
Corner, South Carolina.
Editors note: The 2014 TDMM conference will be Sept. 29
Oct. 3, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. It will be hosted by
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. For more
information, visit www.tdmm.com.
INDUSTRYReport
Training and Retaining Future Linemen
By George Patrick, Transmission & Distribution Maintenance Management Association
E
lectric utilities face the same challenge time and time
again. To counteract the wave of retirements, compa-
nies bring in a new crop of recruits, only to lose the
candidates within the frst few months of training.
To help companies recruit, train and retain competent and
qualifed candidates, the Transmission & Distribution Mainte-
nance Management Association (TDMM) is empowering util-
ity feld managers to share their best practices. Once a year,
utility leaders meet at a at a weeklong conference to swap in-
formation on innovative hiring techniques and the successes
and failures of recruiting. They also learn about the availabil-
ity of training and development programs as well as linemens
colleges that prepare individuals for entry-level positions.
Recruiting and Retaining Linemen
Because line work is physically demanding, only certain
individuals are cut out to do the job. To be a lineman, an in-
dividual must be able to withstand severe-weather conditions,
put in long work hours and be capable of performing hard
physical labor. At the TDMM conferences, utility managers
share their strategies for fnding these candidates, training
them and transforming apprentices into future leaders for the
electric utility industry. Here are some ways that utilities are
successfully recruiting and retaining the next generation of
line workers.
1. Put applicants to the test. Rather than investing valuable
time and resources into candidates who may not succeed in
line work, some utilities are pre-screening applicants and test-
ing their skills. For example, if a utility has 10 openings for new
apprentices but 100 applicants, it will bring all of them in for
written tests and task- oriented performance tests. The written
tests evaluate their reading and comprehension skills, while
the performance tests evaluate their physical traits and abili-
ties. Performance tests may include using an extendo hot stick,
using channel locks or side cutters, or putting on a set of hooks
and using 100% fall arrest to climb 5 ft to 10 ft up a wooden
pole. The utility also will also have an operator use a bucket
truck to determine if the applicant has a fear of heights.
2. Hire temporary workers. Another way utilities are solving
the workforce problem is by working with a temporary labor
agency and bringing applicants in to work on a six-month
temporary contract position. These individuals work along-
side the line crews so they can see frst-hand what the actual
work environment is like before fully committing to a career
as a lineman. For managers and supervisors responsible for
the maintenance and reliability of their electrical systems, em-
CELEBRATING OUR FIRST FIFTY
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The 2014 Conference is just around the
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Come join over 700 exhibiting companies
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22 January 2014 | www.tdworld.com
CHARACTERSwithCharacter
Building Blocks
Veronica Rivero Gorrin,
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
By James R. Dukart, Contributing Writer
A
s a child, Veronica Rivero Gorrin always loved playing
with Legos. Today, speaking from a settlement village
in South Africa, Rivero Gorrin is using that childhood
fascination with snap-together plastic building blocks to as-
semble a promising career as a builder of everything from an
electrical substation to a community.
Rivero Gorrin, born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela,
studies architectural engineering at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts. She currently serves as a
student ambassador in the schools National Grid Engineer-
ing Ambassador Program, sponsored by National Grid and
run by WPI. The Ambassador Programs stated goal is to have
students engage a variety of audiences in the excitement of
engineering. Her ambassador program nickname The
Passionate becomes rather evident as she talks about her
educational experiences, including internships among inner-
city kids in Worcester last summer and late last year in settle-
ment villages in South Africa.
We worked in the informal settlements just outside of
Cape Town, Rivero Gorrin begins, noting that she started in
the Stranfontein area in a settlement called 7deLann and then
moved to another named Flamingo Crescent. Many of the
people in these settlements live in shacks with roofs that leak
and encounter venomous snakes on a regular basis; it can be a
bad situation. We worked on both infrastructure and social de-
velopment. We didnt just go in and build things and leave. We
engaged with the community leaders to improve living condi-
tions in any way we could.
One of the things Rivero Gorrin did was to interview those
new to the settlement and create a local database to serve as
a repository of skills and experience for the new community
to use. Someone here is a builder, there a painter, she notes.
Then we might have someone who can be in charge of garden-
ing. We can turn around and say, here is someone who can help
in the schools, here is someone who can help build buildings.
Following her six-week South African ambassadorship,
Rivero Gorrin will return to WPI to fnish her architectural
engineering degree, with a focus on sustainable construction.
To scratch both her building and travel itches, she has done in-
ternships in the U.S. and Venezuela, is vice president of WPIs
Architectural Engineering Institute, secretary of WPIs Society
of Hispanic Engineers and has helped build houses for Habitat
for Humanity in Worcester over spring break. She also serves
as building chair for the WPI chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
There is a mechanical and structural side to our studies,
and I am on the structural side, Rivero Gorrin comments.
We look at lighting, acoustics, HVAC, fre protection, and the
civil and legal aspects of engineering. There are a lot of extra-
curricular activities, too. You dont always learn just inside the
class but outside of it, too.
Rivero Gorrin recalls an internship offered by Delta Air-
lines through the Society of Hispanic Engineers. They want-
ed an intern to help design the interior of an airplane, she
recalls. I never thought of that as an architectural challenge,
but when you think about it, a plane can be looked at as a mini
building that can fy.
For now, Rivero Gorrin is happy to jump into mini build-
ings that can fy as she continues her globetrotting ways, a
trait and habit she picked up as a child, accompanying her
parents throughout South America on the dog show circuit.
My family was involved in dog shows, Rivero Gorrin states.
My parents started out breeding boxers, and I brought pugs
and fox terriers into the family. Her father owns a company
that distributes products for Purina, a multinational pet food
company, and for a time, her mother was heavily involved in
the Federacin Canina de Venezuela. Her aunt in Venezuela
is a professional dog handler. The family would travel to about
10 or 12 dog shows per year, Rivero Gorrin recalls, not just in
Venezuela but throughout Brazil, Chile, Argentina and much
of the rest of Latin America. Thats what motivated me to
travel and eventually want to come to the U.S. for school, she
explains. Traveling so much when I was younger boosted my
confdence and made me really want to see the world.
As a student and international student ambassador, Rivero
Gorrin does not have a dog with her in Massachusetts, but
when home in Venezuela for holiday or summer breaks, has
three dogs she loves to play with.
Her short-term goals are to fnish her degree, continue to
be as involved in extracurricular activities as she can and land
an electrical engineering job, preferably in North America
or Europe. A longer-term goal is to earn a masters degree in
sustainable construction and return to Venezuela to practice
there, perhaps someday running her own consulting business.
I want to help people and help build things, she states.
Its not hard to picture that when Rivero Gorrin gets to that
point, shed be doing it with a dog or two at her feet, and per-
haps even a set of Legos on a nearby windowsill as commemo-
rative inspiration.
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63 www.tdworld.com | January 2014
Aegion/ Corrpro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 www.corrpro.com
*AFL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48k www.aglobal.com
Asplundh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC www.asplundh.com
*Asplundh Construction Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48C www.asplundh.com
Black & Veatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 www.bv.com
Borealis AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 www.borealisgroup.com
Burns & McDonnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC www.burnsmcd.com
Cheryong Electric Co. LTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 www.cheryongusa.com
Doble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 www.doble.com
G&W Electric Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 www.gwelec.com
GE Digital Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 www.gemoderizingthegrid.com
*General Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1a www.generalcable.com
Haefely Hipotronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 www.hipotronics.com
Hastings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 www.hfgpundergroundsafety.com
Hubbell Power Systems Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 www.hubbellpowersystems.com
Hubbell Power Systems Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 www.hubbellpowersystems.com
*Huskie Tools Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48i www.huskietools.com
IEEE PES T&D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 www.ieeet-pes.org
Krenz & Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52-53 www.krenzvent.com
*Mabey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48n www.mabey.com
Michels Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 www.michels.us
NLMCC/NECA-IBEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 www.nlmcc.org
Nordic Fiberglass Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 www.nordicberglass.com
NovaTech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 www.novatechweb.com
Pictometry / Eagleview Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 www.eagleview.com
Power Engineers Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 www.powereng.com
Power System Engineering Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 www.powersystem.org
Quanta Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 www.quantaservices.com
Rauckman Utlity Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 www.rauckmanutility.com
S&C Electric Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC www.sandc.com
Sabre Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 www.sabretubularstructures.com
Samsix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 www.samsix.com
Schweitzer Engineering Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 www.selinc.com
Seves Canada Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 www.sevespower.com
*Siemens AG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1b www.siemens.com
*TDW Vegetation Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48o www.tdworld.com
Thomas & Betts Corp./Meyer Steel Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 www.meyersteelstructures.com
*Townsend Tree Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48g www.townsendcorporation.com
Trayer Engineering Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 www.trayer.com
Underground Devices Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 www.udevices.com
*Watson Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48m www.watsonusa.com
Winola Industrial Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 www.winolaindustrial.com
January 2014 | www.tdworld.com 64
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Network System Risk Reduction
Target Your Investments
A measure of the likelihood of a network to experience cascading fail-
ures over time.
StraightTALK
C
on Edison and other utilities along the East Coast of the
United States have embarked on major investments to
protect our energy systems and, in turn, our customers,
from the next Sandy or other major storm. We are planning to
invest US$1 billion over the next four years on storm-hardening
projects, and we are working with New York state regulators on
that plan now.
The new equipment we install ranging from submersible
transformers, to higher substation walls, to smart switches on
bigger and stronger utility poles will help protect our systems
from food damage and shorten the duration of power outages
for our customers. These measures, among many we are tak-
ing, will have the added benefts of improving overall reliability
during major heat waves while making our delivery system even
stronger.
Con Edison operates a highly complex underground and
overhead electric delivery system, with multiple redundan-
cies, that serves more than 9 million New Yorkers. Keeping the
lights on 24/7 in a city that also happens to be a global center of
fnance, media, mass transit and commerce is no easy job.
Ordinarily, we spend about $2 billion each year on invest-
ments in our electric, gas and steam systems. These investments
lead to high reliability, providing customers with energy they
can count on to power their computers, smart phones and en-
tertainment systems not to mention air conditioning during
those hot and humid New York summers.
Gathering regulatory or political support for new infrastruc-
ture investments is never easy either, since new investments
often mean higher rates for customers. But it can be easier
to win that support when you can show that your investments
are smart, strategic and give our customers better service; or
in other words, making sure we provide the most value for our
customers hard-earned dollars.
Since 2000, Con Edison engineers have been working with
outside experts honing complex formulas and analytics that tell
us not only how much money we need to invest, but where spe-
cifcally to put that money. We have made use of a reliability
model to predict the likelihood of major network failures.
Using a simulation process, we are able to imitate real-life
conditions using probability statistics that show us where equip-
ment failures are most likely to occur. This simulation is a long-
range planning tool, giving us a window that looks at our system
over a 20-year period. The simulation accounts for age, condi-
tion, failure rate, exposure to the environment, the possibility
of cascading failures and other variables. In a one-hour period,
we can run up to 10,000 iterations of scenarios that can help
target our equipment investments.
We can point to real, tangible results from our analysis and
research. Major equipment failures in the past decade, in nearly
every category, have declined. As a result, our customers have
experienced fewer and less-prolonged power outages during
major heat waves. Our advancements with smart grid technol-
ogy, in both our underground and overhead delivery systems,
have helped contain the size of outages and helped curtail their
duration. And we have the data to back up our claims. The em-
bedded chart shows the annual rankings of Con Edisons elec-
tric network performance based upon the Network Reliability
Index model, where we quantify the relative risk or potential
for a network to experience a shutdown because of cascading
feeder failures.
Knowing in advance which power cable or feeder, joint,
splice or transformer is likely to fail and cause wider problems
gives our planners a huge advantage in spending our custom-
ers money wisely. We channel our reliability investments to
retire those components most likely to fail and replace them
with newer and more reliable equipment to avoid service
problems.
By John Miksad, Con Edison of New York
John Miksad is senior vice president of electric operations for
Con Edison of New York. His organization is responsible for the
safe and reliable delivery of electricity to 9 million residents of
New York City and Westchester County. He has been with the
company for 32 years.
WEBI NARS
E n g i n e e r i n g , A r c h i t e c t u r e , C o n s t r u c t i o n , E n v i r o n me n t a l a n d C o n s u l t i n g S o l u t i o n s
January: Sustainable Design
February: Communications for the Modern Grid
March: 3-D Design
May: IEC 61850
June: Transformers
July: High-Voltage Direct Current
September: Grounding
October: Engineer-Procure-Construct (EPC)
Advanced Substation Design
2014
For more information about our experience or the webinar series, go to www.burnsmcd.com/td.
Wed like to celebrate our 85th anniversary by
thanking two very important groups of people.
First, our customers whose continued condence in
our abilities to offer efcient and innovative
vegetation management has made us what we are
today. Second, our employees whose dedication
and commitment to safety, productivity and
responsiveness, day in and day out, truly make
Asplundh the undisputed leader.
ANYTIME. ANYWHERE.
!30,5.$(#/- s 1-800-248-TREE