Top Electric Utility Managers, Engineers Hear from Industry's Leaders at PDDC
Nearly 300 of the nation's top electric utility managers and engineers gathered in Sun Valley, Idaho, on March 1-2 to learn from the best in the business at the Power Delivery Design Conference presented by POWER Engineers Incorporated (POWER).
Wade Smith, senior vice president of transmission grid development for American Electric Power, presented the keynote address on "AEP's State of the Union Perspective on Transmission in North America." In the last year, AEP completed the longest replacement of energized conductor in the United States that helped bring more reliable power to the residents of South Texas. That landmark project earned AEP the electric power industry's most prestigious honor, the Edison Award, from the Edison Electric Institute.
The conference has grown in both size and content since the first gathering in 1992. This year's conference attracted attendees from dozens of electric utilities as well as 52 speakers, including special guest speaker Rob Stephen, the current president of CIGRÉ, the International Council on Large Electric Systems.
Every Power Delivery Design Conference is unique, but each one always features technical and general sessions on overhead and underground transmission lines, substations and electrical systems studies.
"We continually develop new ideas to make the conference more valuable to participants," said Randy Grass, the conference's emcee and also POWER's vice president of the Power Delivery Production Division.
The conference mix also includes a discussion of timely issues in the industry. Among the sessions this year were discussions of energy storage, high voltage direct current technology, submarine cables, communication interference and a number of other current topics.
Two engineers founded POWER in February 1976 in Pocatello, Idaho. In 1978, the company moved its 10 employees to Hailey. While Hailey remains the company's headquarters, POWER has more than 2,100 employees working in more than 45 offices throughout the United States and abroad.
POWER Engineers | www.powereng.com