Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Learning environments relative to the utility industry

Pepco and DC Water to Serve as Utility Hosts and Featured Speakers at Autovation 2011

Posted by Utilimetrics on March 22, 2011

Utilimetrics is pleased to announce that Pepco and DC Water will serve as host utilities for Autovation 2011.

Joseph M. Rigby, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (PHI) and George S. Hawkins, general manager of DC Water will be keynote speakers at the Opening General Session, Monday, September 26.

Rigby has worked in the electric utility industry since 1979. He was elected PHI president and chief executive officer effective March 1, 2009, and was elected chairman of the board May 15, 2009.

PHI provides utility service to approximately 1.9 million customers. Its service territory includes Washington, DC and suburban Maryland, the Delmarva Peninsula, including Delaware, and southern New Jersey.

Rigby serves on a number of boards, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, EEI and Energy Insurance Mutual. He was recently elected secretary of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.

Rigby earned a B.S. in Accounting from Rutgers University and an MBA from Monmouth University.

George S. Hawkins was named to the general manager post September 3, 2009 by the DC Water board of directors. With an operating and capital budget of nearly $800 million dollars, DC Water provides drinking water delivery and wastewater collection and treatment for a population of more than 600,000 in DC, as well as the millions of people who work in or visit the District. DC Water also treats wastewater for a population of 1.6 million in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland, and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia.

Prior to joining DC Water Hawkins served as director of the District Department of the Environment (DDOE). He held senior positions with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and served Vice President Gore on the National Performance Review.

Hawkins graduated Summa Cum Laude from Princeton University and Cum Laude from Harvard Law School.

“This is a year of firsts for Autovation,” said Joel Hoiland, Utilimetrics CEO. “It’s the first time Autovation has had two utility hosts, and the first time it has had a water utility serve as a host,” he said. “We’re very pleased to have these innovative utilities involved in Autovation 2011. Their willingness to share experiences, lessons learned and best practices will enhance our already exceptional education programming for electric, water and gas utilities,” he continued.

Autovation 2011 is Sept. 25-28 at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center.

An Early Announcement will be sent to all members in late-March and information will be available on the Utilimetrics website soon.

Posted in Autovation, Clean Technology, Cybersecurity Issues, Demand Response, Deployment, Education, Emerging Technology, Home Area Networks, Meter Data Management, Pre-Deployment, Project Management, Public Policy, SCADA, Smart Grid, Smart Meters, Standards, Transmission and Distribution Technologies, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Autovation 2011 Courses Announced

Posted by Utilimetrics on March 22, 2011

Autovation Courses Announced

Autovation kicks off September 25 with 23 pre-Autovation courses. Courses are four hours each and cover the AMR/AMI lifecycle from pre-deployment to post-deployment. Courses will be led by subject matter experts who are known and respected throughout the industry. Courses are designed for electric, gas and water utility professionals from investor owned utilities (IOUs), cooperative utilities and municipal utilities.

Morning Courses

Course 1 Real-World Lessons in Project Management, Deployment and Operation of Your MDM

Course 2 The People and Processes Needed to Make Your Smart Grid Deployment Work

Course 3 The Intersection of AMI and OMS

Course 4 From Concept to Approval: Creating an Achievable Smart Grid Plan

Course 5 The IT Project Hidden Within Your Smart Grid Initiative

Course 6 All the Things You Wish You Knew Before You Selected and Deployed Smart Meters

Afternoon Courses

Course 7 Smart Grid Engineering & Operations Strategy and Implementation

Course 8 MDM: What is it? How do I use it?

Course 9 AMI Communication Options

Course 10 Effective Smart Grid Project Management

Course 11 How to Manage a Successful Water AMI Project

Course 12 Evaluating the Opportunity for Utility Demand Response

Autovation 2011 will be held Sept. 25-28 at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Washington, DC.

Save the date and plan to attend. Online registration opens April 1.

Posted in Autovation, Cybersecurity Issues, Demand Response, Deployment, Education, Emerging Technology, Meter Data Management, Pre-Deployment, Project Management, SCADA, Smart Grid, Smart Meters, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Posted by Utilimetrics on September 16, 2010

UTILITIES GRADE AUTOVATION 2010 A+

Autovation, the Smart Utility Conference and Exposition received high praise from the nearly 1,400 people who attended the event Sept. 12-15 in Austin, Tex.

Representatives from electric, water and gas utilities as well as consultants and vendors enjoyed four days of education sessions focused on utility automation on topics including systems process design, system integration, consumer engagement, meter data management, home area networks and more.

Many attendees stated that Autovation 2010 far exceeded their expectations. I talked to a number of people who said the lessons learned during the conference and expo resulted in an exceptional return on their investment. They found the exchange with other utilities to be highly beneficial and the only event that provides networking and interaction with peers complemented by a showcase of the latest products and services.

The conference included more than 60 education sessions and panel discussions led by 100+ industry thought leaders including Nora Brownell, former FERC commissioner; Catherine Thompson, policy analyst, Information and Privacy Commission, Ontario, Canada; David O’Brien, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service and Chris Thomas, policy director, Ill Citizens Utility Board.

The Opening General Session featured speakers included Cheryl Mele, Austin Energy chief operating officer; who spoke on positioning an electric utility for the smart grid; Ben Koch, managing director, SWS Group/Southwest Securities who gave a state of the utility technology market address; Barry Smitherman, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, who spoke on open market regulatory perspectives and Robert Shapard, CEO of Oncor who discussed his utility’s strategies to transform a large investor owned utility by leveraging the benefits of smart meters to better serve customers.

The Closing General Session featured Nancy Gioia, Ford Motor Company’s director of global electrification, who spoke on electric vehicle trends in the auto industry.

Utilimetrics, The Utility Technology Association has been producing Autovation for nearly 25 years. Utilimetrics is a trade association whose mission is to promote and advance utility automation and metering technologies, and the value they bring to utilities and their customers.

Autovation 2010 featured the largest trade show of utility technology exhibitors in North America and Diamond Sponsor Itron; Gold Sponsors Silver Spring Networks and Sensus; Silver Sponsors Aclara, Airspan, Capgemini, Cisco, Deloitte, Landis+Gyr, Neptune and R.W. Beck, an SAIC Company; Bronze Sponsors Cooper Power Systems and Siemens and Contributing Sponsor Tantalus.

Autovation will go down in history as one of the finest educational forums in 2010. Our Program Committee is already working on Autovation 2011 conference which will be held September 25-28 in Washington, DC.

Joel Hoiland

Posted in Autovation, Clean Technology, Education | Leave a Comment »

Winter Olympic Games Focus on Energy Conservation

Posted by Utilimetrics on February 11, 2010

Article written by John R. Johnson

When the 2010 Winter Olympics begin, the 4,000 or so participating athletes will be competing on the biggest stage of their life. For Utilimetrics member BC Hydro, the Olympics represent its own stage to promote energy conservation, something that is reaching new heights at this year’s Olympics.

BC Hydro and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will rely on an online energy tracker to publicly monitor real-time energy consumption during the Games at sites in Vancouver, Richmond, Whistler and Whistler Blackcomb. The live tracker will help venue managers optimize their use of electricity while tracking and displaying energy and greenhouse gas savings achieved as result of Power Smart building and operating practices.

Simi Heer, a spokesperson for BC Hydro, says that the Olympic venues are expected to save approximately 18 gigawatt hours of electricity over the two weeks of competition. That’s enough energy to power more than 1,600 homes for an entire year. It marks the first time that any Olympic site has collected and reported energy consumption data live during the games.

“The focus of the program is twofold,” says Heer. “By having this information readily available, building operators can optimize use of electricity and make sure the building is functioning efficiently. It’s quite key because from a business sense, it increases the comfort level for the athletes and reduces operating costs. The second goal is to raise public awareness. Consumers can’t see the electricity that they use, so by having a public display you can increase people’s awareness.”

The Olympics represent an educational bonanza for BC Hydro, which is in the midst of a smart meter program for its 1.5 million customers. BC Hydro is currently in the hardware procurement stage, and is required by Canadian law to have its smart meter deployment completed by the end of 2012. Education is key to informing consumers about the benefits of smart meters, and BC Hydro has a global stage to do so for two weeks.

The Power Smart energy tracking system is just one part of a huge focus on conservation at the Games. In its agreement with the Vancouver Organizing Committee, 90 percent of the power that BC Hydro supplies to the Games will qualify as clean energy. “Conservation has been a big part of our agreement with them since day one,” says Heer. “This energy monitoring system is just the cherry on top. It’s just what’s expected from us.”

The Olympic sites participating in the live energy tracking project include the Richmond Olympic Oval, Canada Hockey Place, Vancouver Olympic/Paralympic Centre, South East False Creek Community Centre, Whistler Blackcomb Roundhouse Lodge, all snowmaking facilities, and the Olympic and Paralympic Villages at Vancouver and Whistler. With all of the sustainability efforts being used, the Olympic Village in Vancouver will use 53 percent less energy than a building not equipped with energy saving devices.

The online energy management software for the venue energy-tracking dashboard was developed by B.C.-based Pulse Energy. The software helps measure and verify the effectiveness of retrofits and sustainable attributes in their design and construction. Real-time energy tracking enables facilities to optimize their energy efficiency on an hourly and daily basis. It also enables the company to compare its performance to other similar facilities.

“We have worked to build efficiency and conservation into the design of many new venues and have made retrofits to a number of existing buildings that will continue to contribute to our province’s conservation goals long after the Games are over,” said Beverly Van Ruyven, acting BC Hydro president and CEO. “The energy efficiency measures at the venues, combined with the heightened awareness provided by the online tracker could save some venues as much as 15 to 20 percent in energy costs with corresponding reductions in carbon emissions.”

If you are attending the Olympic Games, check out the live energy tracker at BC Hydro’s Power Smart Village at 333 Dunsmuir St. in Vancouver, or go to www.VenueEnergyTracker.PulseEnergy.com for more information on the project and real-time energy reporting.

John R. Johnson is a Boston-based journalist specializing in alternative energy, smart grid and wireless communications topics. Contact John at jjohnson@utilimetrics.org

Posted in Education, Smart Meters | Tagged: 2010 Olympics, energy conservation | 2 Comments »

Smart Grid & Speed

Posted by Utilimetrics on November 6, 2009

Word has it that utilities who were awarded stimulus funds are going to be working at an incredible speed.

Get good ideas for your own efforts by learning from some winners of stimulus funding.

We come right to you with a Nov. 23 webinar for anyone involved in Smart Grid development.

Featured speakers will be Bob Sitkauskas of DTE Energy, Jeff Nichols of Sempra Energy Utilities San Diego Gas & Electric, and Kenny Mercado, CenterPoint Energy. These grant award winners will discuss the implications of the smart energy grid award program for the utility sector, their technology service providers and consumers.

Click here to learn more and Register for this webinar.

Posted in Deployment, Education, Grants, Pre-Deployment, Project Management, Smart Grid, Smart Meters | Leave a Comment »

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