The annual meeting is a time of food and gathering for the IEEE members of the Chattanooga Section. The key note speaker,Clayton Clem,  from TVA Transmission will discuss the new buzz word within the power system industry, grid resiliency.  The section leadership will discuss with the membership accomplishments of the past year and lay out the path forward for 2018.

Speaker(s): Clayton Clem,

Location:
Room: Chickamauga Room
Bldg: University Center
University of Tennessee Chattanooga
734 Vine Street
Chattanooga, Tennessee
37403

Keynote Speaker: Clayton Clem

Clayton Clem, P.E., F.SEI, TVA Vice President of Strategic Projects and Initiatives
Mr. Clem has been with TVA since 1979 in various roles, including the design and construction of
telecommunications, transmission line and substation facilities for TVA and external customers. He has a
B.S. in Civil Engineering from Tennessee Technological University (TTU), a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga (UTC) and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of
Tennessee.
As the Vice President of Electric System Projects and Transmission Engineering he has been responsible for
overseeing the transmission planning, siting, public meetings, survey, engineering, project management,
construction and commissioning of facilities to maintain bulk transmission reliability, ensure NERC/FERC
compliance and provide local power company and industrial connections to the grid. Activities include
supporting TVA’s economic development recruitment of large industrial customers such as automotive,
tire, data center and polysilicon producers along with serving the needs of military bases and the National
Lab at Oak Ridge. During his tenure as VP, $3.1B in improvements were made in TVA’s seven-state, region
from 2007-2017 and planned improvements including strategic projects of $2.1B have been initiated for
2018-2022. He guided standardization of major equipment and the application of innovative technology to
gain maximum value for TVA while improving operating flexibility. In his role as a member of TVA’s
Leadership team, he has also served in a number of key TVA wide roles such as the Trilateral Safety
Alliance.
Currently; as Vice President, Strategic Projects and Initiatives, he is responsible for unique projects like the
3500-mile expansion of TVA’s fiber network, the construction of a hardened control center and other
strategic projects including grid resiliency initiatives across TVA’s 80,000-square mile footprint. Continuous
improvement initiatives include stream lining TVA’s transmission assets to focus on the bulk electric
reliability and inventory initiatives to right size inventory providing major equipment critical spares and
material to support emergency operations.
During his career, Mr. Clem has been involved in the development of and co-authored numerous industry
guides and standards such as the Design of Lattice Steel Transmission Structures. He also has served as an
advisor to industry-sponsored projects and a speaker at various technical conferences. Currently, Mr. Clem
serves as Chair of the SERC’s Engineering Committee reporting to SERC Board Executive Committee and is a
member of the NERC Planning Committee, the Executive Committee for the Eastern Interconnect Planning
Committee, the US National Committee of CIGRE, the North American Transmission Forum’s resiliency
committee and serves on the Advisory Council for Engineering at TTU.
In 1998 he was chosen as TVA’s Engineer of the Year and was selected as one of the Top Ten Federal
Engineers of 1998 by NSPE. In 1999 ASCE’s Structural Engineering Institute recognized him with the
Innovations in Transmission Line Engineering Award. Most recently, Mr. Clem was honored in 2011 by
being chosen TTU Engineer of Distinction and in 2012 as Outstanding Alumnus. In 2012 Mr. Clem was
chosen as a Fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute for his service as a leader and mentor in the
profession.