POWER Surges Alumni Edition - March 2022

CEO REPORT 2 | WHAT IS ESG? 8 | RENEWABLES FACILITY 10 | STAFF ROTATION 12 | OUTAGE SHIRTS 16

MARCH 2022

EXPERT CROSSING Horizontal directional drilling across the Rappahannock River

MARCH 2022 VOLUME XXXII, No. 2 Surges is a publication of POWER Engineers, Inc. All

THE CEO REPORT

I

rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written

t’s March, and we’re coming up on a major

assess performance to date and make any mid-

milestone for the year. On March 24th,

year adjustments, and the whole process starts

we’ll deliver our annual Strategic Plan

again in October.

presentation to all our team members. In

That’s the strategic planning Circle of Life.

addition to our 2022 strategic initiatives, we’re

This never-ending business planning process

also going to introduce POWER’s purpose, values

is a key part of our success. By continually

and long-term vision.

on the pulse of our businesses’ current state and

been valuable to all of us,

what’s coming, we’re able

I’m hearing from many

to achieve the necessary

that you would like to year’s strategic activities with our longer-term aspirations. You want to better understand the “why” behind our actions.

THE CONTENT OF THIS INTRACOMPANY NEWSLETTER IS CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY.

keeping an eye on our markets and our fingers

While our annual look at our strategy has

more easily connect this

permission of the company.

This never-ending business planning process is a key part of our success.

POWER’s Circle of Life

profitability to stand the test of time.

Make Money In the early years of

Corporate Sponsor

P O W E R , t h e f i r m ’s

Janet Metzger

performance was less consistent year over year.

There were good years for

We always star t our

sure. Some of them were

yearlong business planning process during the

fantastic. But there were also not-so-good years.

latter part of each year, and this kicks off what

If you recall the story from “Tales of the Ram,”

we’ve called our strategic planning “Circle of

our original philosophy was: “Do Good Work.

Life.” It begins in earnest in October when we

Have Fun Doing It.”

ask every department, region, business unit

POWER’s founders believed that the feeling

and division to prepare a detailed written and

of pride that came from doing a great job for the

financial business plan. True to our culture, this

client was a tremendous motivator. And the fun

is a grassroots, bottom-up planning exercise.

that came with working together as one POWER

As the Circle turns through January, we roll up all the plans and present them at the POWER

team to solve difficult challenges made the work even more enjoyable.

Management Conference, or PMC. The PMC is

But while many of our early projects were

a two-and-a-half day gathering of senior leaders

profitable, others were not. It turns out that

throughout POWER. It’s a very productive

we needed something more than just great

gathering and afterward, we have a real sense of

execution and a fun work environment. We

how the year ahead is going to shape up across

needed to make sure we were going to be

our businesses, plus a look at the longer-term

profitable so that we could keep doing great work

opportunities and challenges ahead.

and having fun. In other words, we needed to

We then distill all the content into our

Surges is not for distribution outside of POWER Engineers.

If you would like to give a copy to someone outside of POWER Engineers, please contact the editor.

make money to keep POWER a “going concern.”

Editor Melissa Pichardo

Associate Editor Sarah Shirley-Pollock

Corporate Publications Editor Mark Murdock

Art Direction Heidi Kelly

Surges Committee Suzie Hartz Ralph Poore Kate Wutz Chris Kulchak Kristin Sprague Kelly Miller Alissa Korsak Cody Lee Sandy Giordano Clayton Gefre Harry Hurt

Strategic Plan presentation and deliver it to the

And, sometime in the early to mid-1980s,

Board of Directors in February. As I mentioned,

the concept of the three-legged stool was

Submissions

the presentation to our full team is in late

born! “Do Good Work. Have Fun Doing It. Make

March. Then, the PMC meets again in July to

Money at It.” Over the years, it was simplified to

If you would like to contribute to the newsletter, please contact Melissa Pichardo at (208) 884-6052 or melissa.pichardo@powereng.com.

2 Surges March 2022

THE CEO REPORT “Do Good Work. Have Fun. Make Money.”

We started to see that the third leg was

and business partners. And, perhaps most

To many who came to POWER looking

an opportunity to restate the rewards that

importantly, we focus on doing what’s good

for an alternative to the suit-and-tie, big

accompany doing good work and having

for each other and our POWER families.

engineering firms, “Make Money” was

fun. For our fellow team members and our

Remember, our philosophy is designed to

unapologetically honest. Even though it

clients, POWER is about achieving success

appeal to individuals as well. So, what’s your

originally referred to the firm’s financial

for both — mutual success.

definition of success? While money certainly

success, it also spoke to people on a more

So, as an official spoiler alert, we’ve

personal level. We all wanted to earn a good

updated our philosophy to “Do Good.

empowers success, there’s more to it than that. We want to make sure we’re offering a

living. It was the reward for doing great work!

Have Fun. Build Success.” Again, you’ll

path to success for all of us, regardless of each of our unique definitions of it.

Our philosophy was a hit with employees

learn more on March 24 at our Strategic

and new recruits. And it helped us focus on

Plan presentation, but I’m excited for this

In this issue of Surges, we have some

continuously improving the business side of

evolution and wanted to provide some

great stories on building success at

consulting engineering. We were careful not

background.

POWER. “Plugged In!” includes an intro-

to share our philosophy with clients, however.

The “Make Money” leg might be taken the wrong way. After all, it’s their money!

Build Success For the last 21 years, we’ve put the words into action. We never stop thinking about the business side of our firm, because it allows us to do what we love — fun and challenging projects. It also has allowed us to do much, much more than that.

That’s why, when we recently took a second look at our mission statement and our philosophy, the “Make Money” leg gave some of us pause. The concept of financial

duction to our new Glint survey tool which will

We never stop thinking about the business side of our firm, because it allows us to do what we love — fun and challenging projects.

help us measure and improve our employee engagement. And for those interested in learning more about Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and reporting, there’s “Do Good.”

Do Good. Have Fun. Build Success. It might not roll off the tongue for those of us familiar with the original, but it will someday.

And we no longer need to worry what clients might think because we have their success built right in!

Please stay safe and let’s keep powering on!

security seemed like it was less a leg of our stool and more like the foundation it rests upon. Building wealth over time was

I have already hinted in past reports

still an important goal. But so was building

that we were thinking of eliminating the

a career, mentoring others, giving back

word “Work” from our philosophy. This is

to our communities and enjoying a great

because we not only do good work, but we

work-life balance.

also do good for our clients, communities

Heartfelt thanks.

The March issue of Surges comes to you from these contributors: Amy Busek, Mendi Edgar, Suzie Hartz, Jim Haynes, Jim Hays, Harry Hurt, Janet Metzger, Janice Moorefield, Mike Mueller, Mark Murdock, Ralph Poore, Dan Vanderhoff, Jeff Varness and Kate Wutz.

March 2022 Surges 3

EXPERT CROSSING

Prep work.

Crews used two 150-foot-long platforms in the Rappahannock River to set up for the horizontal directional drilling, cable pulling and splicing.

PHOTO: MIKE MUELLER

Horizontal directional drilling across the Rappahannock River

By Ralph Poore

T

he reliability of Dominion Energy Virginia’s transmission line cross-

ing the Rappahannock River depended in part on the reliability of a bridge, and the bridge was becoming less reliable every day.

4 Surges March 2022

PHOTOS: MIKE MUELLER

Strong support.

Piece by piece.

A temporary 16-inch-diameter casing pipe served as

The 9-inch-diameter drill pipe comes in 30-foot-

a conduit for the 9-inch-diameter drill pipe. Pilings

long sections. Equipment called a “deckhand”

in the background support the casing.

lifts and loads the pipe into the drill.

The 64-year-old Robert O. Norris truss bridge crossing the Rappahannock River is a scenic landmark in the region. Each day, more than 8,000 vehicles drive over it as they travel between Grey’s Point and the town of White Stone in Virginia.

Dominion Energy had been operating a 38-mile-long overhead 115 kV transmission line in the Northern Neck peninsula of Virginia that included a 2-mile-long crossing of the Rappahannock River.

The line crossed the river using seven wooden H-frame structures in the water and 14 attachments to the Norris bridge. The line provided critical electric service to about 19,000 customers in the area and was a primary source of electric power to the peninsula.

The time is now

outages were an issue, too, with at least seven events on the line in that time.

Because of these conditions, Dominion Energy decided it needed to replace the overhead transmission line with an underground line running beneath the Rappahannock River. This plan called for installing two cables for each phase of a single-circuit, high-pressure, fluid-filled 115 kV transmission line in two parallel underground pipe cables, as well as two fiber-optic cables.

Brierley Associates, a trenchless-specialty engineering firm, won the engineering contract and brought POWER to the team to provide detailed design of the underground transmission cable system. POWER’s work also included designing the cathodic protection system, laying out two land sections, detailing the pressurization plant connections and termination structures, as well as oversight of the HDD design and construction.

“We have advanced expertise with high-pressure, fluid-filled pipe type cable systems,” says Mike Mueller, the project engineer and POWER’s underground department manager. “While many of our competitors have expertise with solid dielectric cable systems

The line provided critical electric service to about 19,000 customers in the area and was a primary source of electric power…

The condition of the Norris Bridge affected the reliability of transmission line. The bridge rated only a five on Virginia Department of Transportation’s 9-point safety scale, the lowest score before a bridge is considered structurally unsound. The bridge required constant repair and since 2010, Dominion Energy had de-energized the bridge segment of the line more than half the time to allow bridge crews to work on the structure. Unplanned

March 2022 Surges 5

as we do, most of them do not have engineers who can do pipe- to the steel pipe by either a galvanic or impressed current anode. type design work.”

Pipe-type cables have to be connected to substation ground mats for AC fault current protection.

Designed and built to last “We designed an impressed current cathodic protection sysPipe-type design is unique because it is a paper insulated cable system tem which consisted of a rectifier and deep-well anode,” Mueller that requires dielectric fluid and pressurization units to operate, with says. Contractors installed the deep well about 200-feet deep at nominal operating pressure around 200 psi. In addition, cathodic the Rappahannock Substation. The incoming AC power to the protection systems are required to rectifier is converted to a DC power guard the pipe from corrosion. level, which is then adjusted so that Cathodic protection is a techthe corresponding current output nique used to control the corrosion allows the pipe to meet adequate of a metal surface by making it the cathodic protection criteria, that cathode of an electrochemical cell. A is prevent corrosion below ground. cathode is an electrode, or conduc“Proper cathodic protection of the tor, from which the current exits a underground transmission line will polarized electrical device. An anode minimize the possibility of fluid leaks, is an electrode from which a curwhich might be caused by pipe corrent enters into a polarized electrical rosion underneath the river.” device. A simple example of protection involves connecting the metal Track record to be protected to a more easily corBesides our expertise with HPFF roded “sacrificial metal” to act as pipe-type cable systems and cathodic the anode. The sacrificial metal then corrodes instead of the pro- protection, Brierley tapped POWER because the Rappahannock tected metal.

River crossing was a long, horizontal directional drill, and we’ve An underground HPFF transmission line is a little more com- completed several projects of similar magnitude. plicated. Cathodic protection requires DC current to be applied Notable examples of projects are included in the sidebar of this story.

Trenchless Technology magazine selected the Rappahannock River Crossing project for its 2021 Trenchless Technology Project of the Year, also recognizing POWER’s role in this high-profile project.

“This project was incredibly challenging for the contractor and its engineers designing it, with several issues requiring tremendous planning and teamwork to overcome,” the magazine says. “These issues included logistical planning, working during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a design that would be least disruptive to the waterway, resulting in the successful undergrounding of the lines…”

Bernard Krzys, CEO and publisher of Benjamin Media which produces Trenchless Technology, says “This HDD project showcases the timely use of HDD for undergrounding of power lines.”

“Proper cathodic protection of the underground transmission line will minimize the possibility of fluid leaks, which might be caused by pipe corrosion underneath the river.”

Ralph Poore is a copywriter in the Power Delivery group. When he’s not writing about POWER projects and industry news, he might be kicking back with some ice cream and a history book.

PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS Jerry Johnson – Project Manager, Hailey Mike Mueller – Project Engineer, Milwaukee PHOTO: POWER ENGINEERS

Robert Mertz – Civil Engineer, Syracuse

Tight seal.

Kevin Baxter – Civil Engineer, Syracuse

A crew applies a layer of polymer concrete coating over

Lucas Baumgartner – Electrical Engineer, Boise

the welded joint of the underground transmission pipe.

Erik Schacht – Drafter, Hailey

6 Surges March 2022

POWER has completed several horizontal directional drill water crossings of similar distances to that of the Rappahannock River crossing. These include:

CAPE FEAR RIVER Duke Energy Progress teamed with POWER to install a new 230 kV double-circuit, HPFF underground transmission line to supply power from its Brunswick Nuclear Plant. The line ran parallel with an existing 230 kV double-circuit overhead line crossing the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. Because the existing easement wasn’t large enough to allow a second overhead transmission line, the new line was installed underground. A horizontal directional drill under the river ran about 6,850 feet, 100-feet deep at its greatest depth. The line was housed in 8.625-inch coated steel pipes that contained 2,500 kcmil copper cables with laminated paper polypropylene insulation. The project completed the two HDDs simultaneously by drilling under the riverbed from land, feeding and pulling, eliminating the need to perform any marine work.

PHOTO: POWER ENGINEERS

Far reach.

POWER’s services for the Elizabeth River crossing included designing the cable installation, termination structure and foundation.

ISLE OF PALMS

ELIZABETH RIVER

We teamed with UTEC Constructors on an underground paper-insulated, high-pressure, gas-filled transmission line through the saltwater marshes of Charleston for South Carolina Electric & Gas. The 5-mile-long project included horizontal directional drills ranging from 3,000 to 7,000 feet, requiring the use of platforms and barges for the water-to-water drills and cable pulling equipment.

This project involved one of the longest cable pulls in the country.

POWER teamed with UTEC Constructors for the design and construction of a double-circuit, high-pressure, fluid-filled cable system underneath the Elizabeth River for Dominion Virginia Power. Because the river is a major military and commercial shipping channel for the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, the project used horizontal directional drilling to make the approximately 7,500-foot-long river crossing, resulting in one of the longest HPFF pulls ever successfully completed.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF NEW RIVER ELECTRICAL

NEWARK BAY Although it didn’t involve an HPFF or HPGF system, Public Service Electric and Gas’ $1.2 billion Bergen-Linden Corridor Project required a 6,600-foot-long trenchless crossing of Newark Bay, the longest horizontal directional drilling project for 345 kV cable in North America.

POWER used our detailed knowledge of PSE&G’s systems and underground transmission design to provide the specialized engineering services needed to build the underground system.

Special skills.

For the Newark Bay cable crossing, eight massive reels each held 6,600 feet of 5,000 kcmil XLPE.

March 2022 Surges 7

DO GOOD POWER’s new ESG program focuses on doing the right thing on projects and beyond

By Amy Busek

P

rioritizing the needs of our team members, our clients and our communities is central to how

POWER does business. Our new Environmental, Social and Governance Program is the latest way we’ve chosen to make that commitment more explicit, taking yet another step to becoming the

best company we can be.

What’s ESG?

Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, is an evolution of what used to be called corporate social responsibility — a realization on the part of companies and their leaders that profit isn’t the only measure of business success. Over the past 20 years, corporations — including others in the AEC industry — developed frameworks that helped track the impact of their business practices on their employees, clients and communities.

POWER already works toward transparency, sustainable project choices, giving back, and making sure all of our employees feel heard and represented. We’ve formalized some of those efforts over the past decade through the POWER Foundation, the POWER Women’s Network, the Sustainability Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. But developing a cohesive ESG program will help us track POWER’s positive impact and expand our efforts.

Externally, providing quality services is no longer the only thing our clients ask for. They want to know their suppliers embody values similar to theirs. Values must also be material to the business: tightening cybersecurity standards on critical infrastructure projects would be a more material topic for POWER than ensuring safe manufacturing conditions in foreign factories, for example.

For POWER, engaging in the ESG conversation and showing intent can bode well.

Taking care of our team members, clients and planet are not new to POWER, but this program provides a structured way to collect and chart efforts across the company.

Doing ESG at POWER

ESG is much more than emission reduction and workforce diversity.

It’s also strong governance, transparent leadership and employee representation.

ESG requires an objective look at ourselves, identifying our values through the values of the people who are impacted by our business, known as stakeholders. Stakeholders include employees and clients, but can include communities, vendors, competitors and regulatory agencies, too.

Mutual success, thanks to ESG But first, we have to identify those stakeholders — and figure Not surprisingly, companies that are thoughtful about transparency out what’s important to them. That’s the first task of the newly in governance, the effect of their business on the environment, and formed ESG Committee. The committee is composed of 25 employthe importance of giving back to their communities, tend to have ees, including a full-time chairperson, with four subcommittees: a better long-term outlook. Taking care of our team members, cli- Environmental, Social, Governance and Client/Industry. ents and planet are not new to POWER, but this program provides Once this team identifies our stakeholders, our challenge is a structured way to collect and chart efforts across the company. twofold: to ask them the right questions and act on their feedback.

Internally, strong ESG initiatives are shown to bolster company Stakeholders will also include people from every level of the orgaperformance and workplace satisfaction. Taking care of our POWER nization, alongside clients from each division and other outside team is a major priority — not only because it helps improve our parties. Their input will give us the qualitative and quantitative retention rates, but because it’s the right thing to do. We care about data we need, which will give us a baseline for establishing our proone another’s well-being, and making sure everyone feels heard, gram’s focus topics and measuring our improvement in those areas. respected and included will help our company attract the best talWe know we probably won’t start out where we want be on most ent, and keep it. And with the best talent comes the best ideas and measures. Where we start is less important than where we go and the most creative innovations. how we show consistent improvement over time.

8 Surges March 2022

What’s to come Equity and business continuity underscore our ESG commitment The ESG committee’s work will be published in an end-of-year report. to ourselves, clients, and communities. We do this by protecting Unlike our previous Sustainability Reports, the ESG Report will POWER’s number-one priority — our POWER team — and mirlook inward, focusing on the impact of the ESG measures POWER roring the values of clients. will have put in place to enhance our longevity and resilience.

We may be larger and more spread out now, but understanding The ESG Report isn’t the end — it’s the beginning. The process the collective need is as central to our success as ever. will repeat annually, building on past baselines, adding goals that reflect ongoing stakeholder feedback.

Amy Busek is the Corporate ESG Manager in the Corporate Compliance Group. She’s the first one on the karaoke stage when the opportunity Our ESG commitment arises and her dog, Buster, appreciates all the hours she spends practicing.

POWER is big enough to make a difference, yet small enough to be agile. ESG is a process that ties our cultural values to company policy. It tells the story of our success and is honest about areas we can improve.

FOCUSED FLUIDITY The ESG Committee is led by ESG Manager Amy Busek. Subcommittees group specific skillsets and interests of committee members together to form four focus areas. Collaboration among subcommittees is encouraged, as members were selected for their diverse backgrounds.

Ron Carrington Nate Hart Holger Peller Thomas Sullivan Rob Womble Kate Wutz

ENVIRONMENTAL

Naveed Afroze Kat Bridwell Mendi Edgar Holly Goulding Erin Montemurro Sumi Sankaran-Deal

SOCIAL

»» Climate change »» Nature loss »» Freshwater availability, decarbonization, efficient design.

»» Dignity and equality »» Diversity by age, gender, other indicators »» Pay by gender, ethnicity, other indicators »» Entry-level wage

Gadrie Edmunds John Gunst Chuck Kemp Janet Metzger Lynnette Roberts Shayne Wright

GOVERNANCE »» Corporate purpose »» Quality of governing body »» Quality of upstream and downstream vendors »» Shareholder process and rights

»» CEO pay ratio »» Risk of child or forced labor »» Health and well-being »» Skills for the future »» Community and social vitality

Nathan Bingham Gretchen Cividini Dwight Cole Chris Kulchak Chris Pierce Sara Schroeder

CLIENT AND INDUSTRY »» Ethical behavior »» Oversight and disclosure of material risks and opportunities.

»» ESG trends of clients and competitors »» Innovation of better products and services »» Regulation pertaining to ESG issues

»» Client ESG expectations on POWER »» ESG impact on industry ratings and rankings

March 2022 Surges 9

POWER PROJECT

IN

60 SECONDS

ORGANIC WASTE IN, HYDROGEN FUEL OUT

PSA

By Suzie Hartz PROJECT

Raven SR Renewable Hydrogen Production Facility

Water Gas Shift

SCHEDULE Start: June 2021 Completion estimate: Q4 2022

CLIENT

Steam Reformer 2 (SR2)

Stellar J Corporation (client) / Raven SR (owner)

Steam Reformer 1 (SR1)

TOTAL PROJECT FOOTPRINT Raven SR has signed an agreement with Hyzon Motors to develop 250 hydrogen hubs globally.

POWER’S ROLE Front-end planning services »» Process model validation »» Value engineering consulting and support »» Comprehensive architectural and engineering services: process, controls and integration; civil and structural; mechanical and electrical; and architecture »» Project management

IN LAYPERSON’S TERMS With multiple commercial projects for producing hydrogen-rich syngas under its belt, renewable fuels company Raven wanted to commercialize production of transportation-grade fuels. By diverting organic waste and turning it into a source of renewable hydrogen, Raven’s patented Steam CO2/Reforming technology will deliver a combustion-free process capable of producing more renewable hydrogen per ton of waste than similar applications, while emitting fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

POWER’s front-end planning services, in partnership with construction firm Stellar J Corporation, provided Raven with a total installed cost (TIC) estimate, budget tracking dashboard, and schedule for the overall project — all within 60 days.

This project is the final step in building facilities to convert organic waste to a hydrogen fuel that will be sold through partner companies for commercial and passenger vehicles.

10 Surges March 2022

Feedstock Reception

Feedstock Staging

HYDROGEN HAPPENS Raven has two separate technologies – the Series S and Series G processes. The “S” (for solid) and “G” (for gas) represent a feedstock physical state.

The Raven process produces transportationg r a de hydro gen fo r app roximately 25.4 kWh/kg H2. This is about 50% less energy required relative to electrolysis, which is in the range of approximately 45-50 kWh/kg H2.

Each of the technologies has its own

CHALLENGES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS-Auction COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS POWER’s front-end planning services leveraged our process engineers, controls and integration engineers, civil and structural engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, architects, and project managers in support of the project.

Office Space

PROCESS MODEL VALIDATION Our team took the initial research model developed by Raven in UniSim, imported it into Aspen Plus, and compared the results of this base case model with the original. Raven’s UniSim model had been developed to match empirical data produced from the pilot plant. Working together, we were able to determine that a modification of Aspen’s “yield equation” was in order. After incorporation of additional design specifications, the team modulated the feedstock rates/types until specific hydrogen production targets were met. This was all accomplished in less than three weeks and helped our client weigh capital-cost implications versus operational costs.

Export Panels

Hydrogen Storage

SKID-BASED SYSTEMS By commercializing this technology through the extensive use of pre-assembled skids, Raven will be able to significantly improve the construction schedule, increase the quality of workmanship, and reduce the overall capital cost of the project during the EPC phase.

We worked together with Stellar J to develop a TIC budget and fasttrack schedule for the project.

Waste-to-fuel.

This rendering illustrates key parts of the solids-to-fuels process at the Raven Richmond facility in California.

IMAGE: POWER ENGINEERS VISUALIZATION TEAM

positive attributes, which are part of technology-of-choice decisions. The S Series is a net water producer, along with an approximate negative carbon intensity score of -15 (dependent upon feedstock) — it takes more carbon out of the environment than it produces.

Currently, our One POWER team is engaged on five separate hydrogen projects, including a revamp of the Unit Ops scale Pilot Plant at University of California, Berkeley.

PROJECT TEAM: FACILITIES »» Jim Hays – Program Sponsor, Boise »» Anne Runnalls – Program Manager, Boise »» John Abraham – Project Manager, Atlanta »» Warren Lyman – Project Engineer, Minneapolis GENERATION »» Nick Gritz – Project Manager, Atlanta VISUALIZATION SERVICES »» Daniel Krancer – Project Lead, Boise ENVIRONMENTAL »» Brent Miyazaki – Program Manager, Anaheim ADVANCED UTILITY SOLUTIONS »» Kristi Norman – Project Lead, Green Bay Suzie Hartz is a marketing and proposal coordinator in the Facilities group. She enjoys spending time with her husband and their two small children, who are full of energy and imagination.

March 2022 Surges 11

BROADEN YOUR EXPERIENCE

By Mark Murdock

Gateway Substation.

Varness worked on this 345 kV substation operated

by Ameren Illinois.

PHOTO: POWER ENGINEERS

Power Delivery Staff Rotation Success Stories: Jeff Varness

I

n 2018, Power Delivery launched its first Staff Rotation Program, where

volunteers from SAS, PTE and Substations spend six months to one year cross-training outside of their “home” business unit.

Why SAS, PTE and Substations?

All three business units work together to provide a comprehensive set of services for substations.

DESIGN Substations engineers the equipment and specifies how it will be built, connected and wired. These design packages are used by a construction crew.

ANALYSIS SAS analyzes the electrical performance of the equipment to ensure its proper performance and programs the intelligent electronic devices (IEDs).

TEST/COMMISSION PTE verifies that the individual pieces of equipment work as they were designed and that the IEDs of the overall system work properly together once installed.

As Power Delivery’s Engineering DVM Doug Jones puts it, “Volunteers that complete the full rotation across all three business units receive a much more holistic understanding of how a substation works and how it’s design moves from concept to commissioning.”

12 Surges March 2022

What did you like best about your experience in the program?

“It was a great way to get to meet more of the substation people in the office and get to know them better — it’s just a better office vibe after working with their group. It was also about being challenged with new types of work. Getting to go to St. Louis and work six months in a completely new city was fun.

But then also actually getting to be in the substation, working in PTE, and really getting into the relay settings and the layout of the protection for the substation. Working in the breakers — all of that is really cool and something that you don’t get to see if you are always in the office. Everything comes to life.”

What challenged you most from a technical perspective?

“For me, it was stepping back and taking in the whole build of a substation.

For example, coming from SAS, I might just be doing an update of a single relay. I am not looking at the low voltage electrical system typically — that was interesting. How the relays were getting powered, and how that power is backed up. It was challenging to wrap your head around.”

How about the most memorable moment from the year?

“Probably energizing our substations in PTE. The Ameren team was there turning everything on, and we are testing everything and hoping nothing trips off! There was a lot of tension, but it was very fulfilling too — seeing everything work properly, and the numbers on all the meters go up to what they should be.”

How has completing the program helped your SAS career?

“Now that I learned how everything works together, it’s helped me when talking to clients. Instead of just knowing my discipline, I have more confidence that I know the things that POWER offers and who I can refer a client to if they have any questions.”

Meet Jeff »» Joined POWER in 2019 »» Currently an Engineer II »» Home business unit – Transmission Planning SAS Group, Phoenix

»» Cross-trained in Substations and PTE »» 2020 Program Alumnus

“I think the PTE portion of the program was the most impactful training that I’ve been a part of ever.”

Do you have any advice for those considering the Staff Rotation program?

“I highly recommend taking part in it. And really buying into it, because it’s most beneficial if you dig in and really get to know what’s out there in the world of substations.

It is also nice to just have one year of completely different work. To see what our coworkers are doing and more of the facets of POWER’s business.”

Some are concerned about being away from family during the 6-month PTE rotation. What do you tell those people?

“It’s definitely a personal decision that everyone has to make. If it’s at all possible, I really recommend it. It is very beneficial. In fact, I think the PTE portion of the program was the most impactful training that I’ve been a part of ever.”

WANT TO LEARN MORE? Search “Staff Rotation Program” on POWER Portal for more details. Talk to your department manager and look for the “solicitation of interest” email that is sent out each summer.

Have questions for Jeff?

Feel free to email him at jeff.varness@powereng.com

Mark Murdock is a content strategist for the MarCom group. He’s a spicy food fan and loves a tasty taco on any day of the week.

March 2022 Surges 13

PLUGGED IN!

Despite remote work, employees connect with POWER and each other

By Harry Hurt Hybrid workplace. Working remotely. Unprecedented times.

While these terms might be used to describe challenges, they team reacted quickly when COVID-19 required us to work from describe opportunities, too. home and ramped up our ability to stay connected and find new The way we interact with each other has changed signif- ways to collaborate. icantly from the beginning of 2020. Yet, for the most part our cultural value of building connections with our cowork- Survey says… ers is strong, despite not hosting the Support Staff Conference, Now we’re taking another step: We’re in the midst of completBurnouts and Outages – three of the most popular in-person ing the first Voice of POWER survey. Your feedback will help annual events at POWER. us find ways to enable you to get things done more efficiently.

So, how can we help the people of POWER continue to do Everything from work-related things, to finding ways to build good work, have fun, and build success during these strange times? deeper connections with coworkers, stay well, and generally keep That’s one goal of our renewed working-from-home from turning focus on employee engagement. into living-at-work.

The Operations Human Resources Though my job title contains group created a new position to the words “employee engagement,” focus on employee engagement, everyone can get involved in makto get our people involved with ing POWER better. Welcoming a each other and guide the future new coworker, organizing a game of POWER. That future begins for Beverage Friday, and sharing with you. an interesting LinkedIn Learning course are some suggestions. Or Staying in touch share your ideas with me and let’s True to our culture, many connecget something going. tions among people happen at the grassroots level. Workgroups are Harry Hurt is an employee engagestill getting together for trivia contests, group volunteer days and ment specialist in POWER’s Human Resources group. When he’s Beverage Fridays. Every day, people mentor new employees, col- not on two feet, Harry lives life on two wheels and he’ ll eat almost laborate on projects and share what we’ve learned. anything if it’s deep fried.

Most of that is possible with platforms like Microsoft Teams and technology that our Ops IT services group supports. That

We’re in the midst of completing the first Voice of POWER survey. Your feedback will help us find ways to enable you to get things done more efficiently.

14 Surges March 2022

NEW SURVEY TOOL AT POWER What’s the best way to find out how someone feels about something? Just ask them.

Simple, right? Not quite, since working remotely means we’re not connecting in person and missing out on opportunities to chat in the hallways or breakrooms. It might also be a little more difficult for managers to ask people on their team how they feel about a particular topic. We want employees to be comfortable providing feedback and expressing opinions. That information is more important than ever. Which is why POWER is working with Glint, a survey company and software platform.

Why Glint?

Out of several options, we chose Glint because of their methodology, their reporting capabilities, ability to develop improvement plans based on survey results and, very importantly, the confidentiality of the results.

No one at POWER or on our Glint project team can determine an individual’s response. The platform has multiple confidentiality thresholds that must be met before any results are included in a report. This is important because of the number of small departments, work groups and small offices we have. Glint can group and filter the responses reporting structure, years of service, age group, demographic information and more. If, by applying those filters, the sample group is too small (typically less than five) the report displays a message that there isn’t enough data to report on. To further protect that group, the results for the next-largest group are suppressed.

Confidentiality Plus: Here’s an example Let’s say I see a question about communication that has a wide range of negative and positive responses.

I dig deeper and see that one department with 25 people in three offices has 11 positive, 10 negative, and 4 neutral responses. Sixteen people from the department are in Office A, six people are in Office B, and the remaining three people are in Office C. I drill down to see how the sentiment varied from office to office. The report shows: »» Office A – 6 positive, 4 negative and 2 neutral answers »» Office B – Data Suppressed »» Office C – Data Hidden With only three people, Office C doesn’t meet the threshold of five people, so the results are hidden in this particular breakdown, but still counted in the final report.

Even though Office B has more than five people, the results are suppressed. That way I can’t add up the results from Offices A and B to determine exactly how the three people at Office C responded. I do have enough information to know that the department needs to work on improving communication, though.

The recent Voice of POWER survey was the first major survey OPS-HR has conducted on Glint. Our team worked with Glint consultants and Glint “People Scientists” to develop a strategy and build a series of surveys to get your input and feedback about working at POWER.

You can find more information and FAQs on Portal. The results of the survey will be shared with everyone at POWER soon.

March 2022 Surges 15

ON OUR BACKS AND IN OUR HEARTS What’s behind the Outage shirt tradition?

By Mark Murdock Outage n. A temporary suspension of operation, especially of electric power.

P

OWER’s annual summer party, the Outage, is a tradition that stretches back to the late 1970s.

Over the years, the event grew bigger as did its reputation in Idaho’s Wood River Valley.

Family camping trips

If you’re new to POWER, you may not know the history of the Outage.

In the early years of the company, the engineers were often gone from home for long stretches at a time. So, the idea to get away from work to go camping for a few days with family and friends was welcomed by all, and the Outage event was born.

As POWER grew, so did the Outage. At some point, clients and their families were invited as well. All were impressed by the spread of food, drink, live music and dancing that we were able to put together in the remote areas of Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains.

Sometime in the mid-1980s, we hired a local Hailey artist to create promotional posters for the upcoming party. The poster designs were also screened onto t-shirts and both posters and shirts were given out to all employees. And so began the tradition of the Outage t-shirt.

And while the three-day event was ultimately scaled back in the mid-1990s, the Outage celebration continues at POWER offices across North America. Its original inspiration is just as strong now as it ever was — the chance for team members to get together with their families and have a great time.

After the three-day Outage was scaled back, the posters were no longer necessary, but the t-shirts lived on.

They were too beloved to let go. There was one problem: Where would we get the design?

16 Surges March 2022

PHOTO: POWER ENGINEERS

The Outage quilt.

POWER-themed quilt created by Jack Hand’s wife, Karen, using Outage t-shirts from 1991 through 2009.

The answer was all around us — our own creative colleagues. In 1997, POWER launched the Outage T-shirt Design Contest. The concept was simple — open the design creation to all employees.

The entry that received the most votes won.

25 years later

Today, the contest is still a POWER favorite. Even though the 2020 and 2021 parties were called off, we still went forward with the t-shirt contest and production. That’s a testimony to the true spirit of the Outage — that celebrating family and friends goes beyond a single event.

What’s the outlook for 2022? We’re all hopeful that the Outages will return this summer. But even if they don’t, we’re still going to keep the faith.

We’re making the 2022 Outage t-shirt, and we need your help.

Mark Murdock is a content strategist in the MarCom group. He’s a dedicated collector of Outage shirts, but please don’t ask him to pick his favorite.

PHOTO: MARK MURDOCK

The first Outage t-shirt design.

While Outages started in 1977, it wasn’t until 1985 that POWER hired a local Hailey artist to create a design for a poster and t-shirt.

YOUR DESIGN HERE

Enter the 2022 Outage T-shirt Contest

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Two Steps to Get Started!

Go to POWER Portal and click on the rotator to read the contest rules and entry details.

Then round up your pens, colored pencils, paint

YOUR DESIGN HERE

WINNING ENTRY RECEIVES

$275

brushes and drawing paper and get busy. Digital art is also acceptable!

March 2022 Surges 17

POWER Surges New Licenses, Milestones: Milestones January and Wins and February 2022 JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Karen Truxal

30 years

Bishwadip Adhikary

15 years

Garth VanHorn

20 years

Jim Davison

15 years

Carol Rowe

20 years

Arron Banner

15 years

Jason Rippee

15 years

Gina Rallison

15 years

John Trombetta

15 years

David Barrackman

10 years

Dean Brookins

15 years

Jessica Stack

10 years

Erick Braaksma

15 years

Aaron Graham

10 years

Derek Henderson

10 years

Brian Graham

10 years

Aaron Horne

10 years

Todd Stacy

10 years

Tracy Olsen

10 years

Ryan Weyant

10 years

Nikia Speed

10 years

Marc Tavares

10 years

Marcia Erwin

10 years

Chris Brown

10 years

Kevin Bina

10 years

Mark Locher

10 years

Nathan Engelby

10 years

Mariah Arguelles

Jacob Handy

10 years

Andres Lopez

5 years 5 years

Andrew Hingsberger

10 years

Steve Noonan

5 years

John Buckner

10 years

John Dunnuck

5 years

Kim Quinn

10 years

Phil Williams

5 years

Chris David

10 years

Robert Mertz

5 years

Jake Exely

10 years

Ciera Turney

5 years

Karen Harvey

10 years

Kate Henderson

5 years

Nathan Szczepanek

10 years

Alex Lucas

5 years

Ashley Belcher

5 years

Corey Novotny

5 years

Robert Kurihara

5 years

Jose Ortega

5 years

Kyle Miller

5 years

Bruce Tanner

5 years

Augustin Muresan

5 years

Jim Plummer

5 years

Nathan Boswell

5 years

Eric Westring

5 years

Gloria Carlos

5 years

Corey Knight

5 years

Michael Mahlum

5 years

Enguember Maradiaga

5 years

Kiva Martz

5 years

Steve Vergara

5 years

Autumn Storteboom

5 years

Martin Bendokas

5 years

Thomas Bubb

5 years

Matthew Guillory

5 years

Jacob Royal

5 years

Justin Talavera

5 years

Brody Adams

5 years

Jeff Caraway

5 years

Matt Grego

5 years

Christopher Hauck

5 years

Qaiser Khalid

5 years

Josh Snodgrass

5 years

James Spicer

5 years

18 Surges March 2022

THE BACK PAGE

POWER News, Notes and Events

1 Made by hand Roger Field had some POWER calendar art,

For more Back Page-type pictures and stories: Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram

a spare wall, and wanted to “make things complicated.” He had a board and a rusty screw from the barn at his childhood home so making something with a “slightly rustic look” made perfect sense. Roger made frames

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from small angle iron that he welded and painted. He hung the frames from some pretooled belts. He and his wife Tammy found horseshoes to support the belts. Roger got help from Liliane Beguelin and John Gunst getting the poems. The end result is a pretty cool, artistic piece and a nod to POWER history.

2 Giving back at the beach Van Tang arrived in Hawaii for vacation in the aftermath of a seasonal cyclone in the 1

Hawaiian Islands. In the spirit of giving back and serving the community, she and some of her local Hawaiian friends got together to

3a

pick up trash and debris on the walkway at Haleiwa Alii Beach and Beach Park from the heavy rains during the storm. She also had the opportunity to catch a local charter boat to assist with the debris cleanup effort in the ocean. Mahalo!

4 Wheeling out After a couple of years of operating as a

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3 Spreading the love

fledgling club, the POWER Wheels Club in the

The POWER-Denver office got into the spirit of

Jeep enthusiasts – Doug Jones, Phil Franklin,

things on Valentine’s Day by flexing their cre-

Mark Nelson, Vale LeRoi, Josh Wort, Charles

ative muscles! Denver staff carefully crafted

Hutchinson, Chris Pierce and some friends –

and personally designed their Valentine mail-

their latest adventure included a trip out to

boxes to leave on their desks. The mailboxes

aptly named Wheeler Lake near Breckinridge,

Denver office officially has a name! A cohort of

collected dozens of sweet messages and

Colorado. Next stop for these dynamos?

candy from lovely co-workers around the office.

Moab, Utah in April!