2007 SPRING Conference in Omaha, Nebraska
Hosted by OPPD,NPPD,LES,MEAN
Greetings Everyone,
Just got back from another wonderful UMW APDA function. Our friends from Nebraska really know how to put together a fine event. LES, MEAN, NPPD and OPPD pooled their resources together and co-hosted the Spring 2006 meeting in Omaha.
Friday was filled with training activities led by 2 excellent instructors from in the industry. The morning session was led by Pat Everly of OESNE. Pat’s training covered Critical Thinking and Emergency Recognition. Marcel Martin of AISO filled the afternoon with demonstrations and simulation of Voltage Control. Upon successful completion of the training, each delegate received 8 CEH’s for the day.
Saturday morning started off with an early slide presentation of the ice storm damage sustained this past winter in Nebraska. Following the slide show, Ron Gunderson of NPPD shared the experiences of NPPD this past winter, covering preparations, damage and lessons learned from the ice storms. This completed the educational portion of the conference adding an additional 2 CEH’s for a total of 10 CEH’s for the conference.
The UMW business meeting was held at 10:00 am Saturday. A brief review of the meeting:
Unveiling of the new UMW APDA banner.
UMW APDA Scholarship recipients:
Kristina Brumm daughter of Tom Brumm
Xcel Energy
Torrey Smith step-daughter of Russ Mountjoy Midwest ISO
Kaitlin Foley stepdaughter of Tom Sandoz OPPD
Andrew Zager son of William Zager Xcel Energy
Retirements:
Paul Beaudry GRE Past
National Treasurer
Carol Elrod LES Past National President
Don Haapanen MP
Tom Marchik MEC
Russ Overbeye GRE
Larry Ryberg DPC
Deaths:
Walt Zielke NPPD (retired)
Ed Archer MPW
Adam Pederson OTP (Son of Jerry Pederson)
There was discussion regarding the scholarship fund, the membership is satisfied with DTEC awarding approximately 70% of the previous years income from the raffles to the current year scholarship fund.
Plaques are available for retirees; contact President Russ Mountjoy for plaques. Remember to allow for a month lead time for the engraving.
The Fall 2007 meeting will have 4 additional hours of CEH’s available on Thursday afternoon.
Paul Beaudry (GRE-retired) is checking into the date of the first meeting of the UMW chapter, it may have been in the fall of 1953 hosted by the former UPA. If this is true, by coincidence, GRE (formerly UPA) will be hosting the 50th Anniversary meeting. Paul will get back to the executive board with his findings.
The next meeting will be hosted by the Midwest ISO-Carmel, September 20-23, 2007 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The spring 2008 is being hosted by ALTW followed by the fall conference hosted by GRE. We are currently seeking hosts for 2009, both Spring and Fall conferences.
Saturday afternoon, delegates and guests had the opportunity to tour the Omaha Zoo or spend time team building on the golf course.
The conference concluded with the awards banquet and a presentation by motivational speaker, Juli Burney.
I would like to take this time to thank the sponsors and everyone who helped with the conference:
LES-Lincoln Electric System
MEAN-Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska
NPPD-Nebraska Public Power District
OPPD-Omaha Public Power District
OESNA-Operator Educational Service-North
America
SOS- System Operations Success
TOA-Transmission Outage Applications
MCG-Minneapolis Consulting Group
Rainbow Energy Marketing
It is a goal of the APDA to attain a higher professional standard. To meet
this goal, the UMW is dedicated to seeing all training activities meet NERC
CE standards. With the hard work of our fellow members hosting the meetings
and additional sponsorship the UMW has been able to hold to this standard.
If you have never been to a meeting or it has been a while, we invite you to
join us in September.
Best Wishes,
Russ Mountjoy
UMW APDA President