The reliability of the electric power system is critical to North America's economic vitality and social well-being. Today, that reliability is being challenged. As incidences of severe weather and other threats to the system increase, transmission and distribution grid infrastructure ages are put at risk of failure. To help address these challenges, Electricity Today T&D magazine has organized a live online forum that will focus on this important subject. The focus of this live online forum is the next generation of grid reliability-enhancing technologies, systems, and management approaches.
45 minutes presentation includes 10 minutes of Q&A.
9:00am - 9:45am
GRID2020
Reality 2.0 - Maximizing the Grid
Watch the presentation on YouTube
9:45am - 10:30am
Commonwealth Associates Inc.
A Deep Dive into BESS Arc Flash
Watch the presentation on YouTube
Arc flash is an industry concern for most everyone. But with the recent increase in BESS projects across the US, how do Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) owners deal with arc flash concerns? BESS using the current prevailing Li-Ion technology, can result in extremely high short-circuit currents on the DC side of the inverter. This is particularly true when using large DC battery density to achieve long maximum output discharge scenarios. Commonwealth will detail real situations, and dive into engineering analysis on how to better address arc flash concerns to help protect site workers.
10:30am - 11:15am
IRISS Group
Improving Your Maintenance Program Through Operator-Driven Reliability
Watch the presentation on YouTube
11:15am – 12:00pm
Zensol Automation, Inc.
Vibro-Acoustic as a Fast Diagnostic Tool for On Load Tap Changers
President
Alan Snook is co-founder and President of GRID20/20, Inc. since 2011. Under Alan's leadership, the company is now transitioning toward Public Safety Protection Solutions. The company's leading initiative is GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY™; a wildfire mitigation solution that leverages existing grid architecture and capitalizes on the company's lengthy intra-grid sensor history. GRIDWIDE FIRE-SPY represents an emerging subsidiary movement. The company's foundational work includes the development and commercialization of Advanced Transformer Infrastructure (ATI)®. The ATI technology presents a turnkey intra-grid monitoring solution designed to provide electric utility operators with proactive grid-edge conditions visibility, and automated alerts capability; thereby improving grid Reliability, ensuring safe Distributed Energy Resources adoption, facilitating Electric Vehicle charging stations deployment awareness, helping to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions, while also assisting with ongoing grid planning, systems operations, and asset management practices of utility operators.
Project Manager
IAN HUTT, PE, PMP, is an industry published leader and expert in renewable technologies, particularly solar, BESS, and microgrids. As an experienced project manager in electrical power systems, he specializes in relay protection engineering, coordination, arc flash analysis, short circuit analysis, transmission planning, electromagnetic field analysis, and automatic generation control using CAPE, ASPEN, CYME, PSCAD, EMTP-RV, ETAP, SKM Power Tools, EasyPower, CDEGS, AcSELerator QuickSet, PowerBase, PSS/E and TRANSMISSION 2000®. Ian presented "A deep dive into BESS arc flash" for a CIGRE webinar in 2022, "Battery Storage Integration with Renewable Energy: Future of BESS" at the 2020 Experience Power Conference and "Current Challenges in BESS" at IDEA2021 Conference in 2021. Mr. Hutt holds Bachelor of Science degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Business Administration from Central Michigan University.
Business Development Manager - Northwest US & Canada
Jody Dado has an extensive background in engineering, technical service, and sales. Holding a Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Technology, as well as being a CAT-1 Certified Thermographer, Jody brings a wealth of support and resources to the electrical industry and manages clients throughout North America.
President
Fouad Brikci obtained a Doctorate in Electronics in 1977 and a master's degree in Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Automation in 1975 both from the University of Bordeaux, France. During his 40 years and more of experience, he was a lecturer at the Ecole Polytechnique in Algiers, Algeria and a researcher at CNRS-LAAS, Toulouse, France. He is currently the President of Zensol Automation, Inc., a company founded in 1990 and located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Zensol is a world leader in the field of acoustic diagnostics for circuit breakers and on-line tap changers (OLTC). Zensol also has extensive expertise in conventional maintenance testing applied to high-voltage circuit breakers.
