Engineering & Operations Conference

Environmental

Grid Modernization

Transmission
& Distribution

Safety

Monday , May 1

• Welcome to Pasadena
• Honoring Our Colleagues: RP₃ Designations
• Keynote: Culture by Design, the Xbox Way

Tuesday, May 2

• Chair's Address
• Honoring Our Colleagues: Safety Awards
• Light Up Navajo Update
• Keynote: The Common Sense Clean Energy Revolution

Industry Spotlight: Grid Modernization: A Roadmap for Public Power Utilities

Open to all: Joint Action Agency/State and Regional Association Roundtable

Wednesday, May 3

Sunday, April 30

8:30 am – 5 pm

Pre-conference Seminars
Preconference seminars offer more time to learn from experienced instructors in smaller groups. In these courses you will gain expert insights, learn from practical case studies, and develop strategies and tactics on the critical challenges you face. Each seminar requires an additional fee

8:30 am – Noon
Key National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) Changes for Public Power
Be ready to implement the changes reflected in the 2023 edition of the National Electrical Safety Code, which went into effect February 1. Take a section-by-section walkthrough of the revisions and discuss how the new standards might affect your safety processes in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of electric and communication systems. Bring your questions about any rule interpretations or compliance issues and learn about sources for help in implementing the latest standards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Brent McKinney, P.E., Principal, TFB Consulting (retired from City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri)

1:30 – 5 pm 
Utility Planning for Transportation Electrification
Understand the basic building blocks of how to plan for load growth related to electric vehicle charging — including development of your own market adoption curves, plotting out likely load growth, expected load shapes, assessing potential grid impacts and likely load locations for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicle charging. Review the latest market, policy and charging technology trends and how that might affect future utility impacts and or customer program development. Discuss how you can prepare for and hedge against a variety of potential grid impacts, from resource planning considerations to understanding transportation-specific programmatic tools, rates, and service policies.

Bill Boyce, Principal, Bill Boyce Consulting, LLC (retired from Sacramento Municipal Utility District, California)

5 – 6:30 pm 

Welcome Reception with Sponsors (Public Power NextTech Expo) 

Monday, May 1

7:30 – 8:30 am. 

• Networking Breakfast (Public Power NextTech Expo)
  Get energized for the day ahead with your peers and the conference sponsors at this informal continental breakfast.
   
• Newcomers Breakfast
  New to the E&O Conference? Meet other first-time conference attendees, learn more about the conference and APPA, and make connections that you can build on throughout the conference.
   
• Photo Opportunity
  RP₃ and Safety Award honorees can get their photos taken (location TBA).

8:45 – 10 am

Opening General Session

• Welcome to Pasadena
  Sidney Jackson, General Manager, Pasadena Water & Power, California
   
• Honoring our Colleagues: RP₃ Designations
   

• Culture by Design, the Xbox Way
  When organizations look to foster a culture of resilience, the most common mistake is to take an open-ended "organic" approach, hoping that teams will creatively evolve themselves. In building Microsoft's enormously successful Xbox business, Robbie Bach discovered the opposite is true: a resilient culture—one that engenders creativity and adaptability in the face of change—must be built by design. Learn how to align remote and in-person teams along Bach's strategic framework—of one clear purpose, five operating principles, and five priorities—to build a culture that works.
  
  Robbie Bach, Innovation expert, former Chief Xbox Officer for Microsoft, and author

10 – 10:30 am 

Break with Sponsors (Public Power NextTech Expo) 

10:30 – 11:45 am

Breakout Sessions

• Federal Regulatory Overview   
  Get an update on the most important upcoming federal environmental rulemakings and review how several recent regulatory and legal events have affected the public power sector. Discuss a diverse suite of changes to air, water, and waste issues, such as the greenhouse gas emissions requirements for new and existing power plants. 
  
  Amy McDonnell, Of Counsel, Duncan & Allen LLP, Washington, D.C.
   
•  Broadband and 5G Deployment  
  As the U.S. prepares to make an unprecedented investment in both energy and broadband infrastructure, utility poles will be a central figure in how quickly deployments happen – and how much they cost. However, running fiber or attaching 5G components to existing utility poles may require a makeready process before they can support these deployments. Discuss the implications and requirements for utilities, including potential options to leverage federal funding and how policies and interconnection standards for 5G deployments can affect make-ready assessments. Hear one utility's process for working on or near a small-cell 5G or Distribution Antenna System and their shutdown procedure.
  
  Chad Wolfe, Operations Manager, Finley Engineering Company, Inc., Lamar, Missouri; and Tim Stankiewicz, P.E., MBA, Power Plant Principal Engineer, Fayetteville Public Works Commission, North Carolina

• Key Updates to the APPA Safety Manual 
  Join members of the safety manual revision task force to review the significant changes in the 17th Edition of the APPA Safety Manual, newly released in 2023. Get your questions answered on what new guidelines, including aerial lift devices and a new grounding section, mean for your utility. Review new and revised content in the Communications Section, Overhead Section, and a couple of meaningful changes in the General Rules Section. Walk through the new Switching and Grounding Sections. Gain insight into why content was changed or added.
  
  Tom Bruhl, Electric Utility Supervisor, City of Naperville, Illinois; and Anthony Calascibetta, CUSP, Safety & Risk Manager, Town of Danvers Electric Division, Massachusetts
   
• Supply Chain Strategies  
  From adjusting contract language to forming new partnerships and beyond, utility supply chain managers have gotten creative to adapt to ongoing supply chain constraints, especially for distribution transformers. Learn how utilities and distributors are tackling the issue, and what options utilities of all sizes have in alleviating the problem in the short and long term. Ask questions and share experiences with peers from across the nation.
  
  Shawndra Curry, Division Manager of Engineering, Bryan Texas Utilities, Texas; and Lee Sprigg, Vice President, Western U.S., Wesco, Denver, Colorado

11:45 am – 1:15 pm 

Lunch (on your own)

1:15 – 2:30 pm 

Breakout Sessions

• Getting Ahead of Compliance Requirements   
  Environmental managers at public power utilities can take proactive measures to stay ahead of environmental compliance obligations. Share experiences and best practices, including conducting self-audits, record-keeping and data collection tips, CEMS calibration, and other process improvements. 
  
  Trista Gregorski, P.E., Safety & Regulatory Compliance Manager, Holland Board of Public Works, Michigan; and Michael Watt, Environmental Engineer, Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority
   
• DERs and EV Charging: Grid Impacts & Customer Programs 
  The adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as battery storage, electric vehicles, demand response, and solar invertors is accelerating at a rapid pace. This shift can present unique challenges to public power providers from a monitoring, control and grid protection aspect. Of these resources, transportation electrification is bringing the most significant changes to the electric utility industry. Through both behavioral EV charging and managed EV charging programs, utilities have experienced encouraging results in getting customers to charge during off peak demand periods. Learn about recent shifts and major trends in this space. 
  
  Christine Cole, Global Technical Solutions, and John Steinberger, Senior Manager, Distributed Energy Management & EVs — Itron
   
• Grounding Procedures: An In-Depth Review from APPA's New Safety Manual  
  The 17th Edition of APPA’s Safety Manual is here and includes several updated grounding requirements for overhead and underground distribution systems. Participate in a thorough review of all grounding procedures and how you can implement them at your utility, and ask questions and share examples with your peers.
  
  Sam Holt, Utility Training Analyst, City of Tallahassee, Florida; and Greg Labbe, Electric Operations Manager, Lafayette Utilities Systems, Louisiana
   
• Asset Management: Predicting the Future  
  The advancement of asset management has led to a significant increase in the quantity and quality of asset-related data. Unfortunately, asset data predominantly resides in multiple information systems or databases that are not connected. A manual, static process is often required to get the necessary data to support decision-making. Learn how one utility used data integration and predictive asset management analysis to proactively manage assets through condition monitoring, long-range capital planning, risk management, and financial planning. Get a glimpse into their asset management information system, its data flow architecture, and the benefits of their proactive planning process.
  
  Troy Adams, P.E., General Manager, and Scott Karbon, P.E., Engineering Manager — Manitowoc Public Utilities, Wisconsin; and Colin Chung, Ph.D., President, Kayuga Solutions, Irvine, California 

2:30 – 3 pm

Break with Sponsors (Public Power NextTech Expo) 

3 – 4:15 pm 

Breakout Sessions

• Managing PFAS Contamination    
  EPA has listed PFAS as a hazardous chemical under the Superfund law, and further rulemaking on how utilities and other entities can treat or remove PFAS is coming soon. Review what rules are under consideration for this "forever chemical," and what these changes mean for managing and mitigating PFAS contamination and other ways that public power waste management could be affected. 
  
  Rula Deeb, Ph.D, Senior Principal, PFAS Program Leader at Geosyntec Consultants, Walnut Creek, California; and Aimee Guzman Davenport, Partner, Stinson LLP, Jefferson City, Missouri
   
• How to Do a Root Cause Analysis 
  The key to developing solutions is identifying the key problem. Learn about root cause analysis and how to leverage this technique to effectively manage your utility's challenges. Get an outline of common techniques, walk through practical examples, and discuss how to implement this analysis in your organization. 
  
  Travis Hoops, Manager – Training, Document Control, and Admin Support, Omaha Public Power District, Nebraska
   
• Scaling Up Public EV Charging    
  Hear how Pasadena Water & Power installed multiple public EV fast charging plazas (including multi-megawatt installations) across its territory. Discuss the variety of third-party partnerships, funding sources, and customer programs that are being built around the plazas and dive into how PWP forecasts load for the sites and prepared its system accordingly. After the session, join a guided tour of the Marengo Charging Plaza, which is one block from the Convention Center.
  
  Marvin Moon, Assistant General Manager, Power Delivery, and Evan Johnson, EV Program Manager, Pasadena Water & Power, California
   
• Industry Spotlight Session: Automated Thermal Patrol 
  There are many inspection methods used for annual patrol requirements, but how do utilities document the patrol most effectively? This seminar will focus on a system-wide inspection and patrol concept, tested in rural Nebraska in 2022, that yielded a documented inspection of more than 19,000 poles in fewer than seven nights. This method proved the feasibility of conducting an entire system patrol in less than a month. This session will cover those key findings and considerations in obtaining the financial ROI.
  
  Dusty Birge, CEO, Fast Forward, Lincoln, Nebraska

Tuesday, May 2

7:30 – 8:30 am

• Networking Breakfast (Public Power NextTech Expo)
  Power up with coffee and connections at this informal continental breakfast. There are no speakers or moderators – just an opportunity to visit with colleagues and chat with sponsors.
   
• Women in Public Power Networking Breakfast
  Join a lively discussion to connect with other women in public power about common challenges and opportunities working in the industry.
   
• Photo Opportunity: RP₃ and Safety Award honorees can get their photos taken (location TBA)

8:45 – 10 am

General Session 

•  Chair's Address
  
  Anthony Cannon, General Manager/CEO, Greenville Utilities Commission, North Carolina; and Chair, American Public Power Association
   

• Honoring our Colleagues: Safety Awards
   
• Light Up Navajo Update
  Wally Haase, General Manager, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, Fort Defiance, Arizona
   
• The Common Sense Clean Energy Revolution
  As more voices weigh in on what the electric system of the future should look like, utilities and the power sector are feeling pressure to defend their long-term planning and try out new approaches. There is no one-size-fits-all pathway to transitioning to clean energy, but there are ample opportunities to try out new technologies and an emerging suite of tested, common-sense solutions. Explore climate policy and clean energy trends from around the U.S. and the world, including what people and businesses say they really want for our energy future and what technologies venture capitalists are investing in. Learn what you can do to position your organization to take advantage of the energy investments that make sense for you and influence the energy use and policy changes in your community.
  
  Barry Moline, Executive Director, California Municipal Utilities Association, speaker, and author
  
   

10 – 10:30 am

Break with Sponsors (Public Power NextTech Expo) 

10:30 – 11:45 am 

Breakout Sessions

• Building Resilience in a Changing Climate    
  Explore how public power utilities have rebounded from natural disasters and other major events and what measures utilities can take to mitigate the effects of the increasing intensity and frequency of events like droughts, wildfires, and flooding on the power grid. Discuss how pollution prevention and abatement, operation, and maintenance for new and existing projects factors in to create a more resilient, reliable, and sustainable system.
  
  Sonya Baskerville, Manager, National Relations, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Portland, Oregon; and Pjoy Chua, Assistant Director of Power Regulatory and Innovation Division, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, California
   
• Enable Data-driven Processes with AMI    
  Walk through one public power utility’s AMI journey, from how its team rolled out the meter deployment to how engineers and other staff leverage data from AMI to enable near real-time business processes . Discuss different opportunities to tap into the value of the data from AMI, review challenges in navigating and putting the data to its use, and other insights from the experience.
  
  Keith Hogan, Project Engineer, Huntsville Utilities, Alabama; and Jeremy Indridason, Principal Program Manager, Trynzic, Fargo, North Dakota
   
• Using the Incident Command System Guide for Electric Utilities      
  Learn about the value of the Incident Command System and walk through APPA’s new guide on the system to learn how it can be used to support safe and efficient restoration and mutual aid operations. Hear lessons learned and how utilities have scaled the system and put its principles into place and other related resources to help you understand and implement the framework.
  
  J.T. Flick, Director, Crisis Management, New York Power Authority; Greg Labbe, Electric Operations Manager, Lafayette Utilities Systems, Louisiana; Brian Lam, Manager, Office of Emergency Management, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power; and Todd Simmons, General Manager, Tillamook People's Utility District, Washington
   
• Joint Action Agency/State and Regional Association Roundtable
  Join your peers from other joint action agencies and state and regional associations to network and share your challenges and triumphs in providing value to your members. 
   
• Industry Spotlight Session
  Grid Modernization: A Roadmap for Public Power Utilities
  With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and Inflation Reduction Act, the Department of Energy is supporting grid modernization efforts. By attending this session, you will discover the factors you should consider when developing strategies to improve your electrical distribution system’s reliability and resiliency, topics to include: Volt-Var Optimization, FLISR/DER Integration, Smart Sensor Deployment, Enterprise Cybersecurity.
  
  Adam Caballero, Manager, Grid Automation Solutions, Eaton

11:45 am – 1:15 pm 

Lunch (on your own)

1:15 – 2:30 pm 

Breakout Sessions

• Emerging Technologies: Replacing Fossil Fuels  
  Successful transition from fossil-fuel generating resources to alternative sources, or adding emerging technologies such as hydrogen and battery storage, requires careful planning and community involvement. Hear several examples from public power on what made for a successful transition and where to expect bumps in the road.
  
  Mandip Samra, Head of Power Supply, Burbank Water and Power, Burbank, California; and Gary Ivory, General Manager, Douglas County Public Utility District, East Wenatchee, Washington 
   
• Renewables: Risk and Rewards   
  As more utilities are developing renewable generating capacity, a broad spectrum of experiences and perspectives on implementing these sources has emerged. Explore the range of opportunities and challenges related to power quality, reliability, efficiency, and cost associated with using a higher proportion of renewable generation in the utility’s fuel mix.  
  
  Paul Eory, Lansing Board of Water & Light, Michigan; Ed Kobeszka, U.S. Business Development Director, Expertpower, St. Louis, Missouri; Brandon Robinson, Electrical Engineering Supervisor, City of Banning, California; and Paul Zummo, Director, Research and Development, APPA 
   
• Utilizing Safety Metrics to Better Assess Risk   
  Your safety data can tell a very different story depending on how you look at it. Explore new ways to assess your utility’s safety and risk, from assigning weight to injuries based on serious injury rates and significant incidents to using learning models to convey potential severity of risk – and identify priority areas. 
  
  Sara McCoy, Director of Safety and Risk Management, Salt River Project, Arizona 
   
• Putting Your Community First in Disaster Planning  
  While disasters can strike without warning, proactive disaster planning can help your utility be prepared to respond so that your community faces as minimal effects as possible. A panel of utility representatives will share their experiences in responding to events — including load shedding and shifting and wildfire mitigation and customization — and how their planning prepared their teams to respond. A panel of utility representatives will share their experiences — including developing a microgrid, load shedding and shifting, and wildfire mitigation and customization — and how their planning prepared their teams and communities for the future.
  
  Scott Benson, Manager, Resource & Transition Planning, Lincoln Electric System, Nebraska; Janet Lonneker, Assistant General Manager, Electric Services, Anaheim Public Utilities, California; and Randy Trimble, Executive Director, Energy Delivery, Bryan Texas Utilities, Texas
   
• Industry Spotlight Session
  DERs, EVs, and the Utility of the Future
  Distributed generation, electrification of transportation, energy storage technology, and connected consumer technologies are here, and will disrupt every aspect of the utility business. Learn about how utilities are aware of and prepared for these changes. Find out how preparation and management are key to seizing the opportunities — and avoiding the threats — that these distributed energy resources bring with them. Topics will include an overview of utility preparedness based on a market survey; how to assess and prepare your distribution grid for DERs and EVs; making behind-the-meter DERs serve as reliable grid assets; leveraging both rates and control for effective management; integrating operational data from DERs and EVs; and putting customers first with reliability, affordability; and convenience. 
  
  Andrew Mitchell, Director of Utility Solutions; and Matt Haile; Director of Business Development, Tantalus

2:30 – 3 pm

Break with Sponsors (Public Power NextTech Expo) 

3 – 4:15 pm 

Breakout Sessions

• Environmental Roundtable    
  Join your peers for an engaging networking session to discuss the latest and most pressing environmental challenges and regulatory obligations affecting public power day-to-day operations. Topics are your choice but may include: natural gas supply chain, calibration gas availability, workforce shortages, permitting and siting, water usage, or start-up, shutdown and malfunction regulatory changes.
   
• Deploying Energy Storage  
  Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) can be deployed for multiple reasons, including reserve power, microgrid support, and system resiliency. This session will explore current practices for how BESS is being sited and operationalized to make public power utility services more reliable and more resilient. The speakers will also address design considerations that every utility engineer should consider to ensure a BESS is safe and reliably integrates with the distribution or transmission systems. Finally, best practices associated with the operation and maintenance of BESS will be reviewed and an analysis of a facility life cycle will be discussed.
  
  Brian Curran, Engineer, MPR Associates, North Attleboro, Massachusetts; and Joe Leavitt, Chief Technology Officer, Delorean Power, Burlington, Vermont 
   
• Job Site Safety and Roundtable Discussion   
  Skilled high-voltage electrical workers may understand the risks on the job site, but there are times when others may be on a job site without fully understanding or being attentive to risk. Review the safety measures and dynamics of performing safely as a team, including the minimum requirements for a safe job site, education and safety messaging for everyone, and when to call for assistance. The second half of this session will be dedicated to an open roundtable discussion.
  
  Scott McKenzie, Director of Member Training and Safety, American Municipal Power, Inc., Columbus, Ohio
   
• Using Selective Relays to Reduce Faults   
  Faced with the challenge of increased arc flash incident energy and substation bus faults, learn how Wilson Energy used selective relay elements to reduce the energy when needed to ensure worker safety. Get an overview of how the utility deployed the elements, what they would have changed in the process, and other lessons learned. Additionally hear how they added communications-assisted selective relaying to reduce incident energy due to substation faults, which reduced equipment damage and down time.
  
  Daniel Gillen, P.E., Electric Engineering Manager, Wilson Energy, North Carolina; and Michael Winkler, P.E., Project Engineer III, Booth and Associates, Charlotte, North Carolina

4:30 – 6 pm 

Reception 
Enjoy some food, drinks, and downtime with friends and colleagues you already know, and grow your network of public power contacts.

Featuring entertainment from The Killer Dueling Pianos act!

Wednesday, May 3

7:30 – 8:30 am 

Networking Breakfast

8:45 – 10 am 

Closing General Session

127 Hours: Turning Adversity to Advantage
An extraordinary example of the human spirit pushed to the extreme, Aron Ralston’s legendary tale of survival and post-traumatic growth, which inspired the Academy Award-nominated film, 127 Hours, personifies resilience, perseverance, and the power of our minds. Learn Aron’s simple steps for embracing—rather than resisting—a crisis and how taking compassionate accountability for our mistakes enables us to choose a future of growth and resilience. At a time when life's boulders are more intense than ever, reflect on how gratitude for the hardship we encounter can both strengthen and soften us.

Aron Ralston, fearless adventurer & subject of the Film 127 Hours
 

10 am 

Conference Adjourns

Engineering & Operations Conference