Project Management + Utilities (Sep 14-16)

We have a few tours that we are working on. There will be an E-Bike tour of Old Scottsdale and McCormick Ranch that will run 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM. We are also finalizing approvals for an industry facility tour that will likely also start in the late morning to avoid touring outside portions during the heat of the Phoenix afternoon. WEI will open registrations for the E-Bike tour soon. The details will be announced once they are finalized.

Join us in Scottsdale to catch-up with colleagues from across the continent and meet fellow Forum attendees.

Registration will be in the Paloma Foyer, along with coffee refils and light pastries. Hot breakfast will be provided at the Embassy Suites' Azul Clubhouse.

The conference chair welcomes the attendees to Scottsdale and the 2022 Project Management + Utilities Conference.

This presentation will provide an overview of recent energy and utility industry trends – with a particular focus around decarbonization and clean energy – along with the corresponding grid management, technology, and regulatory/policy drivers and implications.

Construction Track: Quality Assurance + Quality Control – Roundtable Discussion

PMO Leadership Track: What is Program Management?
Speaker: Jacob Reidt, Sr Manager Generation Project Delivery, Avista Corp.
How well understood is the role of project management in your organization? Do company leaders have adequate knowledge of project management to lead your project team to success? Do project team members have adequate understanding of project management to support your efforts? Is your organization following PMBOK best practices for identify the various project positions? Have project engineers been labeled as project managers with no formal training? If these questions resonate with you this track is for you!
Sponsored by Burns & McDonnell

Construction Track: Electric System Hardening: A Long-Term Wildfire Mitigation Strategy at SDG&E
Speaker: Willie Thomas, Electric System Hardening Program Manager, San Diego Gas & Electric
Since the destructive San Diego County wildfires in 2007, SDG&E has been on a journey to predict, prevent and combat wildfires within its service territory that include all of San Diego County and the southern half of Orange County.
Each year since 2007 SDG&E has focused on short, medium and long-term efforts that reduce the likelihood of another catastrophic wildfire. The longest and most ambitious is SDG&E’s Electric System Hardening (ESH) efforts that are transforming the integrity, resiliency and reliability of the electric grid, which includes replacement of wood poles with steel, replacement of old overhead conductor with new conductor, and the undergrounding of a significant portion of its 4kV and 12KV distribution network throughout it High Fire Threat District (HFTD). At the heart of the ESH effort is SDG&E’s Wildfire Next Generation Model (WiNGS) – a risk-based mitigation algorithm that helps determine the optimal hardening strategy.

IT + Analytics Track: Data: Governance + Privacy
Speaker: Jim VanDyke, Enterprise Data Steward, Snohomish County PUD
Data Governance is an integral part of an organization’s data maturity and security.  Come listen to how Snohomish County PUD is implementing its Data Governance program.

Each vendor will have a couple minutes to introduce their company and share any new products or services they would like to highlight.

IT + Analytics Track: Puget Sound Energy Data Enablement & Enrichment Program 
Speaker: Chaim Nel, Sr. IT Project Manager – IT Strategic Project Manager, Puget Sound Energy
Puget Sound Energy’s Data Enablement & Enrichment Program is an Enterprise program to improve our ability to manage and govern our data, establish a data-centric, data-driven culture, and enable the business to access, manipulate, and analyze data to deliver improved decision making, operational efficiencies, new insight, innovation, and opportunities. The session will discuss the governance of the program and how are we validating return of value on an ongoing basis for the program.

PMO Leadership Track: Fast Tracking Projects: Rigor without Rigidity
Speakers: David Avalos, PSEP Project & Execution Manager, Southern California Gas Company; Chris Ciaccio, Project Lead- Communications Design, Salt River Project
How do you fast track a project? During this session we will explore the idea of rigor without rigidity to meet customer driven or regulatory driven projects that are fast tracked. As utilities, we have a process to move our projects forward, but are often challenged to deliver a project on a quicker schedule to meet the needs of some of our key stakeholders. We will explore how some utilities are doing this successfully.
Sponsored by Burns & McDonnell

Construction Track: Project Showcase: Mitsubishi Power Green Hydrogen Project in Utah
Speaker: William Myers, Director of Hydrogen Projects, Mitsubishi Power Americas
Mitsubishi Power will present on the project management challenges and plan for their innovative Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project in Utah. This large utility-scale project will produce and store green hydrogen for multiple uses by industry and is the largest green hydrogen project in North America.

PMO Leadership Track: Data-backed Decision Making
Guts vs. data, which one should we rely on? And what happens when data presents a different perspective that what we are expecting? In this session, our speakers will share their experience on how to encourage organization to use data to inform their decisions. Some of the topics discussed will include how data is being collected and reported, improvement of data accessibility, and how data is presented to be useful. For any initiative to be truly effective, we need users to adopt and champion. We will discuss the often important, sometimes overlooked, aspect of organizational change management on how to increase adoption rate quickly.
Sponsored by Burns & McDonnell

Hot breakfast will be provided at the Embassy Suites' Azul Clubhouse. Coffee refills and light pastries will be provided in the Paloma Foyer.

IT + Analytics Track: Cyber Security
Speaker: Andru Miller, Senior Security Program Manager – Project Management Office, Avista
Our operational technology networks (SCADA) are becoming more of focus for cyber attacks and therefore require more protection. But they are difficult to update so effective change management can be very difficult in a such an important environment. This session will provide a basic understanding of the operational technology (SCADA) systems and address common issues with change management in a SCADA environment along with some strategies for working through those issues.

PMO Leadership Track: Our Resource Management Journey
Speakers: Krystal DeBruine, Manager, Transmission Project Management Office, Great River Energy; Anders Lam, Division Manager: Work Planning & Portfolio Services, BC Hydro
This session will share the Resource Management approach of 2-3 organizations, their experience, approach, challenges, and future vision. This session will include an interactive Q+A session where attendees and presenters can share their thoughts and challenges. An interactive attendee survey will help us get an idea of peer organization's experiences within this space and support a facilitated discussion that will help us all advance in Resource Management.
Sponsored by Burns & McDonnell

Construction Track: Project Management Playbook
Speaker: Cody Jura, Sr. Construction Project Manager, Portland General Electric

IT + Analytics Track: Data Cataloging Demo

Open to all attendees, especially those interested in helping to plan the 2023 Project Management + Utilities Conference. Lunch will be provided.