Archive for April 15th, 2010

I printed up all my calendars. I have a stack of books and magazines. I have King Creole blasting away on the stereo - that keeps me focused on packing. Should have listened to Pam and done it sooner - don’t tell her. It amazes me how many tech-toys I have to pack for something like this too. Computers, cameras, flash attachments, iPod, digital voice recorder, and on and on it goes. I am so glad the airlines don’t weigh my backpack. I avoid the puddle-jumper airlines because the backpack has trouble fitting in their overheads. I almost broke a bin on a flight to North Dakota not too long ago. See you all in the Big Easy!!

It looks like I started something. Holly Bounds from Siemens spoke to me on the phone today. She said Siemens will be offering attendees something extra at the T&D Expo. It is called the “Smart Grid Tour.” This is only being offered in six cities in North America and the Expo is the debut. Siemens agrees with me about needing to educate our industry about the Smart Grid - take advantage of it. Let’s stop the “Dating In The Dark” syndrome. The tour is designed to do that - it has education sessions, demos, displays, etc. I understand there will even be videos projected on their geodesic dome. Do you think this is Smart Grid Meets IMax? I can’t wait to see what they are doing. Be sure to stop at the Siemens booth and sign up (if you want to do it now, www.usa.siemens.com/smartgridtour).

A friend told me the best description of my blog is prowling and howling and I should change the blog’s name. I guess that fits, but I think we will leave the blog’s name in tact. I will definitely be prowling the exhibit floor and I will be telling about it. I’m not sure about the howling part - well, I guess some have said I am noisy. I don’t see it. Wolves are quiet critters.

Sure, we all tell the boss we want to go to the T&D Expo for education, see new technology, and gain hands-on experience with the equipment. Of course that is true, but there is more. As they say in New Orleans it is lagniappe (something extra). Did I get that right Uncle Vito (he is bound to twitter when he sees me trying to use the vernacular).

I was talking with my friend John McDonald (past President PES) last week. We were discussing some smart grid technologies and the utilities using them (BTW - don’t be late for his Smart Grid Day opening presentation). Somehow we got off the subject and ended up talking about the great PES General Meeting was last summer in Calgary. We have both been heavily involved in volunteering in the operations of the PES over the years. We really look forward to seeing old friends at these meetings. We all keep in touch through e-mail and phone calls, but it is great to see each other over a cup of coffee. The people are really the most important aspect of our organization. Thanks to PES I have expert friends that I can call and ask any question. They may shake their heads, but they always answer the question. That is lagniappe in its best sense!

Blog followers, we are trying something new! If it works, we will have video on the blog. When I say if it works what I really mean if Gene doesn’t screw it up. I may be a power electronics expert, but my computer can induce tears. Here is the problem. Good thing - my iPod has video capability, which works great. Bad thing - the files are huge so I have to use an FTP site to upload to the blog.

I thought it might be a good idea to test it from home before the Expo. Great idea - right? Well, single-handily I brought the FTP server to its knees. No one could access it yesterday or this morning - way to go. It is back this morning, but I still can’t get in. It is reminiscent of Space Odyssey - “HAL open the pod bay doors. No way Gene. Stay outside where you can’t do us any harm.” The help desk is working on it now.

We have a work around (good old plan B). They gave me an alternate site that will take the large files without the fun of FileZilla and FTP access. I am so glad I work with such patient folks. It takes a lot to support me. Stayed tuned - this should be fun.

We are setting goals of 20% of all our electricity being generated by renewables in the next few years. This is pretty much a world wide target, but it seems that Mother Nature loves to mess up our plans. If you doubt it, check out wind generation vs. peak loads! I worked for a utility in Kansas for many years. Kansas is one of the windiest places around, but during the hot summer - it doesn’t blow. The sun beats down, the temperature climbs, and the wind is calm. Unfortunately, this is all so true all over the wind belt.

So what is an engineer to do? Glad you asked. Tuesday’s Super Session #1 (Energy Storage and the Integration of Renewables - 1:00pm) is focused on that very subject! They are exploring the missing link - Energy Storage. Many of my wind generator friends get sensitive when I bring up this subject, but we have to take advantage of all the smart grid technologies to get us out of this problem. PES has a lot of great session planned for the Expo like this one. My big problems is being in so many places at once. This is a great problem to have. I have been to so many conferences that my e-mail has been more interesting than the event - thank God this isn’t one of them!!!