Convergent Energy + Power—a provider of battery energy storage system (BESS) solutions—announced that the industrial-scale BESS it developed for NSG Group’s Pilkington Glass Facility (Collingwood, Ont.) is operational (convergentep.com).
The 5-MW/10-MWh BESS is the first for NSG Group. It leverages Convergent’s Peak IQ software solution to reduce the facility’s electricity usage during the costliest grid peaks. The BESS takes approx. 50% of Pilkington’s demand offline, replacing that power from the batteries directly, saving the facility $1 million per year.
Moog relocating specialized slip ring production to Dartmouth
Moog Focal—an ocean technology company based in Dartmouth, N.S.—reports it is “undertaking further expansion into the renewable energy sector”. Specifically, Moog is relocating the production of a specialized slip ring line designed for aftermarket wind turbines from the United States to Dartmouth. This is part of the company’s expansion in the wind turbine segment (moog.com/focal).
Ameresco awarded Slemon Park microgrid project Ameresco Inc. (ameresco.com) has been awarded the Slemon Park microgrid project, which it will develop in collaboration with PEI Energy Corp. Construction began in December, with a target energize date scheduled for this fall.
Located a short distance from Summerside, the microgrid will consist of a 10-MW solar facility with direct current-coupled energy storage (the co-located solar and
energy storage assets will share the same interconnection).
Implementation of behind-the-meter energy storage solutions, as well as a small deployment of residential energy storage systems, will benefit Slemon Park commercial businesses and local residents by storing energy for later use, says Ameresco. Federal funding for this project is provided by Natural Resources Canada’s Smart Grid Program, part of the Government of Canada’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program: Green Infrastructure stream.
GDI launches Ainsworth Energy & Technology Solutions
GDI Integrated Facility Services Inc. (gdi. com) announced that its subsidiary Ainsworth Inc. has concluded the acquisition of Gestion E.C.I. Inc. and its affiliates (a.k.a. Energere), and has subsequently launched a new business unit: Ainsworth Energy & Technology Solutions.
“We are seeing a growing need from our clients for services and technologies to enable them to obtain data and real-time analytics, optimize their facility’s infrastructure, improve occupant experience while reducing their energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing their overall ESG profile,” said Claude Bigras, president & CEO of GDI. “We have launched Ainsworth Energy & Technology Solutions as a means to service these client needs.”
Founded in 1997, Energere is an energy services company (ESCO) in Quebec, offering energy efficiency advisory services, turnkey design-build projects with or without energy performance guarantees, as well as energy-efficient streetlighting and
infrastructure management technologies to cities and municipalities (through its smart cities division).
Aecon pilots fully electric compact excavator
Aecon Group Inc. (aecon.com) has finished piloting Volvo Construction Equipment’s ECR25 electric compact excavator (volvoce.com) on a project in Toronto—and the results sound positive.
“Construction equipment is one of the most substantial contributors to greenhouse gas emissions associated with construction projects and, over time, we plan to convert a significant proportion of our fleet to zero-emission equipment like the ECR25,” said Aecon’s Yonni Fushman.
“We were able to complete most of our jobs—tie in pits, cable pulling, a small 10-20 m trench—on a single charge,” explained Prabh K. Banga, director, Sustainability, Aecon Group. “One time, we did try to push the machine, and used it on a job requiring a larger excavation. The battery ran out in 3-4 hours, and we had to revert to our diesel-powered mini to complete the task.”
The excavator was charged every night for about 10-12 hours using a standard 120V outlet back at the yard, continued Banga. Volvo says charging time could be “significantly reduced with a fast charger”. While Volvo manufactures fast chargers, Banga said they are not yet available in Canada.”
Photos: Moog Focal
Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Todd Smith, tours Convergent Energy + Power’s battery energy storage system at NSG’s Pilkington Glass Facility (October 2021).
Photo: Convergent Energy + Power.
Photo: Aecon Group Inc.
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THE TORONTO ZOO BIOGAS PROJECT
The story of a man with a plan... for a zoo, and its poo
BY TONY KOVAC
Chartered financial analyst Daniel Bida did not set out to become a developer of biogas plants. “It was a bit of a personal evolution for me,” he says. Prior to founding ZooShare, he worked in the finance industry as an analyst for the global utility sector.
“I didn’t know anything about how power generation worked, or how the regulated electricity industry worked,” Bida admits. “But I learned about the business of utilities, and I’ve always cared deeply about nature and the environment. As a result, I have always been drawn to renewables—without really much knowledge of how they actually worked.”
“And I was feeling unfulfilled in my job and wanted to find something more meaningful,” he recounts. “Maybe I could be an entrepreneur; maybe I could work for myself.”
The ZooShare concept takes form
Around this time, the Toronto Zoo had some dreams of its own.
“The Toronto Zoo Biogas Project was, actually, a long time in the making,” says Bida. Somewhere around 2003—before he came into the picture—the Toronto Zoo got a grant to investigate the feasibility of building a biogas plant that would digest zoo manure and create energy. That feasibility study must have concluded the conditions weren’t right for committing to such a project, and the idea stalled.
Fast-forward to 2010, Bida says, “and at this point, there was a renewable power buying program in Ontario, offering 20year contracts for various renewable energy, including biogas”.
That changed everything, so the zoo issued an RFP to build a 2-MW to 5-MW biogas plant at the site of its compost facility, which would sell power to the grid
“The difficult thing in any project is that you start with your assumptions and projections [...] then you get to reality, and things are a little bit different.”
and provide heat to the zoo—not to mention fertilizer for the zoo and the general market. The plant also had to achieve these goals “in an odor-free manner” which, if you consider the volume of food waste needed to produce that amount of power, would have been extremely difficult to achieve.
“When the zoo’s larger project didn’t materialize, I took the opportunity to present to them my vision for the project,” Bida says.
“And that was how the ZooShare Biogas Cooperative came about. I assembled a team and we put a proposal in to the zoo to build a 500-kW community-owned biogas plant.”
The group presented it to the zoo as a community project whereby most of the capital would come from the general public i.e. zoo visitors and members, people who have some connection to the zoo, or maybe just people who live nearby.
ZooShare’s Daniel Bida, November 2019. Photo: EnerForge.
“And the zoo was keen to go ahead with developing a project that would turn what was previously a cost—manure management—into a source of revenue,” he says.
While ZooShare’s proposal was markedly different from the first
RFP, it would generate lease fees and power—and process manure, too—so the zoo decided to proceed with Bida’s concept. In late 2010, the zoo’s board gave approval to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Bida’s group.
The ZooShare Co-op was the counterparty to that MoU. It would raise funds from its membership to contribute capital in the project.
“We were not selling shares to our members; as a non-profit, there’s no equity to sell in the organization. So we raised capital from our membership through community bonds,” Bida explains. “We did a number of issuances over the years; basically, as we reached major milestones—and the level of risk declined and our need for capital for the next phase increased—we would do another round of bond sales.”
“We had some early funders who took the most risk when there really wasn’t very much in place,” he says, admitting, “Securing debt for a project like this is very difficult, primarily because you need long-term waste supply contracts.”
“A project like ours, which processes 15,000 tonnes of food waste a year, is actually small for a food waste anaerobic digestion project.”
A partner with pockets
Eventually, ZooShare realized it had to sell equity in the project to strengthen its financial foundation and get the project built. It was at that point that the project was separated into its own entity, and a new Limited Partnership was formed, with EnerForge as the equity partner.
(EnerForge is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oshawa Power & Utilities Corp. which, up until Spring 2020, was known as Oshawa PUC Energy Services.)
Thus, in November 2019, officials and dignitaries gathered to celebrate the strategic partnership that, according to the press release, would make “significant greenhouse gas reductions a reality at the Toronto Zoo”.
Work could get underway to build the project that would convert 2000 tonnes of zoo manure—plus some 15,000 tonnes of food waste from grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses around the Greater Toronto Area—into enough renewable energy to power about 250 homes while reducing GHG emissions by as much as 20,000 tonnes per year.
“This first-of-its-kind project is symbolic of Canada’s newly emerging green economy, where structurally different organizations interplay in unique ways to generate sustainable bottom lines for all involved,” said Ivano Labricciosa, president & CEO, EnerForge. “Our team is proud to bring our expertise in low-carbon, distributed energy forward to enable this remarkable initiative”.
“And that’s where the partnership really comes in,” Labricciosa told us a few months later. “It was their concept, their belief in this particular renewable initiative [...] but didn’t have the funds to push the project over the finish line.”
He continued: “We realized this particular project is right up our alley in terms of being able to do renewables and show our ability to deliver projects on time and on cost; and to be able to manage them, and run and operate them. So we’re really excited about it.”
Expectations versus reality
The pandemic struck a few months after that partnership announcement but, despite all of the challenges that resulted
ZooShare’s end storage tank, where biogas and digestate are stored before use.
from Covid, project development proceeded. And, in April 2021, the Toronto Zoo Biogas Project was declared officially online.
“The difficult thing in any project is that you start with your assumptions and projections—how you think things are going to happen—then you get to reality, and things are a little bit different,” Bida says.
Over the course of this project, he learned a lot about both manure and food waste—probably more than he ever thought possible! For example, he learned early on that a project of this scale might be difficult and that food waste was going to have to be a key input to make it work.
Biogas is an industry where economies of scale play heavily into overall project economics, Bida explains. “A project like ours, which processes 15,000 tonnes of food waste a year, is actually small for a food waste anaerobic digestion project.”
That said, it generates the equivalent of enough power for approximately 250 homes.
“The zoo was keen to go ahead with developing a project that would turn what was previously a cost— manure management—into a source of revenue.”
“Many of the Ontario digester projects that exist are primarily digesting liquid dairy manure along with food waste, or other agricultural waste streams,” he points out. “ZooShare is no different in that we’re digesting a blend of manure and food waste, but the manure we’re digesting is actually solid and quite dry, due to all the bedding material.”
On a volume basis, about 10% of what goes in the digester comes from the zoo, and the rest is commercial food waste. Manure represents food that has already been eaten, and so its energy yield is much lower than food waste that “hasn’t been eaten yet”.
Looking at it from strictly biogas-production perspective, the zoo’s
materials account for about 5% of the biogas produced. Which helps explain why ZooShare relies on commercial food waste “to feed the anaerobic digester, which generates the gas and, ultimately, the electricity”.
Food waste, too, can be of low quality, but for a different reason. ZooShare’s digester includes contaminant removal systems to sort out things like plastic or—believe it or not—bones and other materials which tend to build up in the digester over time or can end up in the digestate. “This way we don’t end up reducing the available capacity of our digestion tanks with a build-up of contaminants.”
The pandemic definitely impacted ZooShare’s operations, but perhaps not in the way you would think: because the biogas plant relies heavily on commercial food waste, all of the lock-downs and restrictions on restaurants, conferences, event venues, etc., severely curtailed ZooShare’s anticipated feedstock.
“We were negotiating with one waste management company for 10,000 tonnes of food waste per year—about two-thirds of our food waste needs,” Bida recalls. “By the time we got to signing a contract, we were in the middle of the pandemic, and they could only contractually commit to 1500 tonnes per year.”
“I think a lot of what I’m saying here is not unusual for a new biogas plant,” Bida muses. “None of what actually happened over the first six months of operation surprises me in the least; every new operation goes through some challenges.”
Crossing the finish line
Despite the challenges—alongside a very steep learning curve—Bida is very proud of the Toronto Zoo Biogas Project.
“We faced a number of delays and an almost endless number of challenges; so I took the lumps, because I really wanted to cross the finish line,” says Bida, who continues to pursue projects that can integrate as much local waste and local capital as possible, so that the overall impact of the project—environmentally and economically—can be maximized.
“At the end of the day, it’s very gratifying to envision something, put it on your back and cross the finish line with it.Yes, it can be tiring and stressful. And certainly I didn’t count on it taking 10 years!”
Photo:
ZooShare generates 500 kW of electricity using a containerized combined heat & power (CHP) system.
LED RETROFIT PROJECT PAYS OFF FOR GATINEAU SHOPPING CENTRE
Carrefour du Plateau case study
Serving the residents of Gatineau, Que., the Carrefour du Plateau is a 242,000-sf shopping centre featuring several major retail outlets, including Canadian Tire, IGA, Sports Experts and Jean-Coutu.
Carrefour’s owner, First Capital REIT, had a mandate to convert all of its parking lots to LED lighting, explains Concept Illumination’s Daniel Herz, “but this property is a bit of an outlier because of its size. It’s quite large”.
The Carrefour du Plateau retrofit was, in fact, the largest project that First Capital had ever tasked Concept with completing.
“It took guts to do it. This is a big property, it was a big spend,” says Gary Hurley, senior property manager for First Capital REIT.
The LED retrofit was not only fuelled by a desire to reduce maintenance costs and save energy, but also to improve the overall lighting quality at the shopping centre. There were
A variety of different light distributions were utilized to maximize coverage and uniformity at Carrefour du Plateau.
definitely some areas that could have benefited from better illumination.
Besides the corporate mandate, there was another initiative at play— rebates from Hydro-Quebec—which also helped make the lighting retrofit an attractive endeavour.
Getting the job done
“A variety of different light distributions were utilized to maximize coverage and uniformity,” Herz explains. A rigorous site survey and photometric analysis were conducted to optimize the results and to validate existing wattages, voltages, dimensions and product finishes.
“We had had conversations about possibly adding floodlights on a few select poles—you know, to punch up the light levels in those areas—but I suggested we do the lighting retrofit first, then reassess whether any additional fixtures are even required,” says Herz.
Because Concept follows Illuminating Engineering Society guidelines when spec’ing a job, Herz was fairly confident they would not need any additional fixtures afterward.
The scope of work included the removal of 132 existing fixtures from 87
poles (127 250W metal halide fixtures, and five 70W metal halide fixtures), and the installation of 131 new LED fixtures on 87 poles (86 140W LED fixtures, 35 110W LED fixtures, one 100W LED fixture, four 70W LED fixtures and five 25W LED fixtures).
Given the variety of fixtures being installed, a detailed installation guide was prepared, and all boxes were colour coded upon delivery to ensure a quick and accurate installation, Herz added.
“This is the largest single outdoor lighting project we’ve completed for First Capital. Carrefour du Plateau was part of a seven-property project in Ottawa-Gatineau, completed in the fourth quarter of 2020,” Herz explains. “All properties needed to be completed by the end of December, but Carrefour has more poles than all of the other properties combined.
“Obviously, we prefer outdoor work in the spring, summer and fall, but we’re not always so lucky,” Herz says with a chuckle, adding that one of the biggest challenges was not the weather, but rather the removal of the old fixtures.
“New fixtures include all-new hardware, new screws, etc., unlike existing fixtures where all the screws are rusted out, all the hardware is rusted out... and that’s what actually makes things a little bit complicated.”
There were anywhere from one to two teams onsite each day (each team is two installers). Because the work was going on during pandemic, the parking lot wasn’t as busy as it would have normally been, and no work was required after-hours. The teams would often start work as early in the day as possible—before tenants and customers arrived. They would start with fixtures closest to the shops, then work their way outward.
On occasion, the teams would cone-off a small area here or there, but nothing disruptive to the overall tenant and patron experience.
Like the industry at large, Concept’s work was also impacted by supply chain disruptions, but Herz notes they weren’t severe enough to derail the overall job, and he credits the lighting supplier for stepping up to help assure project success.
Carrefour du Plateau results
To Herz, it’s very important to light the space well; otherwise, why bother with lighting in the first place? “To First Capital’s credit, they care about the end result. They want it to look good; they want it done right.”
Concept was tasked with completing the job in December 2020 and, over a two-week period, they did just that. Here we are now, two years later: did everything work out as intended?
“There’s uniformity in the lighting; much cleaner lighting. It makes a difference,” Hurley says.
First Capital REIT has been experiencing savings between $8000 to $10,000 annually on their electricity bills at smaller centres where similar LED retrofit projects were undertaken, Hurley says. At Carrefour du Plateau, he hopes to see savings in the range of $12,000 to $15,000 annually.
“To me, it’s a nice little bonus that with better lighting you’re going to have less consumption,” Hurley adds.
It sounds as though energy savings and better lighting have been achieved. What about maintenance?
“Since the project was completed in December 2020, there has been no required maintenance,” says Herz, and he would be the first to know. If there are any issues with the lighting, “they would call us, because it’s all under warranty.”
Herz doesn’t know the client’s maintenance spend prior to the retrofit, but he does know the cost to change a bulb or a ballast can run the owner anywhere between $500 to $1000 per fixture. That would quickly add up for a property of this size.
In addition to the annual electricity and maintenance savings, First Capital REIT received a $22,896.45 rebate from Hydro Quebec for the project.
“Tenants don’t want to overpay, but they want the best,” Hurley says. “We got the best lighting, less consumption and the rebate—that’s a win-win-win.”
The retrofit has not required any maintenance since the project was completed in December 2020.
The teams would often start retrofitting fixtures closest to the shops, then work their way outward.
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mental health! Jeschke believes this aspect of the injury is completely under-appreciated.
One study published in the British Medical Journal found that the mental health of 50% of patients was affected, Jeschke notes. “Anxiety, depression... you name it, there are major mental health alterations. Regardless whether it’s high voltage or low voltage, you can have a very strong impact.”
“So you can imagine that you have these symptoms, then nobody takes you seriously... I mean, it’s not a surprise that people can get extremely depressed or anxious,” he says.
And with the lack of proper diagnostics, Jeschke wonders: Are these patients truly depressed, or is there some other medical explanation for what looks like depression?
“It would be nice to have this understood better. And that is what we’re doing. We’re actually looking into electrically injured patients to see what exactly is on the axis of depression and mental health? What are we really dealing with, and how can we treat it?”
Research is the key to progress
Perhaps a decade is too brief a period to see significant advancement in what could be considered a rare injury. That said, surely some progress has been made?
“There are several things we learned over the last 10 years. First is the impact low-voltage electrical injuries can have,” says Jeschke, who goes on to explain that—while they still haven’t unravelled the mystery—they are working toward understanding how electricity affects the cell membrane and various cellular components; and something called channelopathies, where your cell channels are being affected.
“And I’m very confident that, by the next five to 10 years, we will have a better understanding.”
“I think it is very important to develop new therapies, but what we’re missing is diagnostics,” he says. “We know all the testing will be negative and, when you have negative testing, the injury must be all in your mind, so it doesn’t exist,” Jeschke bemoans. “You run EMGs, EEGs, MRIs, CTs— you name it—we do all the testing and we don’t find anything.”
“I’m sorry you have to go through this nightmare [of testing], but it will all be negative... so don’t get frustrated.”
Breakthroughs, however small, are being made. Jeschke says he has presented on this subject to Ontario’s WSIB (Workplace Safety & Insurance Board), and he believes their understanding and acceptance is “something that has improved” over the last 10 years.
Diagnostics. Therapies. None of that happens without continued research, and you can’t do a lot of that without funding. Unfortunately, funding is hard to come by because—in the grand scheme of things—electrical injury (and burns, for that matter) is relatively rare, which is why it is “not heavily of interest for funding agencies, because it doesn’t impact the broad masses”.
“To actually achieve anything, and to move forward and to have some diagnostics, you need donations. Donations and support from the industry are high-
ly appreciated and needed—otherwise, you can’t conduct research.”
The Ross Tilley Burn Centre and St. John’s Rehab have embarked on a joint program in electrical injury care and research to ensure the highest possible quality of care is available to patients with electrical injuries.
But their work is far from complete. Specialized treatments for unique injuries advance only when industry rallies to support that research, so I strongly encourage everyone in the electrical sector to do what they can to help fund Ross Tilley Burn Centre and St. John’s Rehab’s program in electrical injury care.
To make a gift that will support Sunnybrook’s research into electrical burn injuries, call 416-480-4833 or visit sunnybrook.ca/donate.
Ultimately, the goal with continued research is to achieve a greater understanding that leads to successful treatments for sufferers. Being able to diagnose the electrical injury—and not have all those tests come back negative—would go a long way toward making non-visible electrical injury visible.
THE DEVICE THAT PRINTS NEW SKIN
Dr. Jeschke is very excited about a hand-held 3D “skin printer” that he is developing in collaboration with U of T Engineering to cover large burn wounds. The printer’s “bio ink” accelerates the healing process using the patient’s own cells.
Learn more about this visionary concept in our video with Dr. Jeschke, direct link youtu.be/pUT_okq_CHg
Prof. Axel Guenther and Ph.D. candidate Richard Cheng with the 3D skin printer. Photo: Daria Perevezentsev, courtesy University of Toronto Engineering.
SUPPORTING THE EVALUATION OF NOVEL SOLUTIONS
IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund
Since its launch in 2005, IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund has been involved in over 200 projects that seek to support innovation “that has the potential to achieve significant electricity bill savings for Ontario ratepayers either by enabling greater competition in Ontario’s electricity markets or by helping customers better manage their energy consumption.
“By evaluating additional solutions that can provide the kinds of electricity products and services that we procure, we can increase competition,” explains Katherine Sparkes, Director, Innovation, Research & Development, with IESO. “And we know that increased competition is good for customers in terms of price management.”
The Independent Electricity System Operator recently invested $6.8 million through this fund into projects involving wastewater, a mining facility, and deep retrofit software. As suggested by the latest investments, everything is (potentially) on the table when it comes to energy efficiency and grid innovation, etc.
Katherine joined us to discuss how projects are selected for the Grid Innovation Fund (GIF) i.e. the process, the objectives, etc., and to reflect on some past and current projects.
When we asked her about a project that really stands out as having truly enabled customers to better manage their energy consumption, she pointed to the “Freezer Temperature Modification” project involving Brickworks.
The findings of that pilot resulted in amendments to a provincial regulation under the Health Protection &
Katherine Sparkes, Director, Innovation, Research & Development, Independent Electricity System Operator.
Promotion Act, 1990, which removed the maximum freezer setpoint temperature requirement (-18 C) for frozen foods, realizing persistent electricity savings province-wide. IESO has promoted this change to the restaurant industry, in partnership with trade organizations.
“Evaluation of Grid Innovation Fund Projects”, September 13, 2021, Henri van Rensburg and Jason Hinsey
“Through this demonstration, the partners were able to successfully work for a regulatory change, moving from a prescriptive approach to food safety standards to more of a performance-based approach, with reduced regulatory burden and resultant in energy efficiency. That’s a great example of a win-win.”
An important aspect of receiving GIF funding is that project proponents must also have skin in the game; that is, they also contribute financially. In
the case of Brickworks, the GIF funded value was $166,450, while the total project value was $253,900.
We also asked Katherine whether any projects failed to live up to expectation.
“The answer is, Yes. We have had projects that didn’t pan out,” she says, adding that this, too, is an important aspect of the fund. “It’s about evaluating those solutions in a way that requires a very limited investment, so that you’re not making a much larger investment with ratepayer or public funds [...] and then finding out that it doesn’t work.”
She pointed to a pilot project involving in-suite thermostats in multi-family residential buildings (MURBs) for electricity savings and load shifting. At the end, they learned the incentive that was being offered wasn’t doing a good job of driving load-shifting behaviour.
“The project demonstrated that the solution proposed wasn’t a good one and, frankly, that was a great outcome,” Katherine says, because project proponents were able to avoid a much broader deployment (and, correspondingly, a much larger investment) that would not be cost-effective.
A current project of which Katherine is really proud is the IESO-York Region Non-Wires Alternatives demonstration project (which entered its second year back in October 2021). According to her, the project is proving “that we can use those existing assets [and] effectively defer investments in traditional distribution infrastructure”.
“So that’s going to save ratepayers money, and it’s a model that can be replicated in other areas of the province.”
Learn more about IESO’s Grid Innovation Fund at www.ieso.ca.
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The explosive energies reached during an arc flash can cause severe, often fatal, injuries to workers even several feet away. The fuses we recommend for reducing arc flash energies are UL Listed branch circuit fuses with the highest degree of current limitation — Mersen Amp-Trap 2000® fuses. They limit the fault current before it reaches its maximum value and clear the fault in less than ½ cycle, enabling the fuses to greatly reduce the total energy delivered to an arcing fault, limit to very low values the thermal and mechanical stresses created in equipment by the fault current, and easily coordinate overcurrent protection systems for both overloads and short circuits.
2. Streamlined inventory gives greater availability of fuse spares with fewer SKUs
Amp-Trap 2000 fuses have the ability to replace multiple SKUs, reducing your overall inventory by 25% or more. The most common fuses found in today’s facilities are the UL Class H, K and RK5. The UL Class H, K and RK5 fuses are dimensionally interchangeable with the Amp-Trap 2000 Class RK1, making them easy to replace with a single class. The Amp-Trap 2000 Class RK1 provides a higher level of safety and performance than the other classes.
3. Reduced fault damage means decreased operating costs
The Fuse Control program saves you by alleviating product replacement costs with current-limiting Amp-Trap 2000 fuses. If sized properly Type 2 “No Damage” protection can be achieved when installing current-limiting Amp-Trap 2000 fuses, which prevent short circuit currents from destroying your
critical equipment. This means that your motor starter, contactor, or variable frequency drive will remain in functional condition if a downstream electrical fault were to occur, saving you product replacement costs and installation time. Should an arc fault occur within the electrical equipment, AmpTrap 2000 fuses will limit arc energy to low enough values so that equipment can typically be repaired and placed back in service.
4. Reduced downtime associated with electrical failures with full selective coordination Amp-Trap 2000 fuses’ convenient 2:1 coordination ratio makes it easy to design a fully coordinated protection system. A selectively coordinated system will localize a fault condition, restricting outages only to the equipment affected. A fully coordinated system will eliminate unnecessary outages, help maintain production, and save you time and money.
5. Better electrical code compliance with better fuse replacement options Since your fuse spares inventory can affect the level of protection and safety in your facility, it should be considered as part of your electrical safety program. Fuse Control helps you eliminate obsolete fuses that can lead to unsafe fuse replacements. Moving to the superior performance and ratings of Mersen Amp-Trap 2000 fuses helps you in your efforts to reduce the risk of injury to your electrical workers.
FUSE CONTROL TM : GET CONTROL OF YOUR INVENTORY AND YOUR COSTS
After
Mersen’s Fuse Control program is a powerful combination of circuit protection products and services designed to help you get control of your plant inventory, operating costs, code compliance, and workplace safety.
Developed by Mersen and refined through extensive field research, Fuse Control is a simple program that packs a lot of muscle. It will give you the edge you need to mitigate arc flash hazards, achieve code compliance, reduce inventory by 25% or more and offer the highest grade overcurrent protection available. Get Fuse Control and you'll:
• Improve workplace safety
• Achieve electrical code compliance
• Reduce downtime associated with electrical failures
• Streamline inventory as much as 25% or more!
• Decrease operating costs
How can one program deliver such benefits? It’s easy! Let the fuses do the work. The key lies in consolidating your current inventory and installed overcurrent protective devices to one fuse line - Mersen’s innovative Amp-Trap 2000® fuse family. Amp-Trap 2000 fuses outperform the traditional fuse, opening in less than one-quarter cycle at fault currents up to 300kA, and minimize the let-through currents and energies that flow downstream during faults.
Order Fuse Control and receive a FREE Fuse Inventory Audit & Analysis.
Take action today to get control of your inventory, contact a Mersen Sales Representative to initiate your Fuse Control program today. The initial storeroom audit and database analysis is very simple and will take up little of your time or resources. Also, did we mention, it’s free!
CORRECTING MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT COMMERCIAL POWER QUALITY
Power protection is about proactively mitigating and managing the risk to equipment
BY MICHAEL CREIGHTON
Electrical engineers understand better than anyone the importance of quality electrical power in driving business forward. Power quality is more vital now than ever, as the pandemic transitioned many of the last vestiges of pre-digital productivity onto networked devices and platforms, meaning poor power can no longer be functionally worked around.
In the past, a school could have students read reports; an office could have workers organize files; a clinical lab could have technicians perform data entry. All of these tasks are now done digitally, which means their operations grind to a halt when the power is unreliable.
With that in mind, it is worth correcting a few misconceptions about power quality so that engineers, electricians, operators, and others provide customers with the most reliable experience possible.
Bad weather is only a small piece of the puzzle
When catastrophic power events are brought up, the mind naturally conjures up images of thunderstorms or floods, but you may be surprised to learn that storms and other natural occurrences are not the primary cause of power problems. Anything that runs on electricity will create noise in a power environment, including other machines in the vicinity, the building’s HVAC system—even overhead lighting.
These systems are necessary to keep building operations up and running, but they can also produce electrical impulses, high-frequency noise, and high-voltage transients. This noise leads to variance in power quality—irregular swells, sags, and spikes in the smooth sinewave electrical engineers prefer to see.
That variance can easily disrupt sensitive electrical equipment in a way that can be hard to detect in real-time,
largely because many believe that power availability is the same as power quality.
Power availability has little bearing on quality
While the inability to turn the lights On certainly indicates that a power environment has been compromised, the lights being On should not be taken as evidence of a clean and consistent power environment. The simple truth is that systems are actually most vulnerable when the power is On.
Spikes, normal-mode noise, and common-mode noise are present to some degree all the time when power is On. Spikes are simply temporary surges that can overload a system, whereas noise is consistent, unwanted voltage impulses, separated as either normal-mode noise or common-mode noise.
Normal-mode noise is caused by large loads (e.g. heavy machinery or Power
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manufacturing equipment) being switched On and Off. Common-mode noise is caused by inclement weather, switching breakers, and poor grounding, but can also stem from surge protectors that only divert surges rather than eliminate them.
These power issues aren’t as dramatic or memorable as a blackout from a thunderstorm but, if left unchecked, these disturbances can lead to downtime, data errors, inaccurate measurements, shortened equipment life, and increased service calls.
Pricy products aren’t built to survive dirty power
While you might assume that costly equipment is built to handle a bit of wear and tear, this is decidedly not the case with highly calibrated, sensitive electronics. Dirty power won’t necessarily destroy equipment, just as low-octane gasoline won’t crash your car. The negative issues come in the form of degradation, system lockup, undetected data logic errors... all of which contribute to the slow erosion of system components and performance levels.
In a way, these problems are actually worse than an outright crash, because you could act on inaccurate readings without knowing your equipment results are flawed.
These are issues that commonplace power products like basic surge protectors and backup generators are not equipped to address. True protection comes from power-conditioning solutions that are capable of isolating connected equipment from the power provided by the grid to help maintain operations and uptime.
A surge protector and generator are not enough
Surge protectors are designed to divert high-voltage impulses away from the sensitive electronic systems they protect, but they do not actually eliminate the impulse. This means the power problem persists and the system continues to strain. Many surge protectors are also (functionally) one-time-use only, or degrade over time, with performance subject to their respective clamping voltage and response times.
Surge protectors are useful—especially in the residential or light commercial
Anything that runs on electricity will create noise in a power environment.
markets—but they don’t offer enough reliable and repeatable protection for more robust commercial and industrial environments, which demand more comprehensive solutions that include a surge diverter, a noise filter, and a low-impedance isolation transformer.
Surge diverters take high-voltage transients and divert them safely away from your electronic system, while noise filters protect systems from the high frequency normal-mode noise noted above. A majority of commercial-level power protection solutions deploy a surge diverter, noise filter, or both, but the most important element of power protection is actually a low-impedance isolation transformer.
This specialized feature acts to isolate the powered instrument from the power source and re-establishes the neutral-ground bond without opposing or disrupting the current path. This eliminates common-mode noise and ensures that the logic ground (or decision-making reference) for the computer is not disturbed. The device is then truly protected from unwanted noise without negatively affecting power flow. This ensures only clean, reliable power consistently flows to and through your devices.
Backup generators are similarly insufficient as surge diverters, as they can take up to 45 seconds to start up and supply power, which is an eternity to unprotected, sensitive electronic systems. An uninterruptible power supply, on the other hand, not only delivers reliable, clean power when active, but also features a low-impedance isolation transformer with a high load inrush capacity to ensure equipment is never disconnected from clean power.
Clean power saves money, time, and reputation
For example, one of our customers is a global leader leader in ATM systems. They were seeing an increase in service calls due to system lockups, lost communication, and “ghost jams”, which not only increased costs, but resulted in delays in processing time, down-
time, and the perception of a negative customer experience.
Without a proper power quality solution, the OEMs reputation and bottom line were at risk. They dedicated an allowance of 8% of annual revenues—$10.8 million in the year in question—toward equipment-servicing during the offered warranty period.
However, after introducing power-conditioning products across the board, their equipment-servicing expenses for the year were reduced by 43% (over $4 million in savings), vastly outweighing the cost of the implemented solutions.
In another case, we work with a major OEM in the dental imaging space that specializes in highly calibrated, technologically complex dental X-ray instruments. A significant threat to these sensitive devices is data anomalies caused by poor power quality, which can alter image quality and, therefore, affect patient diagnoses. This can adversely affect the patient experience if multiple images are required for an accurate diagnosis.
Service costs escalate when these problems occur, and the OEM’s instrument is perceived as the cause— even though poor power quality is the real culprit!
It stands to reason, then, that on sales of $200 million, this customer allocated close to $12 million for service costs. However, after the integration of power-conditioning solutions, the OEM saved 70% on service costs.
At the end of the day, power protection is about proactively mitigating and managing the risk to equipment from power-related failures including performance degradation, erosion of sensitive conductors, components, and circuits from low-amplitude power disturbances and surges.
In each case, the point is clear: it’s bad business to wait for electrical issues to happen, which means the electrical experts that serve them need to be proactive.
Michael Creighton has three decades of experience in engineering, R&D and innovation in the power management industry. He joined AMETEK Powervar in 2012 as director, Engineering, where he is responsible for leading a team in developing and improving power supplies, facilitating strife testing and using root-cause analysis to build and adapt products.
WHEN CHOICE IS REALLY NO CHOICE AT ALL
Research shows fear of reprisal is a main cause of electrical risk BY
ANTHONY CAPKUN
Ifirst met Gavan Howe over a decade ago when he was involved in the launch of Electrical Safety Foundation, Canada, along with a group of industry stakeholders, including Electrical Safety Authority’s then-chief public safety officer, Peter Marcucci.
For some two decades, this independent health and safety researcher has been studying the psychological, sociological, and organizational forces at play with regard to risk and safety in electrical work.
“It started actually quite a long time ago,” Gavan recounts, when he was involved in a focus group on electrical safety. In looking at the research involving live work—specifically, the leading questions being asked—he could see the results were a foregone conclusion.
“There’s no root cause for electrocution in the electrical trades.”
“And that inspired me to pursue a Master’s so I could research and understand live electrical work,” Gavan says. In fact, his Master’s thesis in 2008 examined occupational risk-taking and risk communications in electrical work.
But Gavan faced a new problem... that of communicating the risks in the electrical trades.
“The data shows that severe death or injury to electricians or apprentices is based upon dynamic complexity, not simple or linear complexity,” says Gavan or, to put it simply, “There’s no root cause for electrocution in the electrical trades.”
Underlying the problem, as Gavan sees it, is an outdated, 90-year-old safety model called “Heinrich’s domino model of accident causation”. Picture five dominoes, all lined up, left to right: the 4th domino is an “Accident” while the 5th domino is an “Injury”. Remove one of the preceding dominoes, and you’ve avoided accidents and injury.
“I argue this is a flawed model, because underpinning Heinrich’s model and research is the notion of human error; stop the error and there is no injury, or ‘blame the victim syndrome’,” says Gavan. “My early research—and the research of others—shows that while some electrical workers willingly take the risks of live work, not all electrical worker death and injury is based on risk-taking, per se.”
Gavan recognized a gap in the research. “If these highly trained and
highly skilled experts were still getting killed and injured by live work, I had to set out and examine the other half of electrical risk—something I later called occupational risk-bearing.”
Hobson’s choice in electrical work
Last year, Gavan completed and defended his doctoral dissertation “Energized work: when choice is really no choice at all”, which explores this new concept of risk-bearing by electrical workers. While nuanced, the concept does, in fact, differ from his earlier work on risk-taking... but how?
In research involving hundreds of electricians and apprentices in 2008, 2015, 2016 and, again, in 2020/2021, Gavan’s findings showed many factors that make electricians concerned about their safety at work; among them, pressure to speed up/work faster, unlicensed workers, injury under-reporting, the
TIE REBAR
FASTER AND EASIER WITH
“The electrician must take what is available, or risk getting nothing at all.”
lack of risk communications, relaxed apprentice ratios, reduced certification inspections, and fear of reprisal for refusing live electrical work.
Gavan says the number one risk as identified by electricians in 2008 was the work environment and pressure to speed up. In 2016, it was the “trunk slammers”—workers who are neither certified nor licensed—and the fear of working on a system a trunk slammer may have touched. In 2020, the number one risk to electricians and apprentices was the pressure to speed up, followed closely by fear of reprisal.
“This situation of trunk slammers causes great anxiety and great risk,” Gavan notes. “A recent CBC exposé found that Ontario College of Trades
inspectors documented over 4200 people working without proper certification in licensed trades in 2015 and in 2016. But since 2018, zero tickets have been issued. Why is that?”
According to Gavan’s rough calculations, at least 15 construction deaths took place in Ontario from November 2020 to February 2021.
“Did zero inspections play a role?” Gavan asks. “This lack of certification inspection, subsequent fines and penalties is just the tip of the iceberg of that dynamic complexity I mentioned earlier, and which contributes to occupational risk-bearing.”
Gavan concludes that highly skilled electrical trade workers are bearing the risk from this combination of pressure to speed up, under-reporting of injuries, trunk slammers, unsupervised apprentices, competition from companies employing unlicensed trade workers—not to mention the pressure to work live or possibly face reprisal.
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“It’s a Hobson’s choice,” says Gavan, meaning no real choice at all. “The electrician must take what is available, or risk getting nothing at all. And that’s why I call this situation occupational risk-bearing.”
He likens it to frontline hospital workers who, in many situations today, are working with fewer resources, limited ICU capacity, massive overtime hours, burnout, anti-vax pushback, truck blockades, along with large numbers of their colleagues away sick with Covid. These professionals are bearing the risks of Covid and its systemic impact on our lives.
Is any vocation truly risk-free?
As Gavan and I chatted, I decided play devil’s advocate. I pointed out that, to greater or lesser degrees, every job— every activity—will have some element of risk, some associated hazard. That’s why we perform hazard/risk assessments. Is he advocating for a life completely free from risk? Is that even possible?
“There will always be risk in the electrical trades,” Gavan agrees. “With electricity, there are many situations where live work is the only solution; powerlines for example, troubleshooting and service work are other examples.”
Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development Monte McNaughton likened an apprentice’s journey to the “Tokyo subway map”, Gavan says, “And he’s right. The construction trades are an extremely complex system of systems with many moving parts. I am advocating for changes in the system.”
One of those changes could include tackling the issue of under-reporting
CONCERNS
Pressure to work faster
Unlicensed workers
Injury under-reporting
Lack of risk communications
Relaxed apprentice ratios
Reduced certification inspections
Fear of reprisal for refusing live work
of construction and electrical injury which, Gavan believes—along with scholars such as Kreshpaj et al (2021)—is still a massive problem.
Kreshpaj and colleagues, Gavan explains, conducted a national, quantitative analysis and found “under-reporting of occupational injury is 50% higher among precariously employed workers”.
Most ICI electricians work on a project-to-project basis and are not prepared to rock the boat and risk future shifts. A key indicator of precarious employment is income insecurity.
“Scholars such as Fagan, Probst, Azaroff, Tucker and others state the percentage of injury under-reporting at work may be much higher than 50%,” Gavan warns. “After conducting electrical safety research over two decades with hundreds of electricians and apprentices, I can say unequivocally that fear of reprisal is a main cause of electrical risk, and a powerful motivation for electrical workers to under-report injury.”
Root cause analysis plays a tremendous role in injury analysis, Gavan admits, “but it doesn’t factor in a lot of those human elements”.
“So I believe fundamental change is important. We have to carefully analyze this tight interplay between organizational risk factors, and human risk factors to look at the below-the-line risk factors in electrical work,” Gavan says. “We need a fresh approach to under-reporting of electrical injuries.”
Where does this research lead?
With his dissertation completed, Gavan hopes his research will lead to several changes in both policy and industry, starting with lawmakers, regulators, and inspectors.
Gavan wants to be clear: this is not a blame game. Our occupational health & safety system inherited dated models that continue to blame the worker instead of digging deeper into those “hidden or below-the-line risk factors that continue to cause death and injury of electricians”.
To that end, he has put forward five calls to action to start improving electrical safety.
1. Today’s OHS laws and regulations are based on flawed accident data, says Gavan. “This has to change. Though difficult, we must find a way to reward everyone who reports all serious and non-serious injuries to better understand the actual scope of construction injury.”
2. Recognize that, in many risky situations, construction workers feel they have no choice but to comply. Over 15 years of research has shown a prime cause of occupational electrical risk is fear of reprisal, and recent data shows this factor to have increased significantly during the past decade.
3. Respect the power worker: Electrical work is precise and logical. “Electricians tell me that when they’re thrown off their normal pace, safety is compromised,” Gavan notes. When electricians rush a project, mistakes happen, and accidents take place. “Give these subject matter experts the respect they deserve and let them do the job properly.”
4. Make jobsite certification inspections a regular, ongoing practice of Skilled Trades Ontario.
5. “Lastly, I call upon Minister McNaughton to create a task force of industry actors and experts to develop new rules and regulations for reporting and recording all construction injuries that encourage and reward trade workers and their employers.
Keep the conversation going
“Some may argue that it’s the electrician’s choice to risk live work or not but, as with any Hobson’s choice, this choice is often no choice at all,” Gavan says. You can download Gavan’s dissertation “Energized work: when choice is really no choice at all” at EBMag.com (PDF). And while the paper is done, Gavan’s research is ongoing. If you’re interested in having a deeper conversation with him or have stories of your own to share—you can connect with him at gavan@ebranders.com. TOP ELECTRICIAN
“We must examine closely the dynamic complexity of all those human, environmental, legislative, economic, and organizational systems at play that continue to make construction and maintenance work dangerous for electricians,” Gavan says.
Gavan Howe
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Josie Erzetic has been named president & CEO of Ontario’s Electrical Safety Authority (esasafe.com) Previously, she served as ESA’s chief regulatory officer and general counsel. Erzetic possesses over 25 years of experience in the electricity sector. Prior to joining ESA, she held various roles at Ontario Power Generation, including vice-president, Corporate Business Development. Outgoing president & CEO, David Collie, has assumed the role of Special Advisor to the board to support the leadership transition.
Stanpro welcomed Cody Dobbelsteyn to its Atlantic sales team as a Lighting Specialist, covering New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (standardpro.com). He possesses 12 years of experience in the electrical industry, including five years specifically in the lighting industry. Dobbelsteyn is a past-president of the Fiddlehead Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society
Tim Horsman, president & CEO of E.B. Horsman & Son (ebhorsman. com), has been reelected to AD’s 2022 board of directors. Other Canadians among the 2022 AD LLC board of directors include Martin Deschênes, vice-chair, Groupe Deschênes Inc (groupedeschenes.com), and Steve Drummond, president, Source Atlantic (sourceatlantic.ca). Each year, the AD board’s Nominating & Governance Committee holds an open nomination and voting period, during which AD members select board members. Currently, more than 120 of AD’s 850+ member companies provide leadership on corporate and divisional boards and committees (adhq.com).
Photo: E.B. Horsman & Son
Electrozad Supply Co. Ltd.’s executive team has undergone some changes, effective February (electrozad.com). Former president William C. (Bill) Smith is now chair and CEO, overseeing the executive team while driving organizational growth. Formerly vice-president, Finance, John Jenner moves into the role of CFO and COO. In his new role as president, James Taylor (formerly vice-president, Sales & Marketing) will drive the company’s overall strategy. Electrozad is a member of AD—the largest contractor and industrial products wholesale buying group in North America (adhq.com).
Jacques Deschênes of Groupe Deschênes Inc. passed away in January at the age of 86 (groupedeschenes.com). Jacques joined Deschênes & Fils Ltée in 1954. He held various roles before becoming its third president and general manager in 1973. He then served as president and CEO of Groupe Deschênes Inc. from 1988 to 2000. He served as chair of the board until 2009, then as honorary chair until the most recent meeting in December 2021.
Jérôme Potvin has joined Leviton Canada as customer experience director, reporting to Jean-Claude Lespérance, senior director, ED Sales–Eastern Canada (leviton.com). Potvin will spearhead the implementation of a new Customer Experience department at Leviton.
Photo: Leviton
Wendy Hosford has been appointed territory manager “Team Ontario” for Brady Canada. Her territory encompasses Toronto, the Greater Toronto Area, and the Golden Horseshoe (bradycanada.ca). Hosford started with Brady in 2001 and, over the years, has earned three President’s Club awards .
Photo: Brady Canada
Lafert North America has appointed Ron Csermak to key account manager for North America. Csermak possesses over 30 years of experience in the electrical/ electronic industries. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering & Management from McMaster University, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario (lafertna.com).
Photo: Lafert North America
Eglo Canada’s Kim Quelch has been promoted to vice-president, Marketing (eglo.com). She joined Eglo as director of marketing just over two years ago, says the company, adding Quelch holds an MBA and has more than 10 years of experience in the lighting industry.
Wago Canada’s Montreal North territory welcomed Jeremy Martel as its newest regional sales manager. Michelle Brown has been named product manager for PCB Interconnect, replacing Cory Thiel. She has been with Wago for over 25 years, starting in Marketing before moving to Customer Service in 2001 (wago.com).
Photos: Wago
Aida Cipolla joins Ontario Power Generation as chief financial officer. She was recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in 2020, and as an Honoree in Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2019 (opg.com).
Photo: CNW Group/Ontario Power Generation Inc.
We’re limited by space here, but have plenty of room online! Learn more about these individuals by visiting EBMag.com. Click “News”, then click “Personalities”.
Photo: Electrical Safety Authority
Photo: Stanpro
3 ways to improve cash flow in your electrical business
Cash flow. It’s the most important yet easily neglected part of business management. As a business owner, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day running of your business. However, it doesn’t take long for cash flow mismanagement to catch up.
Discover how to ensure cash flow and keep your business running smoothly with these three tips.
Can you deep dive into each job, look at dispatch times, track how long it takes to invoice and receive payments? Maybe you can do one, or a couple of things, but not all of them. Business clarity means having all your business data in one organized place. It means not having to click through a pile of spreadsheets to find the answers you’re looking for.
Many times, this lack of clarity comes from running your business on a variety of software that doesn’t link well. Or, you could still be using paper and data isn’t being updated in your system.
Whatever the situation, businesses who prioritize having their data organized all in one location often have better clarity on where their cash is coming from and going to.
One way to do this is to switch to field service management software where you can collect data from all the workflows of your business. Not only will this help you see where you are making and losing money, but you’ll also be able to run comprehensive reports that dig into the core issues of your cash flow woes. This insight can then help you to make strategic decisions and help boost profitability.
Once you’ve implemented an allin-one software, you can focus on making it easier to invoice customers and have them quickly pay you. This cycle is a vital part of good cash flow management, so it’s important to ensure it’s running smoothly and efficiently.
Invoicing software can help you save time when a job is finished. You can set up automatic invoicing for recurring jobs
and auto-populate invoices to extract cost information from a document, and integrate with your accounting software to ensure your financial data is accurate.
Next, it’s time to look at how you can make it easier for your customers to pay you. Provide a variety of options so that customers can choose which payment option suits their needs. By doing so, your customers are more likely to pay promptly, improving cash flow. Another option for payment flexibility is payment automation. For example, if you have recurring maintenance jobs, or your business is working on a larger project, you may be working on a progress billing agreement. In these cases, you can easily set up automatic invoicing and payment processing to reduce staff stress with less invoice chasing and ensure your payments stay up to date.
When you read the specs, you are able to see the full scope of the job. That’s where you will find details on mechanical, plumbing, construction, finishing, electrical, and more. Meantime, a drawing may refer you to a section of the specs that could have an impact on your electrical work. Sadly, one of the most common mistakes is not reading the specs and drawings before preparing the estimate. Do this before you start. You may discover you are missing drawings, schedules or addendums. And, if something is unclear, you can send out an RFI right away rather than at the last minute.
2. Not being prepared
Once you’ve finished reading everything, it’s time to start the take-off. Gather your tools. Make copies of the drawings and specs so you can mark them up as needed.You will need a scale, calculator, pencil, coloured pencils or highlighters, note paper, take-off sheets—and a folder in which to keep everything. By being organized, you greatly reduce the chance of missing something.
3. Not marking up your notes and drawings, and missing materials
It is important to highlight items as you take them off your equipment and material estimate. A set of drawings used for a take-off should be full of colour and highlighted items. Experience has shown that estimates become more accurate when you mark each item and circuit as it is measured or counted. Make note of items for which you will need more information. If you miss something, who will pay for the material and the labour? That’s right... you.
4. Deliberately omitting material or labour
Doing this in the hopes “making it up” in change orders after winning the bid is a high-risk, low-reward strategy. Change orders are not automatically approved; upon review, if the additional cost is not what the client expected, it will be declined.
5. Substituting materials or using alternates
Sometimes it’s hard to get the exact material requested in the drawings or specs; or maybe a material is over-specified, surpassing CE Code requirements. We’ve all been there! However, submitting a bid that includes unapproved materials or alternates can result in not getting the bid, damage to your reputation, replacing the substitute or alternate at your expense, or even a lawsuit.
Also check out “Estimating Hacks: Tips & Tricks for Success” from EBPowerCon 2022. Visit EBMag.com, click “Audio/Video” then click “EBPowerCon”.
products and solutions
ABB Hi-Tech Valiant wildfire mitigation fuse
Photo: ABB
ABB Installation Products’ current-limiting fuse is designed to contain sparks that could otherwise be emitted during fuse operation and fall on dry vegetation, thereby helping to prevent wildfires. ABB’s fuse technology employs a sensor to protect against undetected fuse damage, and provides visual indication after operation. It helps address the prevention and mitigation of wildfires by interrupting the current in less than a 1/4 cycle, and preventing expulsive gases, showers and external heat from being generated during fuse operation (go.abb/electrification).
Mersen 700VAC Class J time delay AJT fuses
increase in AC operating voltage from 600VAC to 700VAC—primarily to better accommodate power transmission networks at 585V or 600V. The AJT series promises optimal performance while saving valuable panel space. Their time-delay characteristic allows for their use in a range of applications, and are available in indicating and non-indicating versions. Mersen says it’s the only fuse manufacturer to offer Class J fuses with the 700VAC spec. Additionally, there will be no change in part numbers or pricing (ep-us.mersen.com)
Milwaukee
cordless specialty angle grinders
John F. Wiesel is the president of Suderman Estimating Systems Inc., and has been estimating and teaching estimating since the early 1980s. Dan Beresford served as an electrician in the Canadian Navy, then worked in various roles in the electrical sector before joining Suderman.
Mersen has improved its AJT series of fuses (15A to 100A)—enabling an
Milwaukee expanded its cordless specialty angle grinder lineup with M18 Fuel 5-in. flathead braking grinders and M18 Fuel 4-1/2 to 5-in. variable speed grinders. Generating the equivalent of 11A corded power, the flathead braking grinders deliver 8500 rpm, while their low-profile, flathead design provides greater accessibility to tight spaces. The variable speed grinders also generate the equivalent of 11A corded power, and boast five speed settings between 3500 rpm and 8500 rpm, giving you greater versatility for the task at hand (milwaukeetool.ca).
Photo: Mersen
Photo: Milwaukee Tool
Sylvania HiPerformanceLED downlight gimbal
Photo: Ledvance
Offered in three sizes (3 in., 4 in., 6 in.), the luminaires are oriented to accent applications due to their narrow beam angle (45 deg), 90-deg tilting lenses, and 90 colour rendering (CRI). Choose between five different colour temperatures to suit any residential, hospitality, retail or low-bay application, says Ledvance. You can also select your preferred brightness level, thanks to the family’s phase-cut dimming, which ranges from 10% to 100% (ledvanceus.com).
Protect remote assets with AktivHub
Calgary’s AktivHub offers a turnkey asset tracking platform that can be integrated with a customer’s system and cellular devices seamlessly. The security solution for stranded asset materials is a small device
that can be buried up to 1 metre—with a battery that lasts up to 10 years—with instant alarm on asset movement of more than 1 metre. Know where your assets are, whether they have been moved, where they are moving to, etc., at all times or via selective alarms (aktivhub.ca).
EVLO 1000 battery energy storage system
The EVLO 1000 is a 1-MWh BESS designed mainly for electricity generators, and transmission providers and distributors. The system suits a variety applications, says EVLO, including renewable energy integration, microgrids, peak shaving, backup power and grid resilience. The unit is fitted with over 200 sensors for real-time temperature monitoring, a hydrogen-emissions detector, ventilation system, and dry-pipe sprinkler system. Under the right conditions, it can last up to 20 years (evloenergie.com).
Emerson Appleton GRTS Series junction boxes
Emerson aims to provide you with a “versatile, easy-to-install solution” for stanchion-mounted lighting applications, as well as any general raceway needs, for cable or conduit. The mounting foot design enables easier installation when mounting to brackets, trays, walls, columns, etc.,
while the box provides enough space inside for accessing and maintaining wires. The boxes can be installed inside and out, in Div 1 and Div 2 hazardous locations (appleton. emerson.com).
PataBid AI-powered estimating software
PataBid offers a cloudbased estimating software
that promises to be an effective tool for small- to medium-sized electrical contractors. Quantify’s automated take-off feature uses AI to count common items on drawings. Advanced tools allow for the creation/importing of existing items and data from other software sources, along with an internal item and assembly database available out of the box. The software is available for an annual license fee of $1200 US (patabid.com).
I just read the article “When choice is really no choice at all” and I concur with Gavan on so many items (Page 36 and at EBMag.com).
The members of the Canadian Airports Electrical Association (CAEA)—and the delegates who attend the annual Canadian Airports National Electrical Workshop—have spent many hours discussing this same situation.
I am the airport electrician at the Campbell River Airport on Vancouver Island and also president of CAEA. I have been in the electrical trade for about 45 years, working at the airport for the last 30.
Prior to 1995, Transport Canada owned and operated all airports, which were required to have certified electricians who also had to attend specialized training each year.
After 1995, sadly, Transport Canada dropped all airport electrical-specific requirements for qualifications, training, inspections and maintenance, making them the responsibility of individual airports. At many sites, airport electrical fell by the wayside.
The major issue and concern is with the very specialized and unique electrical system that is used in Canada for airfield lighting, runways, taxiways, approach lights, etc. These systems, when properly maintained by qualified personnel, provide pilots with the correct lighting signals for safe landing and takeoff operations.
This equipment operates as a 5000V series circuit system at a constant current—not voltage, as do conventional electrical systems. Also, there are no protective or safety components to protect either workers or the equipment. The equipment is designed to operate until destruction, and will turn 5-kV insulation to dust, and sand to glass before shutting down. What could it do to people?
CAEA facilitates the Canadian Airports National Electrical Workshop (CANEW) each year. (This, too, used to be facilitated by Transport Canada, but no more). CAEA is a non-profit association made up of volunteer members from airport electrical staff and associated affiliates who carry on hosting the workshop (www.canew.ca).
Our group has stepped up to bring these issues to light before something very serious happens. We have been successful in that we now have the airport systems included in CSA Z463 “Z463 Maintenance of electrical systems”.
CANEW a week-long training workshop dedicated to all aspects of airport electrical work. After a two-year hiatus due to Covid, we are hosting the 25th anniversary workshop in Victoria, September 25-30, 2022. To my knowledge, CANEW is the only airport electrical training workshop of its kind in North America and, possibly, the world.
Gavan, I would be very interested in speaking with you to get some information for the workshop, or possibly to have you speak with our delegates. You would be exposed to an electrical system and group of electricians and associated personnel who are truly unique in Canada.
— Murray Ames, president, Canadian Airports Electrical Association Both letters to the editor and online comments may be edited for clarity, length, etc., and do not necessarily reflect the views of Electrical Business Magazine
CODE conundrum
RAY YOUSEF
Ray is a code engineer with Ontario’s Electrical Safety Authority
TACKLE THE CODE CONUNDRUM IF YOU DARE!
Welcome to the newest round of questions that test your knowledge of the CE Code-Part I. Answers will appear in the May 2022 edition of Electrical Business Magazine, and online at EBMag.com under Features.
QUESTION
1
Does the CE Code allow two supply services of the same voltage from the same system of any supply authority to enter a building if one will only be used for supplying a fire pump?
a) Yes b) No
QUESTION 2
For a mobile home, the minimum permitted conductor size for the power supply cord is:
a) #10 AWG c) #6 AWG
b) #8 AWG d) #4 AWG
QUESTION 3
Which of the following insulated wire can be marked permanently in green to be used as a bonding wire?
a) #10 AWG c) #6 AWG
b) #8 AWG d) #1 AWG
ANSWERS
Electrical Business, February 2022 ed.
Question 1
Conductors for equipotential bonding shall be permitted to be installed as open wiring, provided that they are adequately secured.
a) True. Rule 10-702(1).
Question 2
What size of copper tap conductor is required to connect a metal fence around an outdoor substation to the station ground electrode?
b) 2/0 AWG. Rule 36-312(2)
Question 3
Receptacles having CSA configurations 5-15R or 5-20R installed in buildings under construction:
d) All of the above. Rules 76-012, 76-016.
How did YOU do?
3 • Seasoned journeyman 1 • Apprentice
2 • Need refresher training 0 • Just here for fun!
Code file
DAVID PILON
What is equipotential grounding?
While the CE Code-Section 10 begins by addressing the difference between bonding and grounding, it does not yet suitably address equipotential grounding. Does that mean equipotential grounding doesn’t matter? Well, let’s first look at the definitions for ground and grounded.
Ground is defined as a connection to earth obtained by a grounding electrode.
Grounded is defined as being connected effectively with the general mass of earth through a grounding path of sufficiently low impedance, and having an ampacity sufficient at all times under the most severe conditions liable to arise in practice, to prevent any current in the grounding conductor from causing a harmful voltage to exist between the grounding conductors, and neighbouring exposed conductive surfaces that are in good contact with the earth, or between the grounding conductors and neighbouring surfaces of the earth itself.
That’s a mouthful, to be sure! But note that, in the second part of the definition for grounded, it refers to the earth and neighbouring surfaces of the earth.
So, let’s try to picture what’s going on. What is the intent, what are the concerns here? Why does the definition speak to the surface of the earth and neighbouring surfaces?
ADVERTISER INDEX
Generally, we assume a building or structure is sitting on the earth (makes sense) and, therefore, it has a reference to that piece of earth. However, the only way to ensure that reference is the same one to which the non-current-carrying parts are referenced is to conductively interconnect the earth to those non-current-carrying parts.
To achieve this, we need a grounding electrode connection to the earth. In a large complex, we do this by interconnecting steel work and rebar along with other non-current-carrying metal parts.
What happens, though, when we run a feeder or a branch circuit with a bonding conductor to a second building or structure? This second building is also referenced to the ground upon which it is situated; however, the non-current-carrying parts are referenced to the earth at the first building. As distances increase, the concern for a safe installation increases.
hazard if we have no reference to the neighbouring surface of the earth and metallic equipment with which we are in contact.
Now add quadrupeds into the mix. Tingle voltage filters were invented to reduce the issue with current on the earth—currents that would cause quadrupeds to stop drinking or, in some cases, kill them.
Let’s say we feed a barn or watering bowl with a circuit that carries a bonded conductor going back to remote earth. What happens with stray voltages or issues around these buildings and watering bowls? What about the concrete and rebar used in the floors around these animals?
I believe we have come a long way in preventing objectionable current on bonding conductors
Note, the utility uses the earth as a return path for high-voltage systems; on a rural service, this earth return is also the ground for the low-voltage service grounded circuit conductor.
A fault on the high-voltage system or a lightning strike could create a huge
Hence, the importance of establishing an equipotential plane. We bond our circuits to the neighbouring earth, thereby equipotentially spreading any voltages across the earth in that area, creating a zero voltage.
While the issue of equipotentiality could still use a little work in the CE Code, I believe we have come a long way in preventing objectionable current on bonding conductors.
We have eliminated or greatly reduced the number of parallel neutral paths. We now need to carry the ball over the finish line and ensure we have equipotentiality throughout every installation by ensuring a ground at all buildings and structures, and each watering bowl at all points of access.
Always consult your AHJ for more specific interpretations
David Pilon is manager, Electrical Inspections, at Technical Safety Authority, Saskatchewan (TSASK). He also serves as vice-chair of the Canadian Certified Electrical Inspector (CCEI) committee of the International Association of Electrical Inspectors (IAEI), Canadian Section. He can be reached at david.pilon@tsask.ca.
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