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Q:
What is the typical
role of a power engineer?
While there are some
common roles for power engineers
throughout the industry, the role is
very dependent upon many factors which
drive the specific business or
application of these skills. It’s clear
that the challenges today in the power
industry are very different than those
encountered before; challenges such as
how to significantly increase renewable
energy resources, the growing
complexities of wholesale electricity
markets and demand response, the need to
replace and upsize existing power
assets, and proposed environmental
regulations that could have a drastic
impact to the existing fossil fleet.
Q:
When did you become
interested in this type of work and how
did you get started?
My father was an
electrician by trade and created his own
company, Caspary Electric Company, to
provide electrical subcontractor
services for new and existing coal power
plants. I grew up around diesel
generators and other power equipment
since my father ran our municipal
electric system earlier in his career.
When I was 12, during a summer vacation
I visited my dad’s job site of a very
large coal fired power plant under
construction where he was wiring the
electrostatic precipitator. Seeing the
huge equipment at this job site and my
father’s passion and dedication to his
work motivated me to become a power
engineer at the University of Illinois –
Urbana. During my college summers I
performed field and office work at a
couple power plants that were under
construction in Southern Illinois and
Midland MI. These experiences convinced
me that I did not want to work in the
construction or manufacturing portions
of our industry. As a result, I joined
Illinois Power as a Transmission
Planning Engineer with a desk job at its
corporate headquarters. I directed my
career initially toward the utility
industry because I thought it would be a
stable work with a good income. It has
been that and more based on my
experience.
Q:
What did you major in
and why? Are there other courses,
degrees or certificates that could be
valuable for success in this occupation?
I majored in Power Systems in the
Electrical Engineering program at the
University of Illinois – Urbana’s
College of Engineering, where I received
my BSEE. I think Engineering Economics
was one of the most useful courses in my
career. I completed by FE/EIT during my
final days on campus as an undergrad and
would encourage all engineering students
to do the same. I would encourage new
grads to consider getting an advanced
degree too. I completed the course
requirements for a Masters of
Engineering degree from Iowa State
University as part of a distance
learning program in the first four years of
my professional career, and have taken
several MBA courses at the University of
Illinois – Springfield which have
enhanced my knowledge and value to my
employer.
Q:
How did you get your
current job? What jobs and
experiences have led you to your present
position?
My prior position as Director,
Engineering at SPP was eliminated when
we consolidated engineering functions
under a new officer position. I was an
advocate of that restructuring within
the Engineering functions to achieve
efficiencies which were being duplicated
in two separate organizations. As a
result, I had the unique opportunity to
create my own job description after
talking with my boss about the need to
provide external outreach and better
coordinate planning and support policy
development. My background is very
diverse and includes many years of
service at a vertically integrated
electric and gas utility with diverse
roles in planning, pricing, regulatory
services, customer choice and
transmission operations prior to joining
Southwest Power Pool. Prior to joining
SPP, my ability to move up with my
original employer that was merged into
another Company was predicted on my
moving to their headquarters in Houston.
Although that merger created some
anxiety, it was really a blessing in
disguise. It forced me to look at my
options and decide what I really wanted
to do with the rest of my career and
where would I like to raise my family.
SPP and Little Rock have been great to
me and my family. I joined SPP as it was
beginning to expand its scope and
services as a Regional Transmission
Organization over 9 states including the
renewable rich central and south plains
of the U.S. It’s been a great experience
to see and help SPP grow. More
importantly, its future is very bright.
Q:
What do you do at
your current job?
Currently, I drive several
scoping and study assessments to inform
stakeholders and influence policy
decisions to shape the direction of our
industry. I lead an initiative to
investigate the availability of
mechanisms to supersize EHV transmission
projects with Federal Funding, and
finding ways to get the best lines in
the best corridors with consideration of
competing needs for limited Rights of
Ways and environmental needs in line
routing. I am an ambassador for my
Company in reaching out with neighbors,
federal and state agencies, legislators,
regulators and policy makers on key
issues affecting inter-regional and
national planning of the bulk power
system. In this role I advise and help
direct several strategic efforts for our
executive management team and key
stakeholders. I also get to represent
SPP on the Board of the Utility Wind
Integration Group, as an industry
advisor and program chair at the
Electric Power Research Institute and in
the leadership of the DOE funded Eastern
Interconnection Planning Collaborative.
Q:
How many years have
you been working in your current
position (or in the field)?
I have been in my
current position for a little more than
2 years. I have been in the energy
business for over 30 years, spending the
first 20 years at a
vertically-integrated Midwest gas and
electric utility and working in
planning, regulatory services, marketing
and transmission operations.
Q:
What part of this job
do you find most satisfying? Most
challenging? Most inspirational?
I really enjoy mentoring
and coaching young engineers to share my
experiences and thoughts about where our
industry needs to go, and get their
input and ideas on how we can best
accomplish necessary change. I am very
proud of the Engineer-In-Training
program which I developed and have
managed for several years at Southwest
Power Pool. The EIT program has been
very successful in bridging gaps between
engineering disciplines and encouraging
rotations between planning and
operations primarily, but also with
select staff in regulatory, markets, and
compliance. I am honored when folks ask
me questions and want to understand my
thoughts and perspective on key issues.
Q:
What have been some
of the most interesting and rewarding
things that you’ve had the chance to do?
[Of your many achievements, is there one
of which you are proudest?]
I have been blessed in
my career with many opportunities which
are probably the result of luck and
frankly just being in the right place at
the right time. I have been involved in
several large collaborative EHV
transmission planning studies over the
past several years which have shaped our
industry and helped folks to look at
transmission as an enabling asset that
can create markets and needs to be
leveraged to secure an clean energy
future. In April, I was awarded the 2011
Annual Achievement Award by the Utility
Wind Integration Group for my
contributions to transmission planning
and markets as we now have $5B approved
for transmission expansion projects.
This was a humbling experience, although
much of the credit belongs to SPP staff,
members and stakeholders. In April, I
also accepted the Utility Volunteer of
the Year award on behalf of SPP in April
at the USEA Annual Meeting for our
support of the USEA/USAID Black Sea
Regional Transmission Planning project.
Participating in those meetings and
working with the grid operations
surrounding the Black Sea and in
Southeast Europe to integrate renewables
and study broad EHV transmission plans
has been richly rewarding to me in a
personal and professional sense.
Q:
What are the main or
most important personal characteristics
for success in the field?
Continuous learning,
being flexible, and being vigilant to
new opportunities are paramount to
success. While it may be uncomfortable
to change jobs and enter new
fields/areas of expertise, transitions
are very easy and almost always richly
rewarding. Capitalizing on growth
opportunities at work and outside your
cubicle will only increase your value to
your employee or the marketplace. Be
passionate about your work and it will
reward you beyond belief.
Q:
Are there any tools
you use regularly on the job to boost
your productivity?
There are several tools
that I use to help me manage my time and
prioritize assignments. Software
packages these days can be very
effective in creating presentations and
documents which can influence
stakeholders and facilitate change. I am
excited to see our industry create new
tools and capabilities for better
analytics and metrics to support
transmission expansion planning, and to
help us determine the true value of a
robust and flexible EHV transmission
network which enables markets.
Q:
How does a person
progress in your field? What is a
typical career path in this field?
There is probably no
typical career path in any field, but
there are common threads through many of
them. Our EIT program has helped to
provide exposure to young engineers in
the various engineering disciplines
within SPP prior to permanent placements
after an 18 month rotation program. Team
lead roles come with experience and time
and can often be created by an
individual or team that are
self-motivated and looking to change
existing protocols or procedures. With
time and demonstrated leadership,
Engineers will be given supervisory
roles with increasing responsibility to
manage projects and team assignments.
Career and leadership development
programs have been formalized within SPP
which are good for all staff,
individually and collectively.
Q:
What do you like and
not like about working in this industry?
This is a very
conservative industry which has many
stumbling blocks and barriers to
effective change. This can be
frustrating at times but can be overcome
by the use of evolutionary and
stakeholder driven approaches.
Q:
What would be your
advice to an 18-year old, budding
power engineer?
Be a sponge in your
first position and ask lots of
questions. Create effective
relationships with several mentors in
your department/division. Don’t ever
stop learning or expanding your
horizons. Strive to find and capitalize
on opportunities to contribute to new
projects internally at work or
externally in your community.
Q:
What are your plans
for the future?
I am looking forward to
shaping the power industry for our kids
and grandkids. The future will look very
different than the past and we need to
find new techniques and approaches to
refine past practices. Institutional
inertia and barriers to change must be
addressed for change to be successful
and sustainable.
Q:
Are you a member of
any professional associations or
societies?
Yes, I belong to the IEEE
Power Engineering Society (PES). I am actively involved in several
NERC, EPRI, UWIG, and NREL initiatives.
I serve as a technical advisor for
several ARRA funded projects under DOE.
I on the industry advisory board at the
University of Arkansas – Fayetteville
and support their NCREPT/GRAPES
programs, and have participated in ABET
accreditation for the College of
Engineering at Harding University.
Q:
Are there any career
or policy issues that you follow
regularly?
I am an advocate of broad collaborative
transmission planning and have been very
active in testifying and drafting formal
comments filled by Southwest Power Pool
in FERC rulemakings on inter-regional
planning and cost allocations. I
represent SPP on WIRES and have been
involved in several Capitol Hill
briefings to educate legislators and
staff on the bulk power systems and the
need for national leadership in terms of
energy/environmental policy. I support
rightsizing or supersizing key
facilities in select corridors, and
integration of HVDC merchant projects
into the Eastern Interconnection, as
well as finding ways to create value for
large EHV transmission projects across
traditional seams that need not be a
barrier to effective planning and
operations going forward. |
