We are excited to see you Sept. 4-6 in Frisco, Texas, for this year’s Transmission & Substation Design & Operation Symposium (TSDOS). This conference serves as a forum for utilities, engineers, suppliers, contractors and consultants to share and discuss the most recent trends, challenges and solutions. Look for our featured speakers as they share their insights on best practices, innovations and more.
Substation Integration: Managing Distributed Generation
Wednesday, Sept. 4 | 3-3:45 p.m.
This presentation explores challenges in integrating distributed generation (DG) into distribution systems, focusing on its impact on transmission lines and substations. Topics include DG effects, online ratings, fault detection for L-G faults on transmission lines, and utility substation upgrades. This presentation aims to facilitate effective management of DG integration.
Sudarshan Byreddy, PE
Technical Manager
Electromagnetic Interference on Critical Infrastructure: Planning and Mitigation Strategies
Thursday, Sept. 5 | 10:45-11:30 a.m.
As the need for higher ampacity infrastructure intensifies, so does the risk of electromagnetic interference (EMI) impacting other critical infrastructure — such as railroads, pipelines and data centers — that is in proximity. The safety and reliability considerations of EMI are frequently misunderstood but can be easily mitigated with proactive strategies and design considerations. Failure to plan can be impactful both in terms of cost and schedule.
We will present some typical challenges with EMI and the benefits of proactive mitigation strategies such as predictive modeling and strategic infrastructure planning. Through case studies and best practices, we will illustrate how risk mitigation efforts can yield substantial savings in both time and cost. By emphasizing the value of proactive mitigation, we aim to empower engineers across the industry with the knowledge needed to understand the hidden impacts of their designs.
David Hancock, PE
Engineering Director
Oliveiro Garcia
Engineering Co-Op
Centralized Protection and Control: The Future of Distribution Substation Protection Systems
Thursday, Sept. 5 | 1:45-2:30 p.m.
This topic presents a Centralized Protection and Control (CPC) system for distribution substations. A CPC system is a single high-performance computing device capable of performing protection and control functions for substation equipment. The economic, availability and operational aspects of the CPC system compared to the traditional distribution substation protection system are discussed.
Abdelrahman Lesan, PE
Senior Protection and Control Specialist
Lateral Performance of Helical Piles With Bolted Extensions
Thursday, Sept. 5 | 3-5 p.m.
This presentation will focus on analyzing the performance of helical piles with bolted extensions under lateral loads. Data from analytical simulations will be presented to examine the deflection and rotation of helical piles with bolted extensions. These findings will reflect the impact of the coupler's location and connection. Practical solutions will be discussed to offer improvement in lateral performance and construction installation across diverse applications.
Vainqueur Ndangi, E.I.T
Assistant Structural Engineer
Dylan Madden, PE
Department Manager
Paul Palomo, PE
Structural Engineer
Lessons Learned From Fully GEM-Encased Station Grid to Combat High Resistivity Soil Conditions in West Texas
Thursday, Sept.5 | 3-5 p.m.
In West Texas, high resistivity soil conditions commonly make it difficult for substation grounding grids to meet industry standards for safe touch and step potential. There are many grid design techniques to combat high resistivity soil, but in the case of one Oncor substation, even the most extreme grounding solutions struggled to create a safe ground grid. This presentation, by Oncor and Burns & McDonnell, will discuss the application and lessons learned from designing a ground grid fully encased in ground enhancing material (GEM). The presentation will cover the factors that lead to the need for a GEM-encased grid, other grounding solutions that are considered, and lessons learned from the project team.
Zachary Wassenberg, PE
Senior Substation Engineer
Daishaun Sylva-Senette, PE
Senior Engineer Oncor Electric Delivery
Chance Baker, PE
Senior Electric Engineer
Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) Norman Hills Substation Case Study
Friday, Sept. 6 | 10:15-11 a.m.
With the collaboration of OG&E, Burns & McDonnell will discuss the challenges of unfavorable subsurface conditions for a large 345-kV/138-kV/13.8-kV interconnect substation in Norman, Oklahoma. These conditions included shallow bedrock to deep bedrock, long-term consolidation, and liquefication concerns. Furthermore, the grading design would have additional impacts on the overall site and foundations due to the threat of differential settlement. This is a significant concern for a facility that has limited deflection tolerances for rigidly connected elements. Given these constraints, Burns & McDonnell will discuss mitigation strategies available, and the foundation approach chosen for this specific substation. This topic will also shed light on challenges that utilities are often faced with in their substation projects.
Paul Palomo, PE
Structural Engineer
Wesley Tolliver, PE
Lead Substation Engineer OG&E
Brandon McBee, PE
Substation Engineering Manager OG&E
Circuit Configuration Optimization to Mitigate Substation Asset Overloading
Friday, Sept. 6 | 8:15-9 a.m.
This session will provide insights into how 1898 & Co. developed and implemented a solution to programmatically assess all the partial load transfer permutations and answer the question of whether there are any combinations of switch pairs that could alleviate any overloaded substation transformers and circuit breakers. This solution uses graph mapping methodology and was applied across a power distribution system of 200 substations and 1,500 circuits. Overloaded substation transformers and circuit breakers are alleviated by moving load to more lightly loaded assets, effectively evening out as much of the loading across the asset base as possible.
Armando Ferreira, PE
Client Engagement Director
Dana Steph, PE
Managing Director