Between the Poles

Moving from 2D design to 3D design standards in electricity distribution

The Utilities Standards Forum (USF) is an organization representing about 50 Ontario electricity distribution companies.  Its goal is collaboratively to define standards for its members to reduce duplication of effort.  

The USF has developed design standards for electricity distribution that meet the requirements of Ontario Regulation 22/04 under the Electricity Act of 1998.  Currently these are in the form of paper or PDF documents containing 2D isometric views of the components used in electricity distribution such as insulators, clamps, surge arrestors, fuse-cutouts, terminations, cross arms, cable guards, and other types of equipment.

There is pressure to move to 3D design standards.  There are several motivations for this.  In this time of the challenge of an aging workforce in the utility industry, increasing the efficiency of engineers and designers is an important motivator.  But another equally important one is the increasing number of younger designers and engineers that have been brought up in  3D digital world and want to work in a modern 3D environment.

At the EDIST 2013 Conference in Toronto an overview of the new 3D design standards was presented by Ron Lapier and Lori Gallauger of the USF.  The new 3D standard is a major step forward in two ways.  First of all the components required for electricity distribution design are now 3D so that electricity distribution design can be performed in a 3D environment.  But equally important USF intends to make them available digitally in the form of a library of DWG files containing 3D objects that can be brought into a 3D CAD environment and integrated with other components to create a completely 3D representation of an  electricity distribution design.  The design can be viewed and manipulated in 3D.  As well 2D drawings for construction can be generated from the 3d model.  The components have real world coordinates so that clearances and dimensions can be directly measured from the 3D model.

Increasing international competition for highly skilled labour

I have blogged about the shrinking workforce in countries around the world like Japan and Germany, but also in other West European countries.   The shrinking workforce is acting as a brake on the German economy.  The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce DIHK  estimates that German economic growth has been reduced by one percent by the labour shortage and that the problem is getting worse.

The Bundestag recently adopted a bill to implement the 2009 EU directive on highly qualified employment. The "Blue Card" is intended as a new, unbureaucratic way for graduates and people with similar qualifications from outside the EU to enter Germany's labour market.  Austria and Gernmany have also opened the door to skilled immigrants from the east European countries that joined the EU in 2004.  As a result last year the population of Germany increased for the first time since 2003.

North America and Australia would be facing the same demographics if it weren't for immigration.  Canada and Australia allow more immigrants in annually on a per capita basis than any other major countries.  For the past seven years Canadian  immigration levels have been at about 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents annually..

Many countries are now competing for highly educated and skilled international workers.  As an example, in a recent interview Steven Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, said that Canada is changing its immigration to shift the immigration system away from accepting people on a first-come, first-serve basis to one where potential immigrants are chosen according to how they can benefit Canada.  The old system operated on receiving applications and processing them in order.  The new system is designed to prioritize potential immigrants depending on the skills that the Canadina economy needs.

For example, the Canadian Experience Class program is designed to attract people who have already proven they can integrate into Canadian society and meet its labour-market needs.  This program fast-tracks permanent residency applications for skilled foreign workers and graduate students who have already spent time in Canada on temporary permits or student visas and can demonstrate they are proficient in either English or French.  Before it was created, highly skilled outsiders could not apply to become permanent residents from within Canada. Under the new program, applicants can apply from within Canada and expect a quick decision, normally within one year.  The top three countries of origin under this program are China, India and the Philippines and the program is the fastest-growing category of newcomers to Canada.

How do we find and train the next generation of electric power workers for the smart grid ?

I have blogged on many occasions about the aging utility workforce in North America, Western Europe, and Japan. For example, The populations of some EU member states such as Germany are decreasing, while in others populations may be stable or increasing, but in many cases workforces are decreasing because particpation rates especially among older workers are decreasing.  According to research from Ovum, in many EU countries one third or more of the utility workforce is over 50, which with decreasing participation rates among older workers, means the utility industry is facing a crisis of decreasing headcount and less experienced workers.

In countries like Germany and Japan, the population is aging and shrinking.  In others such as the US, in the 90's the participation rate declined as life expectancy increased.  The problem is exacerbated in the utility industry, where the age of many utility workers in the world's advanced economies is over 55.  The second challenge is that as we expand and replace our existing electric and other utility networks with renewable energy and intelligent networks (smart grids), new skills, especially digital technology skills, are required.

During my travels I have also heard many times about the shortage of electric power engineers even in relatively young countries such as Brazil and Mexico.

Wanda Reder is the immediate past-president for IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) and it was during her tenure at the PES that the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus program was initiated to attract more young engineers into electric power engineering.  She has just published a very interesting article that summarizes the current situation with respect to the aging workforce, the programs that PES has implemented, and some recommendations for the power and energy industry to address the crisis.

The aging workforce crisis

Several organizations have surveyed the U.S. utility workforce including the electric power and water and wastewater industries.  I have seen different statistics, but basically they all agree that sometime between 2014 and 2020 about half the utility workforce will be eligible to retire, including engineers and skilled workers.  But even more critically for the future of our electric and water infrastructure, faculty in higher education institutions who are needed to train the next generation of electric power, water and wastewater engineers are also retiring at a frightening rate.

There is a factor that is mitigating what at face value looks like an immediate, critical shortage of engineers and technicians.  The Center for Energy Workforce Development has surveyed  electric power and integrated utilities and found that the uncertain financial climate has motivated many workers to continue working after retirement.  Often they return to work for the utility as contractors.   That is the good news.  The not so good news is that this has in turn slowed down the rate at which utilities are hiring new employees.  But delaying retirement can only defer the inevitable. The crisis remains, it has just been delayed by a few years.

Smart grid makes electric power sexy

As I have blogged about before, the net generation of electric power engineers has grown up in the digital age.   In the sphere of design utilities are finding that 3D model-based design technology can help.  The next generation is conversant with communications, media, and digital technologies, having been brought up with the internet and gaming technology, PSPs, XBoxes, and Wiis. Modern 3D model-based design applications, which use 3D visualization tools that were developed for the gaming industry, provide an environment that is much more familiar and stimulating for the millennial generation, who may perceive traditional 2D design and paper construction drawings as something left over from the dark ages.

Smart grid is all about converting our existing analog grid into a digital grid.  It requires new technology and new tools.  According to Ms. Reder, new engineers are really excited about renewables, automation, and high-tech solutions, which are all part of smart grid.  She sees this reflected at industry meetngs where half of the papers and seminars these days are about smart grid.

Knowledge transfer

We are very lucky that the older generation of engneers and technicians are not leaving the workforce when they are eligible to retire because it creates increased opportunities for knowledge transfer.  As I have blogged, utilities are taking advantage of their experienced workers by creating teams that combine experienced and younger engineers and technicians.  The younger team members are comfortable with the new digital technology, while the older team members are experienced in the existing analog technology.  This creates an opportunity for information to flow bidirectionally.  The younger engineers and technicians gain knowledge and wisdom about the existing electric power grid and the older generation has the opportunity to learn about the newer, digital technology..

For example, a large U.S. utility, which is developing 3D models for all of its 3000 substations as part of a program to increase the productivity of their substation designers, has found that 3D model-based design faciliates knowledge transfer between experienced designers and recently hired, young designers. They have found that by forming substation modeling teams of young designers who are comfortable with 3D model-based design but have limited experience in electric power design together with an experienced electric power designer as a mentor, they can optimize the transfer of knowledge and experience in the process of developing 3D models of their substations assets.  The good news is that because there is a trend for experienced workers to remain in the workforce longer, there is still time for utilities to implement programs like this one.

Attracting new engineers

According to Ms. Reder,  hiring of new engineers declined in the 1990s and 2000s to such as extent that many university power engineering programs were faced with declining enrollment.   In additon there was limited support for university research in electric power.  The result was that many traditionally strong electric power engineering programs were closed.

In April 2009 PES issued a report that identified six objectives

1. Double the production of undergraduate and graduate students in power engineering
2. Provide $4M in funding for undergraduate power engineering scholarships
3. Create 2,000 internship and cooperative opportunities for electrical engineering students
4. Hire 80 new faculty over the next five years to replac retiring faculty, to increase enrollments, and to broaden educational offerings.
5. Raise annual non-equipment funding of university power engineering research from $50M to $100M over the next five to eight years
6. Revise the current education model by creating five University Centers of Excellence

The first three objectives target attracting more undergraduate power engineering sudents. The other objectives were aimed at rebuilding power and energy faculties in universities. 

I've blogged previously about the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus program which was designed to help attract undergraduate electrical engineering students to electric power engineering by providing financial support and internships for hands-on experience.  Ms. Reder says that these scholarships, which initially were targeted towards U.S. students only, will now be available internationally.

According to Ms. Reder, the PES workforce report led to the Department of Energy's (DOE) decision to allocate $100 million in stimulus funding for smart grid education. That money has gone to help train craft workers, engineers, community colleges, universities and other aspects of academia and industry in aspects of smart grid technology.

I think that Ms. Reder's most important point is that if the smart grid is going to be successful the power and energy industry needs to get serious about supporting the kind of programs that the PES has proposed.  She asks for help from the industry in providing financial support, offering meaningful career experiences and encouraging professionalism through networking and lifelong education.

Shortage of engineers predicted in the UK

In the UK the median age of Chartered engineers rises 10 years for every 14 that elapse.  A new report from the Royal Academy of  Engineering in the UK, titled Jobs and growth: the importance of engineering skills to the UK economy, concludes that the UK will not produce enough engineers to meet the demand for replacement as engineers retire at a an increasing rate.

It is projected that about 1.25 million science, engineering and technology (SET) professionals and technicians are needed by 2020 to support the UK's economic development.  The report finds that to maintain status quo employment levels the annual demand for SET occupations is projected to be 830,000 SET professionals and 450,000 SET technicians. About 80% of these people will be in engineering and technology-related roles.

For the period 2012 to 2020 the minimum number of science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) graduates required to maintain the status quo in SET occupations is 100,000 a year.  Currently, there are only 90,000 STEM graduates annually and roughly a quarter of these choose to pursue non-SET occupations.  The estimated shortfall is more than 30 000 STEM graduates annually.

The result is that demand for STEM skills will exceed supply in the foreseeable future.  Projections of future skills demand predict shortages of STEM-qualified people for all occupational levels of SET. Much of this is replacement demand resulting from skilled people retiring and leaving the labour market.

Most Canadians 50-59 plan to keep working

I blogged recently about some remarkable statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating that the labor force participation rate for workers 65-and-over has gone up dramatically since the 1990s. 

A new CIBC poll conducted by Leger Marketing of Canadians aged 50-59 found that on average, the respondents plan to retire at age 63, but

• 53 % said they plan to keep working in retirement
• 29 per cent are not sure yet if they will work once they retire
• 14 per cent said they would not work at all once they retire

This supports a trend reported by National Bank Financial that the participation rate of Canadian workers aged 55-and-over has increased significantly since the 1990s, from 23% to more than 34%. Put another way, the number of workers aged 55-and-over has doubled in just ten years.  Furthermore, in the OECD  there are many countries where the employment-to-population ratio for people aged 55-to-64 is higher than in Canada.

This is good news for utilities, who may find that more older, experienced workers are will be available for mentoring the next generation of designers and engineers than initially had been expected.  The IEEE PES has reported that 51% of electric power engineers would be eligible to retire by 2014.

Productivity, knowledge transfer, and 3D model-based design in the electric power industry

Productivity has become a major challenge in the $7 trillion construction industry.  Recently McKinsey reported that construction productivity has stagnated in the EU, Japan, and Korea, and declined in the U.S.

In the utility and telecom industries productivity has become a critical issue partly as a result of the aging workforce.  Organizations are losing experienced workers to retirement faster than they can replace them with younger, less experienced workers.  This means that they are not only facing reduced headcount, but also less experienced workers.  In 2007 a Booz Allen Hamilton study predicted a 20% decline in productivity in the US electric power industry.

The share of workers 55-and-over in the workforce has reached an all time high of over 21 % (BLS Labor Force Statistics from Current Population Survey).  The labor force growth has been affected by the aging of the baby-boom generation, people born between 1946 and 1964. In 2012, the baby-boom cohort is between 48 to 66 years old. This age group has grown by over 4 times the rate of growth of the overall labor force. Over the past decade the share of the 55-and-older age
group has increased from 14.3 % in 2002 to over 21 % in 2012.

There are two important trends affecting the electric power industry.  One is what is referred to as the aging workforce, which is affecting many of the world's advanced economies.  In countries like Germany and Japan, the population is aging and shrinking.  In others such as the US, in the 90's the participation rate declined as life expectancy increased.  The problem is exacerbated in the utility industry, where the age of many utility workers in the world's advanced economies is over 55.  The second challenge is that as we expand and replace our existing electric and other utility networks with renewable energy and intelligent networks (smart grids), new skills, especially digital technology skills, are required.

In 2009 I graphed some statistics from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to compare productivity in the electric power industry to non-farm industrial productivity through 2007.  I've updated the results with the latest data from the BLS comparing productivity in the non-farm and electric power utilities sectors through 2010.  The resuls, which are shown in the attached graph, show that productivity in the electric power industry increased more rapidly than non farm industrial productivity through 1998, but that since 1998 productivity in the electric power industry has ben fairly flat.

I suspect that productivity might even have declined as projected by the Booz Allen study of the electric power industry in 2007 if the participation rate of workers 55-and-over had not increased significantly from 30% in the 90's to 40% in 2011 for the general labor force.  Even the participation rate of workers 65-and-over has increased significantly, from about 12% to over 18%, in the same time period.

The challenges that utilities are facing is how to increase productivity while capturing the knowledge and experience of experienced workers and transferring it to the next generation of engineers and designers. 

In the sphere of design utilities are finding that 3D model-based design technology can help.  The next generation is conversant with communications, media, and digital technologies, having been brought up with the internet and gaming technology, PSPs, XBoxes, and Wiis. Modern 3D model-based design applications, which use 3D visualization tools that were developed for the gaming industry, provide an environment that is much more familiar and stimulating for the millennial generation, who may perceive traditional 2D design and paper construction drawings as something left over from the dark ages.

For example, a large U.S. utility, which is developing 3D models for all of its 3000 substations as part of a program to increase the productivity of their substation designers, has found that 3D model-based design faciliates knowledge transfer between experienced designers and recently hired, young designers. They have found that by forming substation modeling teams of young designers who are comfortable with 3D model-based design but have limited experience in electric power design together with an experienced electric power designer as a mentor, they can optimize the transfer of knowledge and experience in the process of developing 3D models of their substations assets.  The good news is that because there is a trend for experienced workers to remain in the workforce longer, there is still time for utilities to implement programs like this one.

Webinar: Improving the design process at utilities

In the new world of rapid infrastructure change driven by smart grid, renewable energy, and increasing demand for low carbon electric power, clean water, and energy efficient transportation networks, utilities are striving to improve the quality of designs and to optimize the design workflow flow within the organization.  The additional challenge of a rapidly aging workforce means that design productivity, enabling experienced workers to be more productive and bringing younger, less experienced workers up to speed faster has become a prioritiy. 

Brockwell IT Consulting and Spatial Network Solutions are offering a webinar specifically for utilities interested in improving their design process.  The webinar will show best practices for improving the design process, staking, and GIS asset management through automation, .  Utility engineering, staking and GIS professionals will see how they can use the Utility Design Maturity Model to benchmark their organization’s process.

The webinar will take place July 26th at 12:00 noon CST.  You can register here.

Aging workforce challenges in Canada's oil and gas sector

I have blogged on several occasions about the workforce challenges facing the utility sector. The world's population is growing older and this has important implications for the workforce for utilities and other sectors.  Japan is facing the greatest challenge.  The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has projected that by 2060, about 40% of the population of Japan will be of retirement age. But all contries in the OECD are facing similar challenges.  In the U.S. the electric power generation, transmission,and distribution industry employs about 400,000 people.  It is estimated that 30–40 percent of these workers will be eligible to retire by 2013.

In Canada by 2030 over 20% of the Canadian population will be 65 or over. A recent survey found that most of the companies surveyed reporting difficulty in finding qualified employees. About a third report the labour shortage is preventing their company from growing.  Even more said they increasingly have to look outside of Canada to fill specific jobs. Engineers, those with technical skills or trades people and some IT professionals are top mentions of positions or skills that are difficult to find.  70% said that labour shortages stand to get much worse for companies because of baby boomers' retirement.

Workforce challenges in Canada's oil and gas industry

A recent report Canada's Oil and Gas Labour Market Outlook to 2015 by the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada analyzes labour demand projections for 38 core occupations in Canada's oil and gas industry, within four industry sectors (E&P, oil sands, oil and gas services and pipeline).  It reports a high demand for and at the same time a reduced supply of skilled workers.  Retirements are the greatest cause of this increasing skill and experience gap. A major challenge is that the technical capabilities and knowledge of retiring, experienced workers are not easily replaced by new entrants.  By 2015, employment in the oil sands sector is projected to increase by 29 per cent over 2011 levels.  That's about 5,850 jobs. The pipeline sector is expected to add about 530 jobs over the same period. Both sectors also expect that they will need to do significant hiring to replace retiring workers. 

According to the Globe and Mail, the industry will need to fill at least 9,500 jobs by 2015, and between 50,000 and 130,000 positions by 2020.  Demand is so high that traditional labour pools, such as Canada's east coast labour market, are not deep enough to meet demand and gives as an example a program to reach injured and retired veterans from Canada and the United States.

Immigration helps address aging workforce issue in Canada

The aging workforce problem is a major challenge for utilities around the world, but especially for advanced economies with limited immigration like Japan and Germany.  Because of the serious impact that the labour shortage is having on the German economy, Germany has been revising its immigration laws to make immigration more attractive for highly educated and skilled trades from eastern Europe, Spain, and other parts of the world. 

This is also a problem in Canada. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the country's low birthrate and aging population means in the not-too-distant future without immigration Canada won't have enough people to keep the workforce growing. 

Immigration is seen as the solution to this problem.   In 2010, there were 280,636 new permanent residents in Canada, which on a per capita basis is one of the highest immigration rates in the world.  The Federal Skilled Worker Program gives priority to technicians, skilled trades people, managers and professionals.  The program has a new eligibility stream that is open to international students who are pursuing or who have completed doctoral (PhD) studies at Canadian institutions.

APPA National Conference: Energy efficiency is the cheapest alternative fuel

This week I spent a few days at the American Public Power Association (APPA) National Conference in Seattle.  The priority issues facing APPA members in 2012 are similar in many respect to those facing the entire electric power industry, but there are certain aspects of the unique characteristic of APPA members that differentiate them from investor owned utilities (IOUs). They are all government owned, but have the ability to 100% debt finance capital investment.  They also tend to have a close relationship with the local community and are better positioned for developing successful community-based programs such as energy efficiency.

By way of background, the APPA, which is based in Washington DC, is a not-for-profit, non-partisan service organization founded to advance the public policy interests of its members. It represents most of  the more than 2,000 community-owned electric utilities in the US. Most public power utilities are owned by municipalities, but some are owned by counties, public utility districts, and states.  For example,  all of Nebraska is served by public power.  APPA members also include joint action agencies (state and regional consortia of public power utilities) and state, regional, and local associations that have purposes similar to APPA.

Regulation, fuel mix and power rates

The utility industry as a whole is facing interesting times in the U.S. The electric power industry is getting more complcated as Mr Crisson emphasized repeatedly.

At the top of the list of things that the APPA is concerned about is regulation.  This has not always been the case for public utilities, because they are government and in the past most of the regulation came from their municipal governments.  But this year Federal regulation, especially that from the EPA is directly affecting public power utilities.  One third of public utilities generate power and a significant proportion of that is from coal-fired plants.  Related to the EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), the closure of 26 GW of coal-fired capacity has already been announced.  Estimates of the total coal plant closures range between 40 and 70 GW and even higher.  The APPA is very concerned about the time frame for compliance of three years.  As a measure of that concern, the APPA has filed suit against the EPA for the first time in its history with a petition for reconsideration asking the EPA to grant additional time to public power utilities to meet the MATS standard.

It seems certain that the fuel mix for electric power generation is going to change significantly in the short term.  Speakers at the APPA event were very pessimistic about the future prospects for coal. The alternatives that APPA members are considering are energy efficiency, renewables, nuclear, hydro (small and large scale), and natural gas. 

Energy efficiency

For many APPA members the cheapest "alternative fuel" is energy efficiency and this is an area for which municipal utilities are in a much better position that IOUs because they are part of government and can  participate directly in the process of setting energy efficiency standards for building codes. 

In 1990 Burlington voters approved a bond to fund energy efficiency programs.  Since 2003, Burlington Electric Department (BED) customers and all Vermont electric customers pay a small monthly Energy Efficiency Charge (EEC) that supports efficiency programs.  The City's annual electricity consumption in 2009 was about 2 percent greater than in 1989.  BED has been able to meet the energy needs of a growing local economy over the last 19 years through efficiency.  BED estimated that energy efficiency investments save Burlington consumers more than $10.1 million of retail electric costs annually. BED's energy efficiency program began in 1991 with Burlington Electric Department's Guidelines for Energy Efficient Construction, that was adopted for state wide construction.  BED has a very high proportion of LEED-certified buildings.

Both Tacoma Power and BED said that they are not only participating in writing building codes, but also in inspection and enforcement, something that I suspect it would not be possible for an IOU to do.

Natural gas

The alternative fuel that is getting the most attention is natural gas, because reserves appear to be substantial as a result of hydraulic fracturing technology, and the price of natural gas in the U.S. domestic market continues to be exceptionally low.  Henry Hub prices ended at $2.18 per MMBtu last week.  But there are concerns about security of supply, the future of natural gas prices and the effect of LNG exports on prices.  Many utilities are not convinced that this is the silver bullet.

In addition more EPA and other agency regulations are expected in the future, for example, on CO₂ emissions and toxics and CH₄ emissions related to shale gas and hydraulic fracturing.  Increasing EPA and other Federal agency regulations are expected to lead to increased fuel prices and more decomissioning of coal-fired capacity.  Some speakers even foresee similar regulation being applied to natural gas fired plants as is currently shutting to coal-fired capacity.

One speaker, Art Berman, argued that because of the depletion of conventional reserves and the unexpectedly rapid decline in production from shale-gas wells, 2-3 years for a shale-gas well versus 20-30 years for a conventional well, reserves are significantly overstated. He cited evidence from the Haynesville shale-gas play that without new wells, production would decline 48% per year.

Berman believs that increasing demand, for example from fuel switching from coal, the rapid decline in production from shale-gas wells and environmental regulation will likely raise natural gas prices.  He argued that the industry needs a $7 price to be commercially viable.

Nuclear power

Another alternative fuel type is nuclear.  I attended a standing-room-only presentation by Nuscale, a small  modular nuclear reactor (SMR) manufacturer, that claims that its small scale reactor is able to shut down safely in the event of a station blackout, which is what occurred at Fukushima Daiichi.  Nuscale has announced its first US customer, South Carolina Gas and Electric, and is the planning stage to build a SMR plant at Savannah River.  Other manufacturers of SMR reactors include Babcock & Wilcox and Westinghouse.

Hydro

In some parts of the country there is interest in medium scale hydro projects, especially because hydro provides dispatchable capacity.  Intermittent power creates demand for capacity that can be ramped up rapidly (dispatchable) which includes hydro, gas-fired, and storage batteries and pumped hydro. Snohomish County PUD has just commissioned a 8.3 MW hydro project at Young's Creek, the first new hydro project in Washington state in 20 years and expects to build more in the future.  Even in California where large scale hydro is not considered to be renewable, Sacramento Metropolitian Utility District (SMUD) is actively pursuring a 400 MW 3 unit variable speed pumped storage hydro project at Iowa Hill, primarily because it would provide dispatchable capacity to backstop intermiitent sources.  I blogged previously about Switzerland intending to use similar pumped hydro capacity to become "Europe's battery."

Department of Energy

The Department of Energy (DOE) has sent a memorandum to the Power Marketing Agencies (PMAs) requesting them to take a leadership role in the DOE's goal of creating a more secure and sustainable electric sector nationwide.  The PMAs are instructed to include NERC reliability standards, integrate variable resources, enable scheduling on an intra-hour basis, support centralizing dispatch, include responding to solar flares and minimize cyber-security vulnerabilities in their strategic and capital improvement plans.  The APPA in a response to the memorandum says  that these proposals will result in increased electricity rates for BPA (Bonneville Power Administration), WAPA (Western Area Power Administration), SWPA (Southwestern Power Administration), and SEPA (Southeastern Power Administration) customers.

Workforce issues

A major issue facing electric power utilities, and other utilities, that was called out by Mr Crisson as a priority was workforce turnover, often referred to as the aging workforce.  I have blogged about this problem many times and it was gratifying to hear the CEO of the APPA call this out as a priority issue.

Technology and innovation

There was a lot of discussion of new technologies that are transforming the electric power grid including advanced grid technology, often referred to as smart grid, power storage technology including large scale lithium ion batteries, electric vehicles, small modular nuclear reactors, and distributed generation (typically small scale intermittent sources such as wind and solar).  The challenge for a historically conservative industry is to focus more on innovation in order to speed up the rate of adoption of new technology.