Utility Automation & Engineering T&D articles from September 2008

Utility Automation & Engineering T&D archives from September 2008

I'm taking an electric staycation.(FROM THE EDITOR)(Editorial)
September 1, 2008... Perhaps you're new to the term "staycation." I first heard it a couple of months ago when Bill Geist, my favorite correspondent on CBS Sunday Morning, took us along on his "vacation staying home" or "staycation." Geist made himself tropical...

A chat with NREL director Dan Arvizu.(NEWS)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... Editor's note: This is part one of a four-part UAE news series. Senior editor Kathleen Davis talks with NREL director Dr. Dan Arvizu about connecting renewables to the grid. In this first part of the series, Dr. Arvizu gives us an overview of...

TVA 500 kV Bradley Substation now in service.(NEWS)(Tennessee Valley Authority)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... On April 28, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) inaugurated its Bradley Substation. The event heralds the first IEC 61850-compliant substation where all of the available features promised by the communications standard were implemented and proved...

Power Partners Inc. produces 8 million transformers.(NEWS)
September 1, 2008... Power Partners Inc, a leading manufacturer of pole-type distribution transformers, produced its 8 millionth transformer at its Athens, Ga., facility. The milestone was celebrated by employees and customers at an August 7th ceremony. Power...

Eye on Europe.(NEWS)(AREVA T&D)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Major investment of AREVA in Turkey. The minister of industry, Mr. Zafer Caglayan, and Mr. Ghislain Lescuyer, AREVA T&D's products business unit executive vice president, laid the foundation stone of the new distribution transformers facility...

Community College teaches lineman indoors.
September 1, 2008... The Utility Line Building is not the most imposing structure on the Northeast Community College campus in Norfolk, Neb. But it is one of the most interesting. Completed in July, 2007, the 36,800-square-foot facility houses the only indoor...

Smart grids: moving beyond the AMI pilots.(SMART GRID)(advanced metering infrastructure)
September 1, 2008... The smart grid buzzword is out, and utilities and vendors are hanging out their smart grid banners. However, when the dust settles, questions remain around why utilities are clamoring to put smart grid programs in place, and what the impact is...

SmartGridCity: Xcel Energy's bold step toward a next-gen grid.(SMART GRID)(Company overview)
September 1, 2008... This past summer more than 100 Xcel Energy engineers, construction and contract workers have been focused on laying more than 250 miles of connectivity fiber, mapping out routes for a highspeed communication network and installing thousands of...

Con Edison adopts eLearning as workforce evolves.(ONLINE EDUCATION)
September 1, 2008... Imagine a school that has to develop training methods for three generations, ranging in age from 20-somethings to 50-somethings--from people born before color TV and raised on typewriters and the Cold War to those who grew up on video games,...

Going 'digital native': putting eLearning to practice with an emerging workforce.(ONLINE EDUCATION)
September 1, 2008... Corporate training professionals strive to deliver training to the right person, in the right place and at the right time. Traditionally, organizations have trained their workforce with primarily classroom-based or in-person, direct training....

Utility, DR provider alliances: meeting regulatory requirements, reducing costs and driving system reliability.(DEMAND RESPONSE)
September 1, 2008... Many utilities have received mandates from public utilities commissions (PUCs), state legislatures or other regulatory bodies requiring that a certain percentage of peak load be met by demand response and energy efficiency programs within a...

The emergence of AMI and demand response.(DEMAND RESPONSE)(automated meter reading)(Report)
September 1, 2008... It is Saturday. Down the street is yet another yard sale where people are trying to get rid of a 30-year collection of vinyl records. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Every time a technology wave washes over our shores, it leaves a lot of...

Advances in 3-D substation design at Hydro-Quebec.(CASE STUDY)
September 1, 2008... Engineering projects are being carried out at an increasingly rapid pace in our day. Invariably, the goal is to reduce engineering time and costs, and this is true of all enterprises, not just energy providers. To do so, Hydro-Quebec has turned...

Empowering consumers to manage energy.(GETTING EQUIPPED)
September 1, 2008... Anyone who listens to the news knows that we're in the midst of a global energy crisis. Demand is outpacing supply. As recently stated in the June 21-27 issue of The Economist, today's global population consumes about 15 terawatts of power, but...

Data radio.(NEW PRODUCTS)
September 1, 2008... Control Microsystems, global developer of advanced SCADA products has released the KR30, 900MHz spread spectrum data radio. Cost-effective and compact, the license-free KR30 boasts a 1W transmitter, up to 256kbps over-the-air data rates, a...

Edge switch.(NEW PRODUCTS)
September 1, 2008... GarrettCom, Inc. has added an industrial-grade PES42P Power Source Edge Switch to its growing line of Magnum Power over Ethernet (PoE) switches that support clusters of IP video surveillance cameras or Ethernet-enabled industrial access control...

Rugged notebook computer.(NEW PRODUCTS)
September 1, 2008... Handheld US introduced the new Algiz 13 rugged notebook computer. The Algiz 13 is a convertible notebook computer which means that users can use it like a tablet or flip the screen for a more typical laptop configuration. It employs magnesium...

Risk mitigation technology.(NEW PRODUCTS)
September 1, 2008... Industrial Defender, Inc., a global cyber risk protection leader previously known as Verano, Inc., announced Version 3.0 of its industry-leading risk mitigation technology suite for the real-time process control and SCADA environment. Enhanced...

Insulation testers.(NEW PRODUCTS)
September 1, 2008... Megger introduces the new family of 5 and 10 kV insulation testers comprised of four models. The four models are very similar; however, a 4 mA higher noise rejection sets the S1-554 and S1-1054 apart from the S1-552 and S1-1052. S1-552: The...

Work management solution.(NEW PRODUCTS)
September 1, 2008... Intergraph will now offer a work management solution tailored for the needs of smaller utilities and electric cooperatives (co-ops) that do not require the complexity typically associated with traditional work management systems. The...

Calendar.(Conference news)(Brief article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2008... DistribuTECH and TransTECH 2009: The utility industry's most comprehensive conference on automation, information technology and T&D engineering Feb. 3-5, 2009, San Diego, CA. // Phone 918.832.9265 // www.distributech.com. SEPTEMBER 23-25...

Featured topic.
September 1, 2008... Home-based CSRs reap savings and satisfaction for utility call centers Work-from-home programs for CSRs can yield benefits for employees and utilities. Contributing writer Betsy Loeff explains how two utilities set up their programs and...

Currents: the energy news podcast.
September 1, 2008... Episode 10--Battling Energy Theft According to estimates, energy theft nationwide totals around $6 billion--second only in financial loss to auto theft. Many utilities have no program in place to combat energy theft and write off the theft...

Top 5 articles on utilityautomation.com.(www.utilityautomation.com)(Website overview)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... 1. New report reveals utilities' most successful strategy for marketing energy efficiency programs Of the wide variety of energy efficiency programs utilities offer, they typically find the most success with HVAC incentives, energy audits,...

Featured video.
September 1, 2008... Flying High with AEP UAE senior editor Kathleen Davis took to the skies with American Electric Power on a flight to examine their power lines. Showcasing over 100 pictures from the flight, which traced lines from Tulsa to a variety of...

Quick vote.
September 1, 2008... We will see federal climate change legislation Before the presidential election. 0% In the first year of the administration. 20.99% Sometime in the next five years. 43.21% Only when the economy improves. ...