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Archive for 2014
IEEE Consultant’s Network Meeting – December 9 – Electric Fields and Polymer Insulators
Friday, December 5th, 2014The Panhandle Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
IEEE PES Meeting – HVDC design, The Power Networks of the Future
Monday, November 24th, 2014The Panhandle Section of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
The Power & Energy Society
Presents
Topic: “HVDC Design – The Power Networks of the Future”
Speaker: Neil Kirby, Business Development Manager, Alstom Company, Philadelphia, PA
When: Wednesday, December 03, 2014
11:30 am to 1:00 pm
Where: Amarillo Club Sunburst room, 30th floor Chase Tower
600 South Tyler St
Amarillo, TX 79101
Attire: Business Casual
Cost: $15.00 per person
payable to IEEE Panhandle Section at the door
Meal: Buffet Style Lunch
RSVP: Please make reservations by COB on Tuesday, December 2nd with Mohsen Ghavami at (806) 378-2787 or by e-mail at “mohsen.ghavami@xcelenergy.com”.
No IEEE membership is required for this meeting. For more information on the Panhandle Section of IEEE refer to the section’s website at www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/panhandle
Neil Bio
Neil Kirby obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering & Computing Science at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England. He joined Alstom in 1982, which at that time was GEC Rectifiers in Stafford, England. After a period of working in, and then managing, the test department he went on to work on the design of HVDC projects, in the areas of control hardware and software, system design, and overall project engineering. This has included extensive periods of site work and commissioning tests on HVDC projects in Canada, India, and South Korea. In 2003 he moved to the USA where he is presently Business Development Manager for the HVDC business in North America. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a member of IEC, ANSI and CIGRE, and is an active participant in several working groups in these organizations. Neil is based in Philadelphia with his family, and holds no hope of retirement any time soon with 2 girls currently at university.
About the Presentation
Since the days when Edison and Tesla competed for supremacy in the supply of electricity in the 1880’s there has been a constant evolution in the power networks around the world, with AC quickly taking the lead and a dominant role in the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy to the end user. HVDC has been applied in about 150 installations around the world for a variety of reasons, including long-distance transmission of hydro energy, interconnection of asynchronous networks, long-distance submarine crossings, etc., which by comparison with the extent of AC transmission systems is obviously a very small proportion. However, the recent introduction of VSC technology into the HVDC world is presenting network planners with a whole new toolkit for the creation of more efficient, intelligent and controllable power systems in the future. The presentation will give a history of the development of HVDC over the years, illustrate the systems being installed currently around the world, and provide some insights into the recent innovations and prospects for the future.
About Alstom
Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world. It provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind, and it offers a wide range of solutions for power transmission, with a focus on smart grids. The Group employs 92,700 people in 100 countries and had sales of €20.9 billion in 2010/11.
Alstom Grid has over 100 years of expertise in electrical grids. Whether for utilities or electro-intensive industries or facilitating the trading of energy, Alstom Grid brings power to its customers’ projects. Alstom Grid ranks among the top 3 in electrical transmission sector with an annual sales turnover of more than €4 billion. It has 20,000 employees and over 90 manufacturing and engineering sites worldwide. At the heart of the development of Smart Grid, Alstom Grid offers products, services and integrated energy management solutions across the full energy value chain—from power generation, through transmission and distribution grids and to the large end user.
In April 2014, General Electric made an offer to acquire the Power Generation and Transmission assets of Alstom, and after a period of negotiations this offer has been accepted by the Alstom Board, and the French Government in June 2014. The acquisition process is proceeding subject to the final approval of the Alstom shareholders in December 2014, and is expected to be complete by mid-2015.
IEEE Seminar – Thank you!
Thursday, October 16th, 2014Thank you for joining us at the 2014 Fall IEEE Professional Development Seminar.
We hope you had a wonderful time. As a follow up to our seminar I ‘d like to give out some information.
First as a public service announcement:
IEEE Panhandle is and has been looking for old computers to donate to Amarillo’s Westley Community Outreach Center.
We will wipe any old information off the hard drive for you as well as fix old computers. If you care to donate please contact:
John Vara, @ John.P.Vara@xcelenergy.com
IEEE Panhandle would also like your help in thanking our speakers, their efforts make the Seminar possible.
If you would like more information their websites.
Thank you Richard Burgress
(If you missed his card)
Thank you Brian Thomas
Baylors’ Mission programs’ Home page
http://www.baylor.edu/missions/index.php?id=867920
Thank you Mark Wingate
Maxivolt
http://serioussurgeprotection.com/
Thank you Dr. Matt Jackson
West Texas A&M’s Engineering program’s home Page
http://www.wtamu.edu/academics/engineering-computer-science.aspx
Thank you again for coming and I hope to see you in the Spring (March 26th, 2015)
Nathan Ciomperlik
IEEE Panhandle Education Chair
IEEE Fall Professional Development Seminar – Tuesday October 7, 2014
Friday, September 12th, 2014Fall 2014 Professional Development Seminar
9:00am to 5:00pm, Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Amarillo College Business and Industry Center
1314 South Polk Street, Amarillo, Texas
Join us for this valuable Continuing Education Seminar!
You’ll have a chance to win one of five $50 gift cards! To be eligible for the giveaway, you must be registered for the Seminar and present for the drawings.
Click here for more information and registration information
Future Seminars – Call For Volunteers
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014Dear Panhandle Section Members:
For many years, the IEEE Panhandle Section has organized a biannual Professional Development Seminar. These Seminars provide an outstanding value and service to our members, and the past Panhandle Section Education Chairs & Co-Chairs have put in a lot of hard work and sacrifice to make the Seminars happen.
This year, the Board voted to create an Education Committee to assist the Education Chair in his duties. We are currently looking for volunteers to serve on the Education Committee. Ideally, we would like 5-7 committee members to help find topics, book speakers, and handle logistics for our future seminars. Our previous Education Chairs & Co-Chairs established a very high standard of quality for our seminars. Your IEEE Panhandle Section Board is committed to maintaining that level of quality and service, and we need your help to make it happen.
Please let me know if you would like to get involved.
Thank you,
Joe Dunn, PE
Chairman – IEEE Panhandle Section
Videos from Ziplining Social Event
Tuesday, June 24th, 2014Hey everyone,
To all that missed out on the event, here’s what you could have been doing!
In related news, Jonathan Snodgrass will be stepping down from his position as the Young Professionals chair to return to Texas A&M University and pursue a master’s and PhD. Good luck out there Mr. Snodgrass!
IEEE Ziplining Social Event
Thursday, May 15th, 2014Greetings esteemed IEEE members,
The IEEE Panhandle section and the Young Professionals (formerly GOLD) group would like to invite you to come ziplining with your fellow IEEE members on Saturday, June 7that 10am. We will be meeting at the Palo Duro ZipLine parking lot at 11100 State Hwy 217 East Canyon, Tx 79015. The cost is $15 per person for IEEE members, and $20 for guests. Please RSVP to me (Jonathan Snodgrass) by email or phone at 806-359-2602 by Monday, June 2nd. Please see the attached meeting announcement for more information.
Also, the IEEE Young Professionals group will be organizing a social event at a sports game at the end of June. Please use the voting buttons at the top of this email to indicate whether you would like to attend an Amarillo Venom or an Amarillo Sox game.
More information about Palo Duro ZipLine can be found at https://www.palodurozip.com
I hope you can join us on Saturday, June 6 for Ziplining!
IEEE Pandhandle Section PES Meeting Announcement: “Practical Communications Considerations for Mission Critical Applications”
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014The Panhandle Section of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
The Power & Energy Society
Presents
Topic: “Practical Communications Considerations for Mission Critical Applications”
Speaker: Adrian Zvarych, Power Grid Engineering Company
When: Thursday, May 22, 2014
11:45 am to 1:30 pm
Where: Amarillo Club Sunburst room, 30th floor Chase Tower
600 South Tyler St
Amarillo, TX 79101
Attire: Business Casual
Cost: $15.00 per person
payable to IEEE Panhandle Section at the door
Meal: Buffet Style Lunch
RSVP: Please make reservations by COB on Wednesday, May 21 with Mohsen Ghavami at (806) 378-2787 or by e-mail at “mohsen.ghavami@xcelenergy.com”.
Adrian Zvarych Bio
Adrian Zvarych received his BSEE from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1982. Over his first 24 years, he developed Protection & Control, SCADA, and IT-Telecom skills at FPL, Oglethorpe Power Corp, and Duke Energy – Florida. He has been in the consulting industry since 2007, working for TRC, Schweitzer Engineering Labs, and now Power Grid Engineering. Adrian has been fortunate to support utility projects including network-wide migrations from pilot-wire systems to fiber networks. He has developed and implemented secure, network-wide and substation architectures as utilities are migrating from serial data to packet-based data connectivity for SCADA and other functions. Adrian is a professional musician and volunteers at the local United Methodist Children’s Home and at church. He resides in Debary FL, where he shares life with his wife of 32 years , Sharon, and their daughter Tina.
About the Presentation
Technology in the IT and Telecom industry has been rapidly changing for the past 15 years. Today’s electric utilities are under rising pressure from local telephone companies to migrate toward packet-based communications systems to transport data between sites. Yet, some mission-critical applications such as transmission line relaying can present performance challenges to packet-based networks. Find out more about the fundamentals of legacy Time Division Multiplexed (TDM), Synchronous Optical NETwork (SONET) and packet-based data delivery methods, and what it can mean to the performance of a protective relay system or other applications.
About Power Grid Engineering
Power Grid Engineering, LLC (PGE) specializes in engineering design and consultation for the power systems industry. Our corporate headquarters, located in Central Florida and our offices in Birmingham, AL, Raleigh, NC and Wichita, KS are equipped with the most current computer technologies, software, equipment and resources available in the industry.
The founders of PGE are dedicated to providing the highest quality services and product design to our clientele. The members of our corporate leadership team provide our clients with experience and qualifications earned over decades of providing utility-grade engineering services to some of the largest investor-owned utility companies in the U.S.
PGE is proud to have developed in-house project teams comprised of highly-qualified technical engineers and operational professionals, with exceptional Quality Assurance (QA) processes assuring our clients superior levels of service and excellence.
From inception, our team has banded together with our clients and partners to exceed all expectations – whether related to service, quality or revenue generation – PGE has enjoyed healthy and consistent growth despite turbulent economic conditions. We are honored to work with various utility companies, across the country and abroad, from small industrial entities to Fortune 250 investor-owned utility companies.
UPDATE: IEEE Professional Development Seminar Spring 2014
Tuesday, April 1st, 2014As usual, Dustin put on an excellent seminar. I’d like to extend a big thank you to all of the speakers and volunteers.
See you in the fall!
Texas PE onsite fingerprinting session at Zachry Engineering
Thursday, March 6th, 2014Esteemed IEEE members,
Zachry Engineering Corporation is hosting a special fingerprinting session on March 11 from 8:30am-3pm for engineers registered as a PE in Texas that have not been fingerprinted yet. If you wish to attend this session, please follow the instructions in the attached word document, and respond to this email and let me know that you have signed up. The registration deadline is 3pm on Monday March 10. If you have questions, you can contact myself or Preston Kennedy, the electrical engineering manager at Zachry, who is included on this email.
Thanks all!