The technology, application, and specifications for designing, building, and maintaining overhead and underground lines are constantly evolving. This biannual forum brings together electric utility professionals to discuss current standards, materials, and maintenance for distribution operations. Attendees will be given the opportunity to submit questions and receive feedback from their peers, and will leave with practical knowledge to reduce costs and improve efficiency and safety.
General Details
- Program Chair(s)
- Tyler Reinitz, Principal Engineer, T&D Standards, Snohomish County PUD
- Program Location
- Virtual Event
- No travel required. All agenda times are in Pacific time.Instructions to access the virtual event will be provided to the attendee before the program.
- Who Should Attend
- Standards engineers
- Design engineers
- Line technicians and engineers
- Reliability and quality testers
- T&D supervisors and suppliers
- Operations and maintenance managers
- Suppliers of distribution and substation products and services
- Registration Options
Member: $199 USD
Regular: $299 USDRegistration includes virtual access to all agenda items and digital program materials.
- General Cancellation Policy
- To best serve WEI members and program participants during the COVID-19 pandemic, WEI will be waiving its standard cancellation policy for this virtual program. Registrants can receive a full refund should they need to cancel their registration up to the day before the program begins.
- Participation Policy
- Western Energy Institute programs and events are open to energy companies (including gas production and electric generation, gas and electric transmission and gas and electric distribution utilities). Select programs and events are open to energy industry product and service suppliers. Programs and events are closed to all media representatives and to the general public. Recording is not permitted for any portion of the event.
- For more information contact Traci Pepper, Program Manager at (971) 303-1004.
Agenda
All session times are listed in Pacific time.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Happy Hour
The room will open early with optional time for participants to get familiar with the virtual platform, test their audio and webcam, or ask questions about the agenda before we begin.
Thursday, May 5, 2022
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Virtual Help Desk + Technology Check
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Welcome + Introductions
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Development of a Micro-Grid / Battery Technology
Speaker(s): Scott Gibson, Principal Engineer, Snohomish County PUD
Snohomish County PUD will discuss the journey and lessons learned during the building of its Arlington Microgrid. This Microgrid incorporates clean energy technology utilizing solar, battery, storage, and electric vehicles to provide energy integration and disaster recovery. The PUD will study the benefits of electric vehicle charging through the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology and analyze the output of vehicle batteries to add resiliency to the Microgrid and overall
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Connector Theory 101
Speaker(s): Patrick Malander, Product Manager, Hubbell, Seydou Diop, Product Engineer, Hubbell
Burndy/Hubbell will present on the basics and beyond of Connector Theory 101.
11:00 AM - 11:20 AM
Stretch break
11:20 AM - 1:00 PM
Undergorund/Overhead Preactices, Product, and Safety Roundtable
Submit your roundtable questions to be included in the Practices, Product + Safety Roundtable discussions. Your questions will be compiled by area of interest and presented at the roundtable sessions, which includes supporting information or documentation necessary. Questions can be emailed directly to Rick Stark at rstark@idahopower.com.
Friday, May 6, 2022
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Detection of Conductor Slap Faults on BC Hydro’s Distribution System
Speaker(s): Scott Mercer, Specialist Engineer in Distribution Standards, BC Hydro
BC Hydro’s Power Quality Group developed a simple and effective automated script that identifies suspicious recloser and station breaker operations – one of the phenomena it diagnoses is conductor slap. Each identified suspicious operation is investigated by Distribution Engineering. Since May, 2017 the script has recognized over 1100 suspicious operations, three quarters of which were confirmed to be one of numerous potential issues such as: protection curve mis-coordination, nuisance trip on inrush current, or conductor slap. This presentation will review the simple logic being used in the script and some techniques used for subsequent investigation.
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Leveraging Advanced Meters to Monitor Secondary System Loading
Speaker(s): Lorraine Drew, GIS Data Integrity Coordinator, FortisBC, Paulo Travassos, FortisBC
FortisBC will demonstrate a use case for leveraging Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) data to monitor loading on the secondary system. The presentation will outline the process of AMI data retrieval, computation, automation and department collaboration to achieve the goal of secondary load monitoring. Other than the main goal of secondary load monitoring, the link established between the AMI and Graphical Information System (GIS) data also provided other opportunities that add value to the utility such as: process automation, connectivity issue identification and rectification, system reliability, and system restoration.
10:00 AM - 10:20 AM
Stretch break
10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Wildlife Mitigation Practices
Panelist(s): Karen Perzanowski, Sr. Standards Engineer, Clark Public Utilities, Dane Gretchen, Distribution Engineer - Standards and Projects, FortisBC, Tyler Reinitz, Principal Engineer, T&D Standards, Snohomish County PUD, Rick Stark, Senior Engineer, Idaho Power Company, Natalie Turley, Senior Biologist, Idaho Power Company
Speaker(s): Gerald Presley, Professor, Oregon State University
Join us as different Utilities show their standards on dealing with wildlife and avian issues. We will also hear from Idaho Power's Biologist and what they are doing to safely resolve these issues. This will be a panel discussion so bring your questions and be a part of the solution.
11:20 AM - 12:45 PM
Underground/ Overhead Practices, Product, and Safety Roundtable
Submit your roundtable questions to be included in the Practices, Product + Safety Roundtable discussions. Your questions will be compiled by area of interest and presented at the roundtable sessions, which includes supporting information or documentation necessary. Questions can be emailed directly to Rick Stark at rstark@idahopower.com.
12:45 PM - 1:00 PM
Planning Future Topics
Make sure and stay to participate in the planning and suggestions of topics for the Fall 2022 Conference.