RMEL Electric Energy Issue 3 2017

SPOTLIGHT ON CRITICAL ENERGY ISSUES ISSUE 3 / 2017 www.RMEL.org

POWER INNOVATORS: WORKFORCE STRATEGIES OF THE FUTURE

Electric Utilities: The Power Innovators

The Power of Crowd Based Challenges

Emerging Leaders are Powering the Electric Energy Future

2018 RMEL Events

2017 RMEL Foundation Scholarship Recipients

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CONTENTS

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Electric Utilities: The Power Innovators

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22 24

29

By Deborah Knudtzon, Sr. Project Coordinator, HDR, & Bryan Cook, Sr. Project Manager,

Plan Your Unique, Diverse and Trusted RMEL Community Experience

Emerging Moving Leaders are the Project Powering the Management Electric Energy Maturity Model Future Forward

The Power of Crowd Based Challenges: NASA’s Practical Toolkit for Open

By Steve Rader, Deputy Manager, NASA’s Center of Excellence

2018 Events Provide Comprehensive Best Practices & Solutions

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RMEL Foundation Awards a Record Number of Scholarships

HDR

for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI)

06 Executive Director's Message

42 2018 Calendar of Events

08 Board of Directors and

43 Foundation Infographic

Foundation Board of Directors

34 Top RMEL Member Training Needs

41

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RMEL Foundation Silent Auction

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

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RMEL Membership Listings

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Index to Advertisers

OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN ELECTRIC ENERGY MAGAZINE DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF RMEL OR HUNGRY EYE MEDIA.

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RMEL INFORMATION

Letter From the Executive Director

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NEW IDEAS, NEW PEOPLE, NEW talent and invention. Lessons learned, best practices, regulations and safety.

There’s a formula and a balance to making everything work together to provide safe, reliable and affordable power with operational ingenuity and workforce strategies that are evolving everyday to best serve electric utility customers.

Getting the culture to the right place, investing in the needs of customers and employees and examining the journey of how we get from here to there are critical to the electric energy future. The right people and right ideas will move this industry forward. Traditional relationships, new partnerships and technological revelations will determine what it looks like.

In this issue of Electric Energy, RMEL members are providing: Collective executive leader insights from RMEL’s Vital Issues Forum at the Fall Convention in September (pages 10-13) NASA’s take on crowdsourcing strategies to find the best ideas in creative new places (pages 14-21) Emerging leader workforce

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perceptions and trends (pages 22-27) A look at more than 40 RMEL Foundation Scholarship winners from 2017 (pages 36-41) 2018 RMEL events that will showcase the best of RMEL member knowledge and resources (pages 28-32) The inventive spirit of RMEL members is a great sign of what’s to come for our industry in 2018 and beyond. Thank you for engaging in the RMEL member community as we work together toward RMEL’s mission: MISSION: RMEL, through its diverse membership, educational events, and programs, facilitates the discovery of solutions and strategies for vital issues facing the electric utility industry.

I look forward to seeing you in 2018!

Sincerely,

Richard Putnicki Executive Director, RMEL

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RMEL INFORMATION

RMEL Board of Directors OFFICERS. PRESIDENT Tom Kent Nebraska Public Power District VP & COO PRESIDENT ELECT Scott Fry Mycoff, Fry & Prouse LLC Managing Director PAST PRESIDENT Jon Hansen Omaha Public Power District VP, Energy Production & Marketing VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE Paul Barham CPS Energy Sr. VP, of Engineering, Integrated Planning, Substation & Transmission VICE PRESIDENT, EDUCATION Joel Bladow Tri State Generation and Transmission Assn.

Sr. VP, Transmission VICE PRESIDENT, VITAL ISSUES Neal Walker Texas New Mexico Power President, TNMP VICE PRESIDENT, MEMBERSHIP Elaina Ball Austin Energy Deputy General Manager, COO VICE PRESIDENT, MEMBER SERVICES Kelly Harrison Westar Energy VP, Transmission

DIRECTORS.

OFFICERS.

DIRECTORS.

Doug Bennion PacifiCorp VP, Engineering Services & Asset Management

PRESIDENT Paul Compton Kiewit Sr. VP, Business Development

Tim Brossart Xcel Energy VP, Enterprise Transformation Office

VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE Barry Ingold Tri-State Generation and Transmission Assn.

Sr. VP, Generation

John Coggins SRP Sr. Director, Power Delivery Susan Gray UNS Energy Corporation VP, T&D Operations/ Engineering Diane Johnson Yampa Valley Electric Association, Inc. President & CEO Mike Kotara Zachry Group VP, Business Development, Power

CHAIR, FUNDRAISING Tom Haensel Burns & McDonnell Project Manager

Bruce Akin Westar Energy Sr. VP, Power Delivery Bob Gresham Zachry Group VP, Engineering Development Kelly Harrison Westar Energy VP, Transmission Gary Hellard Babcock & Wilcox Company Director, Sales & Business Development

CHAIR, MEMBER DEVELOPMENT Mike Jones SRP Director

John Johnson Black & Veatch Corp.

VP, Power Generation Services

CHAIR, SCHOLARSHIP Karin Hollohan Platte River Power Authority Chief Administrative Services Officer

Rick Putnicki RMEL Executive Director Hoss Tabrizi Power, Ulteig Engineers, Inc. Sr. Market Director

Anthony Montoya Western Area Power Administration COO Kevin Noblet Kansas City Power & Light VP, Delivery Andy Ramirez El Paso Electric Company VP, Power Generation Dan Schmidt Black & Veatch Corp.

Sr. VP, Power Generation Services Stuart Wevik Black Hills Corporation Group VP, Electric Utilities Ken Wilmot Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. VP, Power Production SECRETARY Rick Putnicki RMEL Executive Director

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Foundation Board of Directors

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

www.RMEL.org Published Winter 2017 PUBLISHED FOR: RMEL 6855 S. Havana St, Ste 430 Centennial, CO 80112 P: (303) 865-5544 F: (303) 865-5548 www.RMEL.org

Kathryn Hail EDITOR (303) 865-5544 kathrynhail@rmel.org Electric Energy is the official magazine of RMEL. Published three times a year, the publication discusses critical issues in the electric energy industry. Subscribe to Electric Energy by contacting RMEL. Editorial content and feedback can also be directed to RMEL. Advertising in the magazine supports RMEL education programs and activities. For advertising opportunities, please contact Susan Wist from HungryEye Media, LLC at (303) 378-1626.

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ELECTRIC UTILITIES:

THE POWER INNOVATORS

INTRODUCTION Introduction by Neal Walker, VP, Vital Issues, RMEL & President, Texas New Mexico Power

There’s nothing like hundreds of electric utilities from across the country joining forces in our country’s time of need. Just before we met for RMEL’s Fall Executive Leadership and Management Convention in September, the southern and southeast regions of our country unfortunately experienced historic hurricane damage.

What followed was the largest collaborative effort from the power workforce that we’ve ever seen. I personally witnessed this amazing effort, as many of my Texas New Mexico Power customers were greatly affected by Hurricane Harvey. It was really something…bucket trucks lined up as far as the eye could see ready to deploy and restore power to help Americans resume their way of life. The stunning display of camaraderie and partnership stayed with me as I traveled from Texas to Arizona for the Convention. Then the fantastic speakers sparked ideas with topics like crowdsourcing and electrification. As we began the 2017 Vital Issues Forum, there was a strong sense of optimism, teamwork and invention. I am happy to share with you this summary of our discussion, which touches on Talent, Customers, Resource Mix and the Grid. It’s exciting to see how new ideas have evolved even just over this past year. I am proud to be part of this industry, and I look forward to seeing what we’ll do together as The Power Innovators.

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RMEL MEMBER EXECUTIVES AGREE that electric utilities are now the power innovators. Incorporating ideas from Fall Convention presentations on topics like crowdsourcing, electrification and the Disney Institute Customer Experience, these industry leaders also touched on areas that are sparking ingenuity at their organizations.

THE 21ST CENTURY ELECTRIC UTILITY CULTURE: SAYING YES

Utilities are in varying stages of moving toward a culture change that is more conducive to the younger, emerging leader style of leadership.

There’s more feedback, more passion, more flexibility; and there’s less hierarchy and less division of labor. The incoming generation has more IT-driven expertise, and if there isn’t an IT expert or “data scientist” in the top executive team at most electric utilities, there probably will be soon. Companies are connecting employees and customers to electricity as the foundation for the American way of life. More and more utility employees believe in the brand of the power industry and the possibilities, ingenuity and excitement of electricity as it relates to their job. They’re thinking about customer touchpoints

and how they can ensure customers have a great experience with their electric utility. Customers are starting to understand more about their electricity bill and what it takes to keep the lights on – they’re event getting a personal look at the life, family and routine of a lineman, especially through social media.

Utilities are building the foundation for a new and innovative culture, and with that comes more ownership, trust and leeway for employees to use their own judgement. One Vital Issues participant mentioned a policy (with parameters, of course) that employees have to ask permission to say no to customers. Think about how that sets the stage when a customer calls in and says, “We’d like a microgrid. How much does it cost? When can we get it?” Utilities are breaking tradition and are positioning themselves as partners to listen to customer requests and business goals, and say, “here’s what we can do. It’s going to be expensive, here are the numbers. It’s going to take x amount of time.” Utilities are strategizing alongside the customer and staying in tune with what customers might want 5-10 years down the road. One participant said, “if we aren’t flexible and don’t give customers what they need – they’ll go find it somewhere else.”

SIGNATURE EVENTS HEADED TO COLORADO AND TEXAS IN 2018 For 114 years, RMEL has offered two signature annual events with unique programming for utility and service company participants.

These events move to different locations each year to ensure RMEL members in various locations can attend.

In 2018, the Fall Executive Leadership and Management Convention will be held in San Antonio, TX, and the Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference will be held in Keystone, CO. FALL EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT CONVENTION The RMEL Fall Executive Leadership and Management Convention started in October of 1903. Since that first meeting, the Fall Convention has grown and evolved into one of the industry’s leading events for senior management.

The 2018 Fall Executive Leadership and Management Convention will take place September 16-18, at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio, TX. SPRING MANAGEMENT, ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS CONFERENCE The Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference has been a tradition since RMEL’s early beginnings known for providing outstanding continuing education and networking opportunities.

The 2018 Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference is slated for May 20-22 at the Keystone Resort & Conference Center in Keystone, CO.

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Training for Nontechnical Electric Energy Employees

OPPORTUNITY: INNOVATION, DATA AND ELECTRIFICATION

The entire planning process of the power industry has shifted. Resource mix planning crosses over into distribution, data are being used to improve customer experience, utilities are focusing on capacity studies and finding the right algorithm to establish an appropriate rate structure. Everything is becoming more integrated, including other industries like telecommunications. The old question of “need,” in the integrated resource planning process is focused more now on customers and economics. “We’ve turned it around and said wait a minute, our pledge is to our customers. Our pledge is not to raise rates,” one participant commented.

When it comes to keeping up with changing politics, one participant shared how his utility did research, talked to their customers and put regulations aside for just a moment, asking what emissions level they could realistically set. This put the utility on a path moving forward without having to worry about regulatory uncertainty.

In the end, the targets they set aligned with the regulator targets.

And now electrification is becoming real. EPRI defines electrification as the application of novel, energy-efficient electric technologies as alternatives to fossil-fueled or non-energized

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processes. This means an integrated grid, lower emissions and of course load growth. It’s reminiscent of a time when electric utilities promoted refrigerators and washers and dryers or any appliance that used electricity. Now it’s about electric cars, solar glass tiles and manufacturing processes.

2018 AND BEYOND

The group specifically requested that RMEL events, content and publications in 2018 provide answers, solutions, best practices and networking opportunities in these areas: Data Analytics and Algorithms Resource Mix Strategies (including

at the distribution level) Workforce/Talent Microgrids Electrification Customer Experience/Touchpoints Crowd sourcing Rates Electric Vehicles Plant Cycling Joint/Integrated Planning Between Generation, Transmission and Distribution Renewable Integration And more True power innovation is here. When it comes to any challenge on the horizon, the collective mindset of the electric utility workforce is: We can do it. We will do it. How can we do it? It’s done.

The Introduction to the Electric Utility Workshop is coming up January 18, 2018, at the Denver Marriott South in Lone Tree, CO. This course is designed to acquaint nontechnical utility employees with the basics of their industry from the generation to the distribution of electricity.

A Comprehensive Look at the Power Industry

All non-technical utility employees wishing to acquire a basic understanding of how electricity is generated, transmitted and distributed are encouraged to attend. This course is ideal for executives, new hires, human resources and finance department employees and administrative personnels in this section.

Knowledgeable Instruction by Steve Sax

Steve Sax, President/CEO, Utility Management Partners LLC, brings extensive experience to his courses, having worked in the utility industry for over 30 years as an engineer and General Manager.

Mr. Sax has worked with industrial expansion, community development and energy conservation projects. He has also served as General Manager of Murfreesboro Tennessee Electric Department, a large municipal utility that generates, transmits and distributes power to its consumers.

NEBRASKA

Southeast Community What people say about the program . . .

College Energy Generation “LES appreciates the foresight at SCC that drove investing the time and resources to bring this program online. Having a local program that Nebraska utilities can help mold to fit their specific needs is a valuable Operations program resource that LES is proud to be a part of. The desire to source locallywA.A.S. degree in 18 months (102-104 quarter credit hours) wIn-person at SCC’s Milford, NE campus wGraduates trained to operate Combined Cycle, coal, nuclear, and other electrical and fluid fuel generating plants. wFocuses: Nuclear, Industrial Process Operations and Military. wControl Room Simulator only one of its kind at any college in the U.S. (see below) wNuclear Regulatory Commission scholarships of up to $3,000 over two-year period available. wTransfer agreements with Bismarck (N.D.) State College, Thomas Edison (N.J.) State College and Excelsior (N.Y.) College allow SCC graduates to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

Program graduates receive a high level of training in overall electric utility operations and are being sought by utility Operation Control Centers across the Midwest. A number of utilities are reporting great success in hiring these graduates as distribution operators. Utilities hiring SCC program graduates include MidAmerican Energy and ComEd. About SCC’s Control Room Simulator:

wReplicates control room of a power plant, including realistic time delays and equipment responses to prepare our students for real-life experiences. wCan simulate virtually any abnormal or emergency condition that can occur at two types of power plants: Combined Cycle (jet engine) powered and coal-fired electric generating.

educated and skilled operations staff for our generation facilities has been met by SCC.” Brian McReynolds Generation Operations, Lincoln Electric System “SCC’s Energy Generation Operations program continues to provide Omaha Public Power District with a trained pool of talent to draw from for our fossil generation fleet. Twenty percent of our Operations staff at the Nebraska City Station has graduated from this program.”

Ryan Gerdts Operations Superintendent OPPD’s Nebraska City Coal Plant “The Energy Generation Operations program at SCC changed my life tremendously. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for instructors John Pierce, Doug Burks and David Madcharo. They have many years of experience, are dedicated and very knowledgeable. The best thing about the degree is having multiple employment options after graduation. With the advancement of energy and technology, there will always be a demand in this field. SCC Milford is a small, friendly community that cares about students and the wellbeing of everyone. To any new student attending the College, get to know the instructors, advisors, administrators, and students and be involved as much as you can.”

Renee Peters, June 2014 Graduate Distribution System Dispatch Operator MidAmerican Energy, Des Moines, Iowa Member, Program Advisory Board

www.southeast.edu/energygenerationoperations - 402-761-8394

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The Power of the Crowd

NASA’s Practical Open Innovation Tools

By Steve Rader, Deputy Manager, NASA's Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation CoECI

I

IT IS NO SECRET THAT THE WORLD IS CHANGING. Global connectivity has given rise to a new type of industry that is connecting people with various passions, skills, expertise, and creativity to people and companies that need those resources. These new “open innovation” or “crowdsourcing” platforms are attracting millions of people around various passions like technical problem solving, software development, data science and machine learning, mechanical design, and even film making. These crowds have proved to be extremely effective at solving hard “unsolved” technical problems from industry, developing high quality, innovative designs and products, and developing high performance algorithms.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, companies have been learning to use these resources to great effect. Organizations like General Electric, Procter & Gamble, General Motors, NASA, and many others are changing the way they do R&D and even design and production. These companies curate their communities, incentivizing them to use their skills, expertise, or passion towards some product offering. They offer community members the chance to learn, connect with each other, and make money, all at the convenience of the individual user.

Bill Joy famously said that “No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” For the NASA workforce, that is a hard message to hear. However, even though NASA has lots of brilliant people within NASA’s 60,000 workforce, within the remaining global population of 7+ billion people, there are many other brilliant people.

Imagine the possibilities if an organization is able to access those brilliant people solve problems or work on projects.

The graph below conceptually demonstrates the real opportunity of crowd-sourcing.

Potential Value in the Crowd

FIGURE 1: Notional Capability or Expertise Distribution within the Population

This opportunity to access expertise or skills that are as good or better than your in house capabilities is possible through contests or challenges. Crowdsourcing platforms offer incentives to these curated communities to access the high value portion of the crowd since those are the individuals or teams

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that win the contests/challenges. These platforms also provide services and mechanisms to evaluate and filter submissions such that they can efficiently find the high value submissions.

FIGURE 2: The NTL Open Innovation Toolkit

NASA’S CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION (COECI) At NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI), we are chartered with working across NASA and with other Federal agencies across the US Government to help organizations learn about and leverage open innovations tools.

Since it began working with open innovation or crowd-based challenges, NASA has run over 270 different challenges across a number of disciplines and domains and has worked with over 17 different federal agencies using 15 different crowdsourcing communities (see graphic below). CoECI provides these challenges through its NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) which includes contracts with 12 crowdsourcing platforms/ vendors and has designed these contracts to be available to all of NASA as well as any other U.S. federal agency through an inter-agency agreement. CoECI also supports academic research on crowdsourcing with a number of universities including considerable work with the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH). NASA’s CoECI provides organizations with education, workshops, consulting, procurement/ contractual support, and assistance with challenge execution.

During the past 8 years, NASA has learned a great deal about the various types of challenges, crowd curation models, and approaches to infusing open innovation into an organization.

For CoECI, open innovation has proved successful for the following areas: Solving difficult problems, enterprise knowledge sharing, data science, software development, technology search, mechanical design, and creative/multi-media design.

SOLVING DIFFICULT PROBLEMS One of the most impactful uses of crowds is to solve hard technical problems. These challenges have a fairly high success rate and tap into diversity as a key ingredient for

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success. NASA has used a number of diverse/multi-discipline crowds including Innocentive, NineSigma, HeroX, Luminary Labs, and NASA’s employee crowd “NASA@work.”

These challenges included ideation, conceptual design, and detailed design/prototyping challenges. One academic study of Innocentive’s successful challenges found that 70% of challenge solvers were from a different discipline/domain than the challenge owner. This really points to a key reason that this method is so successful and valuable to industry.

Technical teams or even entire disciplines can be blind to ideas or solutions from adjacent or different domains. Diverse solver communities expose the problem to fresh perspectives that are unconstrained and sometimes bring techniques or technologies from other disciplines to bear on the problem. The larger and more diverse the crowd, the higher the chance of finding a truly innovative solution to the problem. One of our NASA challenges to increase our prediction horizon for solar flares demonstrated this well. The winning solution, which increased the prediction horizon by 4x (twice the goal) was submitted by a retired radio-frequency (RF) engineer. However, this engineer also had studied heliophysics years before in college and had applied RF signal processing techniques to the heliophysics problem of solar flare prediction. There are a number of compelling examples and case studies in this area along with lessons learned and techniques for maximizing the effectiveness of a problem solving or “innovation” challenges. CoEI has solved a number of difficult problems including finding an approach to security key exchanges in delay/disruption communication networks, measuring strain in kevlar/vectran materials for inflatable space habitats, and finding scientifically valuable use for Mars entry vehicle ballast.

ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE SHARING NASA CoECI curates its own crowd of NASA civil servant and contractor employees called “NASA@work.” This community consists of almost 18,000 employees which includes about half of all NASA civil servants and about a quarter of the NASA contractor workforce. NASA projects can post challenges on the platform at no cost to them and CoECI helps the project to formulate and run the challenge. CoECI also administers the incentive prize program for the winners of challenges. While some of these challenges fit into the “problem solving” category described above, many of the challenges on NASA@work leverage the human network of solvers to find existing work or knowledge within NASA. Given the technical silos within NASA’s 10+ centers around the country, NASA@work has been shown to be a very effective means to discover synergies or complimentary work that, when shared, benefit the agency and reduce redundant work. CoECI has run over 130 NASA@work challenges with an 80% success rate with some cases where the solutions have resulted in significant saving ($1M+ in some cases).

DATA SCIENCE In a time when “big data” and “machine learning” are transforming the world and creating a high demand for data

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scientists, crowd-based data science challenges are providing some very impressive results.

NASA has worked with the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) to run a number of these algorithm/data science challenges on data science specialized crowd platforms like TopCoder, Kaggle, as well as more diverse communities like Innocentive. These challenges include satellite dish sub-array optimization, asteroid discovery, satellite imagery machine learning, robotic vision, and toxicity analysis.

Algorithm challenges have demonstrated amazing results. One case study by Harvard showed a 120X performance increase in a genetic sequencing algorithm FIGURE 3: Harvard Business School Case Study on Improving the NIH Megablast Algorithm (see graphic below).

This challenge resulted in 89 different approaches demonstrated and the top 20+ submiscapability for over 20 projects with impressive results. As just sions all performed at 2-3 orders of magnitude better perone example, the Asteroid Data Hunter project improved our formance than the existing code. NASA has tapped into this capability to detect asteroids from telescope imagery by 15%.

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Share Generation, Transmission and Distribution Best Practices in March Power Supply Planning and Projects Conference and Roundtable

FIGURE 4: The Use of Atomized Contests to Access Focused Expertise for the Software Development Lifecycle

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT As with other organizations, NASA struggles to recruit and maintain software development skills as the demand for complex software systems increases and technology constantly shifts and changes. Several crowd communities have been successful in providing flexible access to software development skills through both contest and freelance models. To date, NASA has successfully used Topcoder, cOutsource, and Freelancer for various software projects. Topcoder uses a contest model where they use members of their 1.1 million member community to split projects into component phases and then use contests to perform those development phases. This approach is able to access particular experts within their community and has often times provided innovative user interfaces, feature, or architectures. This highly parallel development process also tends to speed up the development process while providing a complete set of documentation and security measures. The other freelance based models are proving to be cost effective mechanisms to get small software projects quickly for very low cost.

CoECI has developed a number of software applications using these methods including the ISS Food Intake Tracker (FIT) iPad application used by the astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to track their

nutrition intake. Additionally, these methods have been used to develop Disruption/Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) protocols and management tools, image processing software for lunar imagery, and an astronaut smartwatch app.

TECHNOLOGY SEARCH Technology development has become very difficult to track as a vast array of disciplines worldwide are rapidly developing technologies across a range of areas including nano-technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, genomics, and others. Traditional methods like technical journals or even internet searches rarely provide a full landscape view of a given technology. NASA’s CoECI uses its contract with Yet2 to access a large world-wide community network to find a given technology across academia, industry, and government. This service acts as a matchmaking service between our scientists and engineers that have a technology need and those around the world that may have a technology or solution that would meet that need.

CoECI has done almost 20 of these technology searches using this contract with very strong results including finding technologies to measure intracranial pressure non-invasively, provide radiation tolerant graphics processing, processing imagery obscured with smoke or rain, and others.

Evolving RTO markets, renewables, distributed resources, and calls for increased grid resiliency present power supply planners with significant challenges to ensure flexibility and reliability while remaining cost competitive.

This conference will explore current trends, relevant projects and market perspectives to gain insight to this changing industry.

The 2018 Power Supply Planning and Projects Conference will be March 7-8, 2018, in Lone Tree, CO.

Transmission Planning and Operations Conference This conference addresses subjects related to planning, permitting, design, construction, technologies, renewable integration and substations. It will also cover regulatory and policy issues. In 2018, this event will take place March 14-15 at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows in Lone Tree, CO.

Distribution Overhead and Underground Operations and Maintenance Conference Join us March 21-22 in Lone Tree, CO to discusses both overhead and underground distribution systems and new technologies.

The electric utility industry is a rapidly changing industry both on the technology side and from a policy standpoint. To meet this need, the conference will drill down into the key aspects of distribution planning, regulation and environmental policy.

Register for 2018 RMEL Events at www.RMEL.org.

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SUPER POWER IS INVISIBILITY.

At Black & Veatch, we help design, build and implement the electric generation, transmission and distribution systems that enable you to provide reliable and sustainable energy services for your customers.

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Visit bv.com/power to learn more.

FIGURE 5: A Sample of the 492 CAD Designs Submitted for the ISS Handrail Clamp Contest

MECHANICAL DESIGN CoECI has run several mechanical design challenges using platforms like GrabCAD, a community of 2.5M mechanical engineers and designers, and Freelancer, a community of 25M+ freelance workers. These contests have shown that the crowd is very capable of providing innovative and high quality mechanical designs and their associated CAD models. These contests have shown that NASA can get a large number of innovative designs for as little as $3000 and that this can provide an improved method to access optimal or high performing designs. The graphic shown is a sample of the 492 CAD design submissions received as part of the ISS handrail clamp 3D printable design challenge on GrabCAD. Additionally, these challenges engage a portion of the public that is very interested in working on NASA designs in a real and meaningful way.

CREATIVE/MULTI-MEDIA DESIGN NASA has found that video and graphics can be very important to communicating a project’s purpose. CoECI has used a variety of platforms to produce a range of multimedia products like high end videos, short technical videos, and project graphics. Platforms like Freelancer are often used for inexpensive graphics and simple videos while Tongal (a community of 100,000 film-makers) is used for higher end video production. Graphics challenges can be done for less than $300 and have provided a good entry point for projects that are interested in using crowdsourcing, but want to better understand it before investing more funds or making that approach part of their technical project.

CLOSING THOUGHTS Even though these new crowdsourcing approaches or tools have been demonstrated to be quite effective, they

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also pose a fundamental change to the way most organizations work. In particular, NASA’s technical/engineering organizations have very traditional approaches to working and it can be difficult to introduce new tools and methods into the workforce. CoECI is working across all levels of the NASA organizations on changing the culture to be able to leverage these new tools. As with any organizational change, this process is slow, but NASA is making good progress and reaching a point where this is considered an alternative procurement or acquisition method.

The world is changing and NASA is working to keep up with these changes and to leverage new approaches to advance our efforts to explore space.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve Rader currently serves as the deputy manager for NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) and is one of 20 Challenge Mentors for U.S. Government Services Administration’s (GSA) Prizes and Challenges government-wide community of practice.

Steve has worked with various projects and organizations to develop and/or execute over 60 different challenges and has provided consulting for NASA organizations and agencies such as DHS, NIST, and EPA. These challenges have all been executed on commercial curated communities such as NASA@work, InnoCentive, Topcoder, Yet2, NineSigma, Kaggle, Tongal, HeroX, The Common Pool, Luminary Labs, Applause, GrabCAD, and Freelancer. He speaks regularly about NASA’s work in crowd-based challenges both publically (like InnoCentive’s NASA Experiences Webinar or Crowdopolis XV-2015) and internally to the NASA workforce to promote the use of open innovation tools.

Mr. Rader has Mechanical Engineering degree from Rice University and has worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX for 25 years. He started his career as an environmental control and life support systems flight controller for Space Station Operations. Mr. Rader moved into flight software engineering where he developed delay tolerant communications software for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station as wells as ground and flight command & control systems for the X-38 emergency crew return vehicle. Mr. Rader led the development of NASA’s Constellation Program’s interoperable Command, Control, Communications & Information (C3I) architecture.

After the Constellation program, Mr. Rader supported the Mars design reference mission definition and a number of analog missions studying space mission operations and design. Mr. Rader began studying crowdsourcing communities in 2011 and joined the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation as the deputy manager in 2013.

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“People Do Projects”

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EMERGING LEADERS

ARE POWERING THE ELECTRIC ENERGY FUTURE

O

24

rganizational and electric energy industry success begins with important decisions made by individuals every minute of every day. Many of these individuals have been in the industry for a relatively short time, but are already making great strides at their companies. RMEL’s Emerging Leader

Award recipients are recognized for their outstanding and inventive ability to help their organizations thrive in this exciting but uncertain time for the electric energy industry.

We asked four past recipients to examine what brought them to the industry and provide some advice for continuing to draw new talent to this industry, along with strategies to develop high potential employees.

TRAVIS ANDERSON

MARY ANN ZEHR

TYSON ARCHIE

HOSS TABRIZI

Travis Anderson was named the Maintenance Engineering Manager at the Western Area Power Administration (Western) Rocky Mountain Region in May 2014. In this role, Anderson leads a group of 20 engineers and specialists in providing technical support to the Rocky Mountain Region Maintenance Department. Areas of technical support include system protection, communications, asset management, and regulatory compliance.

Meeting compliance with Critical Infrastructure Protection Version 5 has been one of Anderson’s primary focal points in this position.

Previously, Anderson held positions as a Construction Project Manager in the Rocky Mountain Region and as an Electrical Engineer in Western’s Desert Southwest Office. A native of Casper, WY, Anderson graduated from the University of Wyoming in 2005 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and in 2007 with an M.S. in Electrical Engineering.

Mary Ann Zehr has over twelve years of experience in the electric utility industry, which includes experience in transmission -system operations, compliance, rates and policy and currently holds the position of Sr. Mgr. Transmission Contracts, Rates, and Policy for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. Mary Ann’ s educational background includes a Master’s of Science Degree in Global Energy Management from the University of Colorado and a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Management from Regis University. Prior to joining Tri-State, Mary Ann graduated from the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power Program and served as a nuclear power plant operator onboard the U.S.S. Carl Vinson (CVN-70)

After graduating from Bismarck State College with an Associate’s Degree in Power Plant Technology, Tyson Archie started in the electric industry working as a Stationary Engineer with Johnson Controls Inc. After a few short years, Tyson began his career with Platte River Power Authority as a Plant Operator at their Rawhide Energy Station. He quickly grasped the intricacies of plant operations and was promoted to the role of Control Room Operator while simultaneously earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Energy Management from Bismarck State College. With a desire to diversify his knowledge in the energy industry, he moved into the role of Compliance Specialist at Platte River where he oversaw their NERC compliance. He enjoys working with his peers throughout the industry as they overcome the challenges of NERC compliance.

As Chief Engineering and Technical Officer at Ulteig, a leading provider of design engineering, program management and technical and field services, Hoss is responsible for delivering highquality engineering solutions to the fiirm's clients. Prior to his current role, he served as Ulteig's Senior Market Director - Power and as Technical Director - Substation. He also previously served as Ulteig’s Technical Director – substation. Hoss is a past recipient of the Rocky Mountain Electrical League’s (RMEL) Emerging Leader award and Ulteig’s “Big Mo” award, which is given in honor of a highly dedicated former employee to the Ulteig team member who has provided the greatest overall contribution to the company during the year. Hoss holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Engineering (Electrical specialty), both from Colorado School of Mines, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in multiple states.

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

did you choose to work Q: Why in the power industry?

Travis: I greatly appreciate the criticality of WAPA’s mission. Power utilities impact public safety, recreation and the entire economy. It’s important to me to be part of an industry that allows me to make a positive contribution to a mission that I feel strongly about. I also enjoy trying to solve all of the challenges and opportunities we face.

utility industry is very high-tech, with our grid commonly recognized as one of modern man’s greatest inventions.

impact has this Q: What industry had on your career path?

Mary Ann:

I started my career life working in a power plant in the Navy.

Working in that environment I became curious about power generation in general beyond the ship environment -where does the power go, how does it get there, and what are the purposes it is used for? In a sense tying it back to how as a producer of energy, I was contributing to the larger picture. I think that understanding the nexus of where and how you fit in to the larger picture is of critical importance.

It creates a sense of purpose, an understanding of how others depend on you, and where you have the ability to drive change when necessary.

The energy industry has always intrigued me. While many may complain that electric utilities are not dynamic enough, they obviously aren’t actively involved in the day to day business of what we do. I find our industry consistently being faced with new challenges that require us to think outside the box. That is one of my favorite things about working for a utility and in particular, Tri-State G&T. New technologies, federal and state policies, and varying business drivers keep us very busy. Most electric utilities do respond to these, but in a controlled fashion vs. being on the bleeding edge of change. This is important for our customers and for employees as it ensures we endeavor to manage risk appropriately and focus on our core mission-responsibly providing affordable, reliable power.

Tyson:

Travis: The power utility business has

Mary Ann:

I grew up in a rural area that was served by a local cooperative. Jobs at that company always seemed to be stable, high-paying and provided excellent benefits. I had several friends whose parents worked at one of the local power plants, so i was able to gain an understanding of the industry from an early age.

Hoss: I think the electric utility industry sort of found me – and I consider myself very fortunate that it did. I first crossed paths with engineering managers for a local utility at a career fair back when I was just a freshman in college. Quite honestly, I remember thinking that there might be more glamour in the “high-tech” industry.

As my electric power systems coursework at Colorado School of Mines, my practical experience through the internship, and my academic and professional networks all came together, it all started to click, and I developed a strong interest and passion for the industry. As it turns out, the electric

allowed me to advance more quickly than I would have anticipated. Our industry is at a unique point in time.

The rapidly approaching retirement of many extremely knowledgeable and experienced workers presents a whole host of challenges. It also provides an opportunity for individuals to advance into positions that might have taken them much longer to reach a decade ago.

Hoss:

Early exposure to the electric utility industry led me to a career in consulting engineering. I started out in a rotational engineering program, getting exposure to substation, transmission, distribution, and power generation engineering, and I believe that broad foundation helped me in my professional consulting engineering career, which has been nothing but diverse assignments and exciting challenges. While attrition of senior talent in the industry is a significant challenge, I believe that it also spells

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opportunity. By 2023 in the electric utility industry, an estimated 50% of the skilled workforce may need to be replaced due to retirement or attrition.

So, there are plenty of opportunities for those of us active in the industry to step up in the coming years.

Tyson: The industry has been great for me from a developmental standpoint.

I have had the opportunity to work in multiple areas within generation and transmission. This has allowed me to gain a strong understanding of what drives our industry. While we are in a period of rapid change and relative uncertainty, I feel the future is still positive for the utility industry. The industry provides essential services that our customers can’t live without. If we continue to adapt and evolve we should maintain a positive outlook. I also see an abundance of opportunity for growth and development as a large percentage of the workforce will be retiring soon.

Mary Ann:

development Q: What opportunities are available

Over the last few years, Tri-State has stood up two programs specifically geared at leadership development- Emerging Leaders for future potential leaders; and Leadership Development for new managers. They also provide staff access to executive insights by providing Leaders as Teachers lunch meetings, where staff brings in their lunch and listens to executive staff describe what they do, the challenges they face, and the methods they use to overcome those challenges.

Hoss: I’m very fortunate to work for an

has your organizaQ: What tion done well to help you

at your company?

employee-owned company in Ulteig that takes development seriously. We subscribe to the “70/20/10%” philosophy, which relies on approximately 70% of development taking place on-thejob, 20% through coaching and mentoring, and the remaining 10% through formal learning/training opportunities.

My company supports formal mentoring relationships and we make use of Career Development Plans as a coaching/development tool. We encourage our employees to craft these plans in conjunction with their managers.

Tyson:

Currently, most opportunities are provided by external resources. It’s worth noting that after attending the RMEL Developing Leaders workshop, a small group of employees at my company have created a Leadership Discussion group to help brainstorm and promote developmental opportunities within our entity.

Travis:

WAPA has several internal and external leadership development

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programs targeted toward all levels of our organization. Two specific programs I’ll highlight are the Executive Leadership Development Program and the Craft Leadership Development Program. The ELDP is an 18-month program aimed at developing WAPA’s leaders to drive mission results, evoke change, inspire and lead a diverse workforce throughout WAPA. The CLDP is a 24-month program that provides journeyman craft employees the opportunity to strengthen their leadership skills and competencies.

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

develop that you’d recommend to other organizations?

Mary Ann:

They gave me a chance!

They let me swim in the pool and develop my own practices to keep from drowning. To be clear though, they gave me the tools to work with. I would also note that my experience at TriState has been one of not only management, but staff, co-workers, and peers teaching each other. When I joined TriState in System Operations, it was a few of the well-seasoned dispatchers that really gave me my first “chance.” They believed in me. They made me work for it, which was critical and for which I am very grateful, but they believed in me and in turn spent some time developing me. Over my career I have had a few of these interactions. They were CRITICAL in getting me to where I am today. As a result I have developed a deep desire to give back to others in the same way. Knowledge and experience transfer is imperative to others as well as our own success.

Travis:

WAPA has been very supportive of people being involved in projects and initiatives that inspire individual employees. I think it’s important for organizations to realize the importance of participating in activities like technical committees, peer reviews, and groups like RMEL. Overall these activities contribute to greater organizational decision making and employee satisfaction.

Hoss: Ulteig has supported my development through numerous on-thejob experiences to drive breadth and depth – including cross-functional and rotational assignments. The company has also facilitated multiple mentoring relationships, along with investing in formal leadership development opportunities. While there are a number of different leadership/management development avenues out there, I’ve found the most value in those that provide introspective experiences. I think of experiences that help one understand and fully leverage strengths, while also identifying opportunities, which in turn, inform action and development plans. Programs that integrate feedback – whether objective (through independent assessments) or more subjective (through “360” assessments) – have also provided a great deal of value.

can management Q: What do to encourage more

people to engage in leadership positions?

Tyson:

I feel it is important for leadership to support developmental programs and outwardly encourage participation. If employees are aware of opportunities and feel management is vested in their development, it fosters a culture of employee engagement.

Travis: I think it’s important for leaders at all levels to speak positively about our roles and positions as leaders. Leadership gives us the opportunity to inspire others, drive change and remove roadblocks to help others thrive. Prospective leaders need to understand there’s much more to leadership than personnel management,

and we as leaders need to do our part to communicate that message.

do you do for your Q: What own development?

Hoss:

Mary Ann: Listen to what is going on

This channels a leadership quote from Ralph Nader, but I couldn't agree more that one of the primary roles of leadership is growing more leaders. Beyond that, leaders also have an obligation to ensure that team members across an organization are set up to be successful, with role clarity, tools, and resources to do their jobs and do them effectively, and in roles that lend themselves to team members’ strengths and interests. As an industry, we are obligated to find creative ways to challenge, recognize, and reward the brightest technical minds.

Mary Ann:

Expose them to both the ups and downs. When people feel a sense of involvement and purpose, it often lends itself to them wanting to get involved to assist in driving change.

around me. Ask questions that may be outside my scope of work, but that help me understand more about the company and the industry.

Tyson:

Currently, my company doesn’t have any formal developmental programs so I rely heavily on outside sources such as RMEL. I find there are a lot of opportunities for development available if you seek them out.

Hoss:

I continue to participate in Ulteig’s mentoring program both as a mentee as well as a mentor. The mentoring work is aligned carefully with my Career Development Plan. I also try to maintain “feedback channels”, and tap into those trusted sources periodically for perspective on what I’m doing well, and how I can improve.

The Emerging Leader Awards Program began in 2014 as an RMEL Board directed initiative to recognize high potential employees who are making significant impacts throughout the industry. Beyond the Award itself, recipients have had unique opportunities for strategy sessions with RMEL keynote speakers like NBA star Mark Eaton and NCAA football legend Tom Osborne. These individuals also participate in RMEL events and publications to continue the important discussion of what it’s going to take to lead the way for the power industry future.

The 2018 Emerging Leader Award Nomination deadline is 2/28/18. The nomination form is available now at www.RMEL.org.

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2018 EVENTS EVENTS FULL OF SOLUTIONS, BEST PRACTICES, CASE STUDIES AND COLLABORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES Plan Your Unique, Diverse and Trusted RMEL Community Experience

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ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

By hosting 30 events every year, RMEL has consistently offered valuable and practical educational programming for the diverse electric energy professionals who make up its membership. The value of RMEL is its membership.

The companies and people who are part of this association develop association resources, so content is by members for members.

RMEL events are easily identifiable by sections that include Generation, Transmission, Distribution, Safety and Management. Each section features core events that repeat every year at the same time, so everyone can plan ahead. Event content is designed based on current, critical topics. Section elective events are created each year based on industry need. More information on each section along with preliminary details about 2018 events are listed below.

The Safety Section is a community of industry professionals dedicated to sharing, networking and solutions of all issues related to workplace safety at production, transmission and distribution, and management facilities in the utility industry.

CORE EVENT

Safety and Technical Training Conference One of the most critical areas of focus for every utility is safety. Safety concerns impact every area of the business. This one-and-a-half-day conference will include broad safety and technical training initiatives and programs, and take that focus throughout the organization to include discussions about personal efforts to stay safe. In 2018, the event will take place April 18-19 at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows in Lone Tree, CO. CORE EVENT

Safety Roundtables — February, April, August and November Safety Roundtables are an opportunity to discuss corporate safety issues in the electric utility industry, issues for operations and craft safety, and other electric energy safety issues. Each participant can pose questions and share information. All attendees are encouraged to bring issues for discussion and materials for sharing. 2018 Safety Roundtables will take place February 23 at Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association in Westminster, CO; August 24, 2018 at Western Area Power Administration in Golden, CO; and November 2.

The Generation Section is a community of industry professionals dedicated to sharing, networking and solutions of all issues related to energy production and supply in the utility industry, including planning and development. Topics covered include renewable generation.

CORE EVENT

Power Supply Planning and Projects Conference and Roundtable Evolving RTO markets, renewables, distributed resources, and calls for increased grid resiliency present power supply planners with significant challenges to ensure flexibility and reliability while remaining cost competitive. This conference will

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2018 RMEL EVENTS

explore current trends, relevant projects and market perspectives to gain insight to this changing industry. A roundtable discussion will provide an invaluable opportunity for open dialogue regarding challenges and best practices in meeting these challenges. The 2018 event is slated for March 7-8 in Lone Tree, CO. CORE EVENT

Plant Management Conference and Roundtable Topics at this event cover construction, operations, maintenance, emissions, water quality, plant personnel, fuels, planning, security, safety and technologies. Regulatory and policy issues, strategies and procedures that plant personnel can use to optimize operations and performance will also be covered. Attendees will learn about best practices to improve efficiencies, reduce costs and extend the life of their existing plants. The 2018 event will take place August 1-2.

The Transmission Section is a community of industry professionals dedicated to sharing, networking and solutions of all issues related to planning, engineering, operating and maintaining transmission facilities in the utility industry, including substations.

2018 ELECTIVE

Physical and Cyber Security Conference The Physical and Cyber Security Conference is set for January 30-31 at in Tempe, AZ. Presentations will focus on current industry-critical topics like NERC compliance audit - WECC vs. ERCOT, substation intrusion detection systems, CIP proofing substations, sparing strategies for transformers, active shooter training and CIP topics.

CORE EVENT

Transmission Planning and Operations Conference This conference addresses subjects related to planning, permitting, design, construction, technologies, renewable integration and substations. It will also cover regulatory and policy issues. In 2018, this event will take place March 14-15 at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows in Lone Tree, CO. CORE EVENT

Renewable Planning and Operations Conference The Renewable Planning and Operations Conference is focused on renewable issues related to generation and transmission renewable issues related to planning, integration, operations and new technologies. Presenters will discuss renewable technologies such as wind, solar, storage and biomass energy. The conference will also cover regulatory and policy issues.

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ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

The Distribution Section is a community of industry professionals dedicated to sharing, networking and solutions of all issues related to planning, engineering, operating and maintaining distribution facilities in the utility industry, including distributed generation.

of the flow from the substation down to the customer. The course will begin with a substation & distribution overview and move into system protection/fuse coordination, reclosers, regulators capacitors, automatic throw overs (ATOs), transformers, cable & wire, additional products, modeling software and much more.

CORE EVENT

Distribution Overhead and Underground Operations and Maintenance Conference This conference focuses on overhead and underground distribution systems while incorporating new technologies.

The electric utility industry is a rapidly changing industry both on the technology side and from a policy standpoint. To meet this need, the conference will drill down into the key aspects of distribution planning, regulation and environmental policy.

In 2018, the event will take place March 21-22 at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows in Lone Tree, CO. 2018 ELECTIVE

The Vital Issues Section is a community of industry professionals dedicated to sharing, networking and solving all issues related to the management of assets, planning, operations and workforce of the utility industry, including corporatewide critical issues and topics that affect different management levels. Discussion may be technical but in general maintains perspective from a higher management level. This section includes demand-side management, energy efficiency and sustainability. This section also incorporates miscellaneous industry areas and fringe topics not covered in other sections.

2018 ELECTIVE

Distribution Engineers Workshop

Leadership Developing Future Leaders Workshop

Distribution engineers and designers will have a unique opportunity to hear from a wide range of organizations during the Distribution Engineers Workshop October 1011 in Lone Tree, CO. Instructors will provide an overview

At the Leaders Developing Future Leaders Workshop on August 15-16, you’ll hear from today’s leaders on how they identify those with leadership potential, gain their commitment and ensure their development.

Distance degrees for working professionals – anywhere, anytime Specifically tailored for people who want to advance their careers while still working full time Professional Science Master’s (PSM) in Electric Power Engineering

Master of Engineering & Technology Management (ETM)

Provides core and elective technical education in a variety of power system topics including power electronics, smart grid, renewables, and power systems economics. Supplement with professional core areas in quantitative methods, management, and legal/finance and you have a power MBA.

Master of Engineering & Technology Management (ETM) Program prepares engineering and business professionals to make strategic and operational decisions and become leaders in their fields. Courses provide practicing engineers with the knowledge, tools, and skills to manage projects, operations, organizations, and people.

For more information: esic.wsu.edu/PSM

For more information: etm.wsu.edu

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2018 RMEL EVENTS

2018 ELECTIVE

Introduction to the Electric Utility Workshop The Introduction to the Electric Utility Workshop is set for January 18, 2018, at the Denver Marriott South in Lone Tree, CO. This course is designed to acquaint nontechnical utility employees with the basics of their industry, from the generation to the distribution of electricity. The workshop will focus on five areas: an overview to electricity and electrical power systems, information about conventional production methods, alternative technologies, transmission and distribution systems, and customer service. The course places emphasis on understanding various words, terms and phrases unique to the electric power industry.

Participants will gain a clear insight into how electricity works for the end-use customer.

CORE EVENT

Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference The Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference has been a tradition since RMEL’s early beginnings. Known for providing outstanding continuing education and networking opportunities, this conference is a must-attend event for engineering, operations and management personnel in the electric energy industry.

With 30 presentations, this conference covers issues in

generation, transmission, distribution, safety, customer service, human resources and other management topics.

The timely topics and breakout structure of the conference allow attendees to customize their education experience to focus on presentations and resources that address their needs. The 2018 Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference is set for May 20-22 at the Keystone Resort & Conference Center in Keystone, CO. CORE EVENT

Fall Executive Convention

Leadership

and

Management

The RMEL Fall Executive Leadership and Management Convention started in October 1903. Since that first meeting, the Fall Convention has grown and evolved into one of the industry’s leading events for senior management.

The Convention provides a relaxed forum for networking with your peers and colleagues to find and share solutions to the critical issues that keep you up at night. Utility executives offer their insight and thoughts on a variety of issues, trends, challenges and the direction they are leading their companies. Speakers are primarily CEOs, senior executives and other top leaders from inside the industry discussing the issues that matter most to you. The 2018 Fall Convention will take place September 16-18 at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio in San Antonio, TX.

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ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

Sturgeon Electric Company, Inc. | 303.286.8000 | sturgeonelectric.com MYR GROUP INC. AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES ARE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYERS. M/F/DISABLED/VETERAN ©2017 MYR GROUP INC.

Continue Discussing Issues in Your Section on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter RMEL’s trusted network is now accessible on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Join us by visiting www.RMEL.org and clicking the social network logos on the top right of the page.

CONNECTING

Join RMEL’s social networks to:

PEOPLE.

iscuss industry news and D trends with your peers.

Connect with RMEL members with similar interests.

Stay updated on the latest industry and RMEL news.

Find news and pictures from recent RMEL events.

Take an In-Depth Look at Section Benefits RMEL has services and content focused on utilities’ top priorities that participants can attend year after year.

The core events, electives, RMEL Course Catalog and roundtable events bring a fresh perspective to the RMEL educational experience in each section.

Roundtables

same time every year so you can plan ahead. At least one signature event has been established for each section, and section participants can quickly and easily identify with their events. Topics at core events evolve to stay relevant and ahead of electric energy industry trends.

Electives

EVENTS DEDICATED TO CRITICAL ISSUES OF THE DAY

Course Catalog

These forums allow you to meet in a setting that focuses on trust and peer-to-peer sharing. RMEL roundtables serve as a catalyst for future program development. By increasing your participation in discussion forums and enhancing roundtables, you can maximize the potential of the RMEL community and network with RMEL contacts throughout the year — whether you are at an RMEL event, your desk or in the field.

Bring an RMEL workshop to your location or region. Refer to the course catalog for your section to choose a course from a listing of successful RMEL events, which will be taught by an instructor RMEL has worked with in the past. These are not scheduled events and are specifically designed to custom-fit your needs and timetable.

RECURRING EVENTS LET YOU PLAN AHEAD

Core events in each section are scheduled for the

SINCE 1977.

TRANSMISSION LINES DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS SUBSTATIONS/SWITCHYARDS

From year to year, RMEL will offer new events in each section to cover the latest technologies, evolving trends and critical issues that aren’t covered at core events. These events will zero in on your top priorities at any given time and may not repeat from year to year. Electives can take the form of an RMEL conference, workshop or roundtable.

DISCUSS YOUR PRIORITIES AND DRIVE RMEL CONTENT

Core Events

POWER TO

BRING RMEL COURSES TO YOU

Use this Education Edition of Electric Energy magazine to reintroduce yourself to RMEL education, and learn more about RMEL by visiting www.RMEL.org.

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TRAINING NEEDS

RMEL MEMBER TRAINING NEEDS RMEL’s diverse membership includes electric utilities of all types and services and supplier companies. These are the collective responses from 2017 RMEL event attendees when asked about their biggest training needs. presentation at one of the RMEL A conferences (Renewables maybe) that addresses storage of energy for when the wind quits blowing and the sun stops shining dvanced design, large subs, large A commercial, line ext, dual feed, duel circuit

D istribution challenges

Consistency at the management level. (treating everyone the same)

D istribution Solar Integration

Craft specific training; Journeymen level training on annual basis, we just don’t have it!

D istribution standards

D istribution operations

D istribution staking design

D OL certifications

AMR/AMI training

Cross pollination, new manager training

sset Management – getting the A most out of our existing equipment

E ducating employees on helping to secure assets

Culture change Customer-side distributed energy resources (DER) and community solar gardens

E lectric system design training.

Substation, grounding distribution & sub transmission line design, VG design, metering

Cyber Security

E lectricity 101

Asset management/health

Data clean-up

E ndpoint security

sset Risk presentation. EcoA nomic benefits of Preventative Maintenance vs run to failure

Deep dive into CIP 14

E nergy Trading Risk Management, Enterprise Risk Management.

sset management for determinA ing life cycle of existing plants and how the data is integrated into IRP analysis.

Basics of Power industry BESS hange management and doing C things differently ollaboration! Engineering and C construction collaboration Communication skills Compliance training Compliance/regulatory

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onflict resolution & fielding C customer complaints

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

Design classes Development of Leaders ifference between transmission D & distribution systems, design challenges, etc.

E ngineering E qui-potential grounding, cable pulling best practices E rgonomics, stretching, exposure (silica)

Different types of Design training in both Distribution & Network Design.

E verything covered is very familiar & similar to how we design.

Distribution Automation and Modeling (ETAP)

F inancial for IOUs

E xposure to various practices

TRAINING NEEDS

F ocusing on Building/Developing New/Younger employees G o in-depth on transformers and UG terminations (at switches, transformers…)

“We need training on training inside of our company and passing on useful information from seasoned personnel to newcomers.”

G ood basics, AE specific

New engineer protection training

S mart-grid info

H aven’t been there long enough yet

New engineer training

S oftware training

New technology

H ow to respond to the market and future demands.

New technology in distribution.

S treet light design & standards for LEP?

H uman Performance

New technology or new solutions

S uccession strategies S upervisor training on safety

In my dept., basic/introduction to distribution & design, for new hires.

ew utility standards may be N good to include or any updates on code that are important

I ndustry dynamics and the potential positive outcomes

ptions for generation as coal O goes away (PNM for example)

I nput studies for wind & solar facilities

Organizational development

echnical content and interdisciT plinary training

Organizational Development, Communication

T echnical training on the integration of renewables

Pad mount installation & overhead

T echnology advancement education – latest developments in the industry

I nspections and maintenance training by substation and transmission journeymen I nvolvement in being willing to speak up L eadership L ine tensioning on uneven terrain; specification oad forecasting and planning, L more on batteries, smart grid renewables L ow impact physical/cyber security initiatives M anaging change; Human Performance M arket diversity, developing technologies M entoring M entoring plan’s for succession M entoring program M icrogrids

Planning Pole staking & line extensions ole weight analyzing for selfP supporting ower/Distribution engineering P includes protection and design rimarily internal only on business P processes due to high number of new staff rocurement/Contracts/Inventory P Management roject Management and entry P level engineer training specific to the industry

S upervisory training S ystem knowledge since we have such a large footprint

The Art of Mentoring and Coaching T ime management T ime management and process creation/automation/streamlining T raining on distribution SCADA controls, voltage control, renewable energy impacts T rain-the-trainer, developing PowerPoint presentation T ransmission Design U nderstanding and importance of security

Renewable energy

U nderstanding markets

Renewable energy integration at the distribution level, system protection, training new engineers - distribution

U nderstanding of client project objectives nderstanding roles within organiU zation while still facilitating input

M inimum and mandatory skill sets for engineers and designers

Safety Safety leadership

U nderstanding utilities knowledge of the market and their concerns

M ore continuous professional training/seminars

Safety, new technologies

V alue

SCADA

W e need better IT resources; also utilizing GIS assets

ore education on primary M metering and certain metering applications oving younger employees into M management; capturing experience before people retire

SCADA/EMS overview Security Security & Compliance Security awareness that is engaging & interesting and not dry

W here is the generation future taking us? What to do with people from retiring plants W ire tension

N ERC CIP

W W W. R M EL .O R G

35

Awards Record 42 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR THE 2017-2018 ACADEMIC YEAR, THE RMEL Foundation has awarded scholarships to 42 deserving students pursuing careers in the electric energy industry. The RMEL Foundation Scholarship Selection Committee received 300 well-qualified applications in 2017. With students applying from across the United States and pursuing many worthwhile

degrees and careers in the electric energy industry, it was very difficult for the committee to select the recipients out of such a high caliber pool of applicants.

At least two of this year’s scholarships recipients are interning at two RMEL member companies this summer. The RMEL Foundation is here to connect students to this industry.

NEW CRAFT SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

GRIFFIN BATES

Southeast Community College MAJOR: Energy Generation Operations

RETURNING CRAFT SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

DEVIN VANSPEREN

36

BO HOLTHUS

Western Nebraska Community College COMPLETING: Lineworker Program

JACOB NELSON

Southeast Community College STUDYING: Energy Generation Operations

FoRMEL SCHOLARSHIP

ZACH HEITKAMP

TY JONES

Southeast Community College

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Southeast Community College

MAJOR: Electrical and Electromechanical Technology

MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

MAJOR: Energy Generation Operations

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

2017-2018 BACCALAUREATE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

PRESTON BARRETT

NOAH BELL

TRENTON CHRAMOSTA

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Northern Arizona University

University of Nebraska, Kearney

MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Computer Science and Information Technology

ZACHARY CHURCHWELL

AMBER COOK

University of Wyoming

CMIS at Peru State College

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Business Management

JACOB ECKSTROM

CALVIN HAENSEL

University of Nebraska, Omaha

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Engineering

EMMA DAGERMAN

University of Nebraska, Lincoln MAJOR: Civil Engineering

ADAM HARRIS

Purdue University MAJOR: Engineering W W W. R M EL .O R G

37

2017-2018 BACCALAUREATE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

BENJAMIN JOHNSON

HANNAH LIVINGSTON

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

University of Colorado, Boulder

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Civil Engineering

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

ALEXANDER NELSON

DONALD OKOYE

Kansas State University

Texas A&M University

MAJOR: Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

PAUL QUINTANA

38

BLAKE LENNERS

University of Nebraska, Omaha

JULIA REDMOND

Colorado School of Mines

University of Colorado, Denver

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

THUAN PHAM

University of Houston MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MITCHELL ROBERTS

Engineering and Economics MAJOR: Washington Lee University

2017-2018 BACCALAUREATE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

2017-2018 BACCALAUREATE SCHOLARSHIP RETURNING RECIPIENTS:

MITCHELL KHOURI

MIKAELA SALZETTI

Colorado School of Mines MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

Arizona State University

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Chemical Engineering

JOSE GUERRERO

HOLLY TURMAN

Texas A&M University MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

TESSA MURDOCK

Colorado School of Mines

TRISTIN STEINER

New Mexico State University

University of Wisconsin, Madison

MAJOR: Engineering

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

2017 Steve Bridges RMEL Foundation Scholarship

CONNIE WENTWORTH Missouri University of Science & Technology

JACOB WOOD

CADE MCCOY

Arizona State University

Kansas State University

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

W W W. R M EL .O R G

39

2017-2018 BACCALAUREATE SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

2017 Black & Veatch Scholarship DEVIN KEEN

University of Missouri Science & Technology MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

2017 Platte River Power Authority Roy J. Rohla Memorial Scholarship BRETT JOHNSON

Colorado State University

JACKSON CUTSOR

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

2017 Kiewit Scholarship LAUREN RIPPY

Baylor University

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

2017 South Dakota School of Mines Alumni Scholarship

2017 South Dakota School of Mines Alumni Scholarship

TYLER KLEINSASSER

DEREK BAIN

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

MAJOR: Civil Engineering

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

2017 SRP Scholarship

2017 Ulteig Engineers Inc Scholarship

2017 Zachry Group Scholarship

MATTHEW KOSEDNAR

GARRETT BEMBENEK

MAJOR: Environmental Engineering

Arizona State University MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

40

2017 Burns & McDonnell Scholarship

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

Colorado School of Mines

MAJOR: Electrical Engineering

ADAM LONG

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities MAJOR: Mechanical Engineering

THANK YOU to Auction Item Donors and Bidders, Cash Donors and FoRMEL for Helping Us Raise $55,000 for Scholarships at the 2017 Fall Convention JOHN AHERNE Kiewit

BRUCE & TAMI AKIN Westar Energy

ANTHONY MONTOYA Western Area Power Administration

ARROWHEAD GOLF CLUB ELAINA BALL

THOMAS FALLON

Kansas City Power & Light

PAMELA FEUERSTEIN

Integrated Security Corporation

MATTHEW KAYE

RICHARD & BARBARA PENA

Retired- CPS Energy

JASON KELLY

RICK & SUSIE PUTNICKI

Intermountain Rural Electric Association

DAVID FULFORD

Asplundh Tree Expert Company

DIANE GIACOMOZZI

MasTec Power Corporation

PAUL BARHAM

GRAND HYATT SAN ANTONIO

KURT BATTEN

Lynn Elliott Co., K.C., Inc.

DAN BECKMANN

KEVIN NOBLET

Verve Industrial Protection

Austin Energy CPS Energy

RICK KAUN

Sea Glass Fine Art Photography

DON GRAY

Kansas City Board of Public Utilities

POWER Engineers, Inc.

MARK KELLY

RMEL

ANDY RAMIREZ

NASA

El Paso Electric Company

RODNEY KENAGY

SALT RIVER PROJECT

Graybar Electric

TOM KENT

Nebraska Public Power District

KEYSTONE RESORT & SPA

GAYE LYNN SCHAFFART Tensaska Marketing Ventures

KURT SCHNUBEL Osmose

Westwood Professional Services

GREAT SOUTHWESTERN CONSTRUCTION, INC.

MIKE KOTARA Zachry Group

Hubbell Power Systems

JERRY BENNETT

BOB AND EILEEN GRESHAM

LA POSADA DE SANTA FE

MIKE SOCHA

Irwin Industries, Inc.

BLACK & VEATCH CORP. BLACK HILLS CORPORATION JOEL BLADOW

Tri-State Generation & Transmission Assn.

GRETA BODENHAM

Exponential Engineering Company

TOM BOZEMAN AECOM

TIM BROSSART Xcel Energy

PAUL COMPTON Kiewit

SAMUEL DE LA ROSA UC Synergetic

DENVER MARRIOTT SOUTH AT PARK MEADOWS BILL ENGLAND

Emerson Process Management

Zachry Group

GRANT GROTHEN Burns & McDonnell

JON HANSEN Omaha Public Power District

KELLY AND TANJA HARRISON

BRIAN LARSON

Basin Electric Power Cooperative

DAVID LEBLANC

BRIAN SERATI

Volkert, Inc.

JACK STEVENSON

Altec Industries, Inc.

HOSSEIN TABRIZI

AECOM

Ulteig Engineers, Inc.

MIKE MAGA

JENNIFER TIBBETTS

DMC Power

MARK MANSFIELD

Westar Energy

UNS Energy Corporation

HDR, INC.

RICHARD AND HELEN MATZKE

Power Equipment Specialists, Inc.

JILL TIETJEN

Technically Speaking, Inc.

JEFF WADSWORTH

GARY HELLARD

Texas New Mexico Power

Babcock & Wilcox

The Empire District Electric Company

RICK HELLEBUYCK

JIM MITCHELL

Babcock Power, Inc.

Babcock & Wilcox

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems America

KARIN HOLLOHAN

TONY AND TRACY MONTOYA

WESTIN LA PALOMA RESORT & SPA

MIKE MORRIS

Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Platte River Power Authority

TIM HUGHES

Hughes Brothers, Inc.

Western Area Power Administration

HUNGRY EYE MEDIA

Zachry Group

BARRY AND DENISE INGOLD

MYCOFF, FRY & PROUSE LLC

KELLEN WALTERS

KEN WILMOT

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Assn.

W W W. R M EL .O R G

41

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

2018 Calendar of Events OCTOBER

4

Planning Session: 2019 Spring Conference Lone Tree, CO

AUGUST

1-2

Plant Management, Engineering Operations Conference

JANUARY

18

Introduction to the Electric Utility Workshop Lone Tree, CO

30-31

Physical and Cyber Security Conference Tempe, AZ

21-22

Distribution Operations and Maintenance Conference Lone Tree, CO

APRIL

18-19

Safety Conference Lone Tree, CO

FEBRUARY

MAY

23

20-22

Safety Roundtable Westminster, CO

MARCH

7-8

Spring Management, Engineering and Operations Conference Keystone, CO

27

Lone Tree, CO

15-16

Developing Future Leaders

24

Safety Roundtable Golden, CO

SEPTEMBER

16-18

Fall Executive Leadership and Management Convention San Antonio, TX

17-18

Renewable Planning and Operations Conference Lone Tree, CO

NOVEMBER

2

Safety Roundtable TDB

14-15

Littleton, CO

2018 RMEL Foundation Golf Tournament

Transmission Planning and Underground Operations and Maintenance Conference Lone Tree, CO

42

Distribution Engineers Workshop

JUNE

Power Supply Planning and Projects Conference Lone Tree, CO

10-11

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

CONTINUING EDUCATION CERTIFICATES Continuing education certificates awarding Professional Development Hours are provided to attendees at all RMEL education events. Check the event brochure for details on the number of hours offered at each event.

RMEL FOUNDATION

RMEL Foundation

YEAR

2000

$5,000

$500

2005

2010

$109,500

TOTAL SCHOLARSHIP MONEY AWARDED

$32,000

BY THE NUMBERS

Nearly 300 students applied for the RMEL Foundation Scholarship in 2017.

THE NAMED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM BEGAN IN 2007 WITH ONE SPONSORED SCHOLARSHIP, SPONSORED BY WÄRTSILÄ.

2017

*Live and silent auction donations

In 2017,

FALL CONVENTION FUNDRAISING NETTED

$55,000 IN 2017!

42 SCHOLARSHIPS were awarded.

FOR 2017, THERE WERE 9 NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS SPONSORS: Black & Veatch, Burns and McDonnell, Kiewit, Platte River River Power Authority, an anonymous South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Alumni, SRP, Ulteig, Zachry and Friends of RMEL (individuals who donated toward a named scholarship).

Over the past

17 YEARS

the Foundation has awarded

270 scholarships totaling

$667,000 ALL RMEL members can access a vetted list of applicants who gave their permission to be contacted about internship opportunities.

Request the list by emailing info@rmel.org.

W W W. R M EL .O R G

43

MEMBER LISTINGS

Member Listings 1

ABB, Inc.

48 City of Fountain

94 Genscape, Inc.

2

ADA Carbon Solutions, LLC

49 City of Gallup Electric Department

95 Golder Associates, Inc.

3 Advanced Electrical & Motor Controls, Inc.

50 City of Garden City

96 Grand Island Utilities

51

97 Grand Valley Rural Power Lines, Inc.

4 AECOM

52 City of Glenwood Springs

98 Great Southwestern Construction, Inc.

5

Alexander Publications

53 City of Imperial

99 GSW Integrated Services

6

Altec Industries, Inc.

54 City of Yuma

7

American Coal Council

55 Classic Industrial Services, Inc.

100 Gunnison County Electric Association, Inc.

8

American Public Power Association

56 Co-Mo Electric Cooperative

101 Hamilton Associates, Inc.

9 Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.

57 Collaborative Learning, Inc./ Collaboration Unlimited

102 Harris Group, Inc.

10 Arizona Public Service

58 Colorado Highlands Wind LLC

103 Hartigan Power Equipment Company

11

Arkansas River Power Authority

59 Colorado Rural Electric Association

104 HDR

12

Asplundh Tree Expert Co.

60 Colorado Springs Utilities

105 High Energy Inc. (HEI)

13

Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc.

61

106 Highline Electric Assn.

Colorado State University

14 Atwell, LLC

62 Commonwealth Associates, Inc.

107 Holy Cross Energy

15

Austin Energy

63 ComRent

108 Hubbell Power Systems

16

AZCO INC.

64 CPS Energy

109 Hughes Brothers, Inc.

17

Babcock & Wilcox Company

65 Culture Change Consultants

110 IBEW, Local Union 111

18 Babcock Power, Inc.

66 D.C. Langley Energy Consulting, LLC

111 IEC Rocky Mountain

19

67 Day & Zimmermann

112 IMCORP

20 Basin Electric Power Cooperative

68 Delta Montrose Electric Assn.

21

69 DIS-TRAN Packaged Substations, LLC

113 Incorporated County of Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities

Barton Malow Company Beckwith Electric

22 Beta Engineering

70 DMC Power Inc.

23 Black & Veatch Corp.

71

24 Black Hills Corporation

72 E3 Consulting

25 Black Hills Electric Cooperative

73 El Paso Electric Company

26 Bohannan Huston, Inc.

74 Electrical Consultants, Inc.

27 Boilermakers Local #101

75 ElectroTech, Inc.

28 Boone Electric Cooperative

76 Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions

29 Border States Electric

E & T Equipment, LLC

114 Independence Power & Light 115 Innova Global, Inc. 116 Integrated Security Corporation 117 Intercounty Electric Coop Association 118 Intermountain Rural Electric Assn.

119 ION Consulting 120 Irby

77 The Empire District Electric Company

121 Irwin Power Services

32 Brooks Manufacturing Company

78 Empire Electric Association, Inc.

123 Kansas City Board of Public Utilities

33 Burns & McDonnell

79 Energy & Resource Consulting Group, LLC

124 Kansas City Power & Light

80 Energy Education Council

126 Kiewit

81 Energy Providers Coalition for Education (EPCE)

127 Kit Carson Electric Cooperative

82 Energy Reps

129 Klute Inc. Steel Fabrication

83 ESCÂ engineering

130 L. Keeley Construction

84 Evans, Lipka and Associates, Inc.

131 La Junta Municipal Utilities

85 Evapco - BLCT Dry Cooling, Inc.

132 La Plata Electric Association, Inc.

41 Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District

86 Exponential Engineering Company

133 Lake Region Electric Coop Inc.

87 Fairbanks Morse Engine

134 Lamar Utilities Board

42 Chimney Rock Public Power District

88 Foothills Energy Services Inc.

135 Lampson International LLC

43 City Light & Power, Inc.

89 Fort Collins Utilities

136 Las Animas Municipal Light & Power

44 City of Alliance Electric Department

90 Fuel Tech, Inc.

137 Leidos

45 City of Aztec Electric Department

91

138 Lewis Associates, Inc.

46 City of Cody

92 Garkane Energy Cooperative Inc.

139 Lincoln Electric System

47 City of Farmington

93 GE Power

140 Llewellyn Consulting

30 Bowman Consulting Group 31

Brink Constructors, Inc.

34 Butler Public Power District 35 Carbon Power & Light, Inc. 36 Cargill Industrial Specialties 37 Casey Industrial, Inc. 38 CB&I 39 CDG Engineers, Inc. 40 Center Electric Light & Power System

44

City of Gillette

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

Gamber-Johnson LLC

122 James Industries, Inc.

125 KD Johnson, Inc.

128 Kleinfelder

141 Longmont Power & Communications

191 Quanta Services

242 United Power, Inc.

142 Loup River Public Power District

192 REC Associates

243 Universal Field Services, Inc.

143 Loveland Water & Power

193 Reliability Management Group (RMG)

144 Magna IV Engineering Inc.

194 Reliable Power Consultants, Inc.

145 Marsulex Environmental Technologies

195 Safety One Training International, Inc.

244 University of Idaho Utility Executive Course College of Business and Economics

146 MasTec Power Corp.

196 San Isabel Electric Association, Inc.

147 Merrick & Company

197 San Marcos Electric Utility

148 Midwest Energy, Inc.

198 San Miguel Power Assn.

149 Missouri River Energy Services

199 Sangre De Cristo Electric Assn.

150 Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas, Inc.

200 Sargent & Lundy

151 Morgan County Rural Electric Assn.

202 Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

152 Morgan Schaffer Inc.

203 Sellon Forensics Inc.

153 Mountain Parks Electric, Inc.

204 Siemens Energy Inc.

154 Mountain States Utility Sales

205 Sierra Electric Cooperative, Inc.

155 Mountain View Electric Association, Inc.

206 Solomon Associates

156 Mycoff, Fry & Prouse LLC

208 Southeast Colorado Power Assn.

157 NAES Corp.

158 Navopache Electric Cooperative, Inc. 159 Nebraska Public Power District 160 NEI Electric Power Engineering, Inc. 161 New Mexico State University 162 Nooter/Eriksen, Inc. 163 Norris Public Power District 164 Northeast Community College 165 Northwest Rural Public Power District 166 Novinium 167 Olsson Associates 168 Omaha Public Power District 169 Osmose Utilities Services, Inc. 170 PacifiCorp 171 Panhandle Rural Electric Membership Assn.

172 PAR Electrical Contractors, Inc. 173 Peterson Company 174 Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Inc. 175 Pipefitters Local Union #208 176 Platte River Power Authority 177 PNM Resources 178 Poudre Valley Rural Electric Assn.

179 Powder River Energy Corp.

180 Power Contracting, LLC 181 POWER Engineers, Inc. 182 Power Equipment Specialists, Inc. 183 Power Pole Inspections

201 Savage

207 South Central PPD 209 Southeast Community College 210 Southern Pioneer Electric Company 211 Southwest Energy Systems LLC 212 Southwest Generation 213 Southwest Public Power District 214 Southwire Company 215 Springfield Municipal Light & Power 216 SPX Transformer Solutions, Inc. 217 SRP 218 St. George Energy Services Department 219 Stanley Consultants, Inc. 220 Sturgeon Electric Co., Inc. 221 Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative 222 Sundt Construction 223 Sunflower Electric Power Corporation 224 Surveying And Mapping, LLC 225 Switchgear Solutions, Inc. 226 System One

245 UNS Energy Corporation 246 Utility Telecom Consulting Group, Inc. 247 Valmont Utility, Valmont Industries, Inc. 248 Vertiv - Electrical Reliability Services 249 Verve Industrial Protection 250 Victaulic 251 Volkert, Inc. 252 Wärtsilä North America, Inc. 253 West Peak Energy, LLC 254 Westar Energy 255 Western Area Power Administration 256 Western Line Constructors Chapter, Inc. NECA 257 Westmark Partners LLC 258 Westwood Professional Services 259 Wheat Belt Public Power District 260 Wheatland Electric Cooperative 261 Wheatland Rural Electric Assn.

262 White River Electric Assn., Inc. 263 Wichita State University 264 Wilson & Company, Engineers & Architects 265 WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff 266 WSU Energy Systems Innovation Center 267 Wyoming Municipal Power Agency 268 Xcel Energy 269 Y-W Electric Association, Inc. 270 Yampa Valley Electric Association, Inc. 271 Zachry Group TOTAL NUMBER OF MEMBERS: 271

227 T & R Electric Supply Co., Inc. 228 Technically Speaking, Inc. 229 Tenaska Marketing Ventures 230 TIC - The Industrial Company 231 Towill, Inc. 232 Trans American Power Products, Inc. 233 TRC Engineers, Inc. 234 Trees, Inc.

184 Power Product Services

235 Tri-State Generation and Transmission Assn.

185 PowerQuip Corporation

236 Trinidad Municipal Light & Power

186 PR Engineering

237 TurbinePROS

187 Preferred Sales Agency, Ltd

238 U.S. Water

188 Primary Energy

239 UC Synergetic

189 PSM (Power Systems Mfg., LLC)

240 Ulteig Engineers, Inc.

190 QuakeWrap, Inc.

241 Underground Consulting Solutions

W W W. R M EL .O R G

45

ADVERTISER’S INDEX

Black & Veatch Border States Electric

20

www.bv.com

(913) 458-2000

21

www.borderstates.com

(701) 293-5834

www.burnsmcd.com/RMEL17

(816) 333-9400

Burns McDonnell

Inside Front Cover

Casey Industrial

30

www.caseyind.com

(303) 460-1274

Great Southwestern Construction

33

www.gswc.us

(303) 688-5816

MasTec Power Corp

21

www.mastecpower.com

(888) 419-6432

Merrick & Company

32

www.merrick.com

(303) 751-0741

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems

5

www.mhpowersystems.com

(908) 605-280

Nebraska Public Power District

18

www.nppd.com

(402) 564-8561

Northeast Community College

25

www.northeast.edu

(402) 371-2020

Pike Enterprises, LLC

9

www.pike.comC12

Inside Back Cover

www.siemens.com

Siemens

(336) 789-2171 (303) 696-8446

Six Was Nine

7

www.powerforward2018.org

TDGENERAL@IEEE.ORG

Southeast Community College

13

www.southeast.edu

Stanley Consulting

3

www.stanleyconsultants.com

(800) 878-6806

Sturgeon Electric Co.

32

www.sturgeonelectric.com

(303) 286-8000

T & R Electric Supply Co, Inc.

27

www.t-r.com

(800) 843-7994

TIC - The Industrial Company

Back Cover

www.ticus.com

(303) 325-0300

University of Idaho

17

www.uiuec.org

(208)885-6265

Trees Inc.

46

www.treesinc.com

(866) 865-9617

Washington State University

31

www.esic.wsu.edu

(509) 335-6456

(402) 761-8394

Send Your Message to RMEL Utility Members Providing vegetation management services to the power and energy industries.

Line Clearance Storm and Emergency Response Right-of-way Management Herbicide Applications

Trees, Inc. 1-866-865-9617 info@treesinc.com

46

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017

RMEL Champions Program Reach more than 100 utilities through the RMEL Champions Program. This sponsorship program offers exclusive promotional opportunities that are not included in standard RMEL membership. Choose from four levels to customize your membership.

Become a Diamond Champion The Diamond level offers a custom elite sponsorship opportunity in addition to the benefits of the Platinum level.

Participation is limited.

Contact Ashleigh Iverson at ashleighiverson@rmel.org or (303) 865-5544 to sign up!

RMEL | 6855 S. Havana St, Ste 430 Centennial, CO 80112 | (303) 865-5544 www.RMEL.org

W W W. R M EL .O R G

47

POWERED BY PEOPLE. Founded in 1974, TIC – The Industrial Company is a direct-hire general contractor serving a wide range of heavy industrial markets throughout North America.

Through our network of local operating centers, access to vast resources and focus on self-performing work, we deliver safe and high-quality results on projects of virtually any size.

TICUS.COM A Kiewit Corporation Subsidiary 48

ELECTRIC ENERGY | WINTER 2017