| Finepoint's 15th Annual Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Training Conference October 6-10, 2008 Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
In 1994 Finepoint inaugurated the annual Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Conference, the electric power industry's premier event for substation/switchgear maintenance personnel. Participants receive practical training from users' perspectives, learn factory authorized test and maintenance procedures, network with their peers, and view cutting-edge products at the supplier exhibits each evening in the hospitality rooms. Over 600 delegates attended the 2007 conference, representing 239 different companies, 46 states, and eight countries. The conference provides attendees, speakers, and exhibitors with a high quality, low key opportunity to exchange information with their peers and learn from the experts.
Many conference topics focus on low, medium, and high voltage circuit breakers. However, related substation and switchgear topics such as power transformer maintenance, oil testing and filtration, SF6 gas handling, safe work practices, and asset management issues are also covered. Finepoint's objective is to provide useful, unbiased, non-commercial, and positive information that can be immediately applied to substation and switchgear maintenance work. One unique aspect of the conference is that most speakers are the electric utility and testing company delegates themselves, not suppliers.
The four-day conference begins the first Monday of each October with a welcoming reception that evening. The factory day is on Tuesday. The expo of supplier exhibits debuts Tuesday evening and is also open to participants Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The conference presentations and training seminars are scheduled each year on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Please view our agenda for current information about the 2008 conference.
The full day at a circuit breaker manufacturing plant has been a unique feature of the conference since 1996. Participating manufacturers are ABB (Greensburg/Mt. Pleasant PA in 1996, 2000, 2005, and 2007), AREVA T&D (Charleroi PA in 1997, 2001, 2006, and 2008), HVB AE Power Systems (Suwanee GA in 2004), Mitsubishi (Warrendale PA in 1998, 2002, and 2008), Pennsylvania Breaker and Pennsylvania Transformer Technology (Canonsburg PA in 2007),and Siemens (Jackson MS in 1999 and 2003).
The 2008 factory day co-hosts will be AREVA T&D and Mitsubishi.
The venue for Finepoint's 15th Annual Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Training Conference will be the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
With a blend of classic sophistication and modern elegance, this renowned hotel has served as Pittsburgh's premier hotel since 1916. John F. Kennedy, Lawrence Welk and guests from around the world have been captivated by the opulence, striking beauty and charming presence of this Historic Landmark. And with a recent hotel restoration, Finepoint has chosen this enchanting hotel to host its conference once again.
For each of the three evenings, The Expo begins in the two-tier Grand Ballroom with its dramatic decor. The hours of this well-planned event pass by quickly as the participants continue browsing throughout the entire 17th floor familiarizing themselves with each supplier exhibit. The flow of traffic, down each exhibit-filled hallway and then maneuvering into each of the four adjoining rooms cleverly spaced with more exhibits, makes every evening of The Expo pass by comfortably for its attendees.
Graciously decorated tables and seating in each of the exhibit areas offer the opportunity for discussions and meetings among the participants, exhibitors and speakers in a relaxed, down-home atmosphere. Complimentary food stations and bars are scattered throughout the entire 17th floor to highlight this unique venue.
Ninety exhibiting companies will feature their products and services this year. With nine hours of exhibit time, this conference provides participants with an unparalled opportunity to get to know their substation/switchgear equipment suppliers.
In addition to more than a dozen presentations, each year the conference features two half-day training seminars at no additional charge. The 2008 conference will include seminars of vital interest to the electric utility industry. The "Siemens BZO Circuit Breaker Maintenance" seminar presented by Siemens is on Wednesday afternoon, October 8, and the "Maintaining Outdoor Air Disconnect Switches" seminar presented by Pascor Atlantic is on Friday morning, October 10.
Siemens PTI will be presenting the half-day training course on BZO6/6C Breaker Maintenance. Changes in workforce demographics have heightened the need to provide hands-on training in the installation, operation, and maintenance of power transmission and distribution equipment. The Siemens type BZO6/6C 121-145kV power circuit breaker maintenance training program is tailored to increase the knowledge of personnel responsible for the installation, operation, and maintenance of this equipment. Practical, rather than theoretical, training is emphasized, with actual involvement by attendees in problem solving. The training course will be taught by Jim Bradshaw who shares his 30+ years of field experience. Bradshaw has extensive experience with Siemens BZO, SDO, SP, SPS, SPS1, SPS2, TCP, LPO, and 3AT power circuit breakers. He is widely recognized by customers and Siemens employees as the leading specialist on Siemens power circuit breaker operation and maintenance. Siemens will also be exhibiting each evening at The Hospitality Expo in Booths 25 and 26.
Pascor Atlantic will be presenting the half-day seminar on the restoration of 30- to 40-year-old air disconnect switch equipment. Paul "PJ" Catron Pascor Atlantic Marketing and Customer Service Manager will delve into the advantages of bringing older equipment on systems around the world back to "like new" condition. This half-day session will be unlike any other given, as it will include the actual disassembly and rebuild of a set of switch "live parts". Catron will cover the process, procedure and materials required as well as insights on how to avoid missteps along the way to ensure a smoothly run refurbishment project. Catron has 25 years of experience in the outdoor air disconnect switch industry and has served as quality manager, materials manager, parts & service manager, engineering manager, field service technician. He specializes in air disconnect switch application history. As the average age of EHV disconnect switches rapidly approaches 45 years, you will find this information useful in extending equipment life, while maintaining lower budget expenses and preventing unscheduled outages on your systems. Pascor Atlantic will also be exhibiting each evening at The Hospitality Expo in Booth 42.
Alliant Energy is a public utility holding company serving more than 1.4 million customers in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The company has an internal four-year substation apprenticeship program that relies significantly on the Finepoint Conference. If Mike Welsh of Alliant Energy had his choice of only one conference to send his company's apprentices to, it would be Finepoint's Circuit Breaker Test and Maintenance Conference. In fact, it is the main conference that Alliant's apprentices and journeymen attend for training and for continuing education. "We feel the amount of knowledge that comes from the presenters and the conference in general make it useful as a training facility" said Welsh, the substation electrician foreman at Alliant. "It's the best one around the country we have found; Finepoint covers the gamut of everything inside the fence - everything that deals with substations." Each year the conference host asks for feedback in order to serve the attendees. Bill Myers, the president of Finepoint, continues to move the conference forward by listening and responding to suggestions. As a result, Alliant has been sending people to the conference for many years. Welsh said that they appreciate the total access to the session speakers. "They have the people there to answer your questions."
Knowledge about circuit breakers declines at most electrical utilities each year because of people in the industry retiring and because of the extended maintenance intervals of equipment, according to Charles Currin, senior engineering technical support specialist for Progress Energy. That's why Currin attends the Finepoint Circuit Breaker Test and Maintenance Training Conference each year. He has attended 11 of the 14 past Finepoint conferences and plans to participate again. His current role is in the Asset Management Department, Component Engineering Unit, serving as the transmission breaker component engineer for the Carolinas and Florida transmission grids for 69 kV and above voltage class equipment. His responsibilities include the development and implementation of maintenance procedures and programs, equipment repair and troubleshooting information, technical guidance and support to field maintenance organizations and other engineering units. Currin says that many of the people he has met at the conference have become friends who are not only resources of information in the industry, but also people he can call on in times of need. He highly recommends the conference to all of his colleagues. Currin says, "This conference is a good tool for enhancing your breaker skills, learning about breaker issues, maintaining your breaker assets, and collaborating with other utility employees. You need to be willing to look and ask for information from other attendees. Interaction with peers is the biggest source of information at any conference. The nightly exhibits sponsored by various vendors offer great opportunities for interaction and conversation as an added benefit."
As a substation maintenance engineer at FirstEnergy, Bob Sicker had attended seven Finepoint conferences to learn more about his field of expertise, transmission substation maintenance. In 2006 he was on the other side of the podium as a speaker at the conference. Bob does not usually do presentations at conferences, but he likes the focus of the Finepoint Conference. He started out as a substation maintenance engineer in 1980 at The Ohio Edison Company now a part of FirstEnergy. He spent a lot of time in the field, and eventually progressed to supervisor. FirstEnergy is headquartered in Akron, Ohio, and is the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system, serving 4.5 million customers within 36,100 sq miles of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. "My area of specific interest is substation major equiment, particularly breakers and transformers, and this is one conference geared specifically to that equipment," he said. "Probably 80% of the topics are circuit breakers, and the rest are transformers or related equipment." He says that broader-based seminars try to "be everything to everybody" and so there are always several subjects that don't interest him. He can maximize his time at the Finepoint Conference because the topics are on target, and the vendors are focused on the same subjects. "It's where I generally update my card index every year because the majority of the breaker manufacturers are there, and the related companies or test equipment and services are all there at one place at one time. I recommend this conference to anyone in the utility industry who has involvement with transmission substations, because it is focused on that and because of the utility people that you will meet."
The nuclear side of the electric power industry is represented at the Finepoint Conference. Dennis Hudson, nuclear maintenance supervisor at Duke Energy, has attended several of the conferences and has presented papers on circuit breaker timing. He is one of the maintenance supervisors of a crew responsible for the inspection, maintenance, and repair of the Duke Energy nuclear switchyards' HV circuit breakers, GSU and auxiliary transformers, bus, switches and associated switchyard apparatus. He has attended several other conferences and says that "the Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Conference is by far the most informative conference available and has been since 1994." One of the greatest benefits of the conference for him is that many of the people attending the show are field technicians who have the hands-on expertise. He said that much information is shared among the technicians from various utilities worldwide. "I've spent many hours in the evening after the presentations, networking, swapping stories and sharing tricks of the trade, so to speak," he said. But the best attribute of the conference is the information presented in the sessions, according to Hudson. He feels the presentations are understandable and the knowledge can be applied to his own maintenance practices. "Never, have I failed to bring something back from this conference that I can't apply to my job." Hudson continues to attend the conference even though it is held in the fall, the busiest time of year for nuclear stations. Duke's nuclear stations are in refueling outage, and the plant-related apparatus maintenance has to be performed during shutdown.
The Finepoint Conference serves anyone in the electric power industry who operates, maintains, or manages substation and switchgear assets, particularly the rural electric utilities. Dale Thompson, substation construction and maintenance superintendent for the Minnkota Power Cooperative, has attended the conference five times in the past several years. Thompson is responsible for the maintenance on all of the transmission and distribution substation equipment at Minnkota, a regional generation and transmission cooperative serving 11 member-owner distribution cooperatives. Minnkota's service area of 34,500 square miles is located in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. The conference program is geared toward the equipment that Minnkota owns, according to Thompson. "It is an excellent program," he said, and Minnkota sends several people to the conference each year. The Circuit Breaker Conference is often the only one that Dale attends. "One of the best things about the conference is meeting the other people from across the country. The vendors are great, also." In fact, one year Thompson and his colleagues from Minnkota discovered, from a vendor, sources for old parts of a breaker that they didn't know existed. Thompson said he will continue to attend the conference in the future. "It's a great service to the electrical industry."
Transmission & Distribution World magazine has united with Finepoint to compile an e-newsletter covering the conference. The electronic newsletter is sent out monthly and contains articles about the presentation topics, factory tours, exhibitor products, and the most recent show updates. For a free subscription, visit T&D World. Just signing up? Be sure to check out what you've missed. All the articles can be found at the Conference E-Newsletter Archive. Transmission & Distribution World is edited for engineers and operating professionals in the electric power industry. The monthly magazine covers news and information about electrical transmission & distribution, substations, construction, operation and maintenance, automation, and other articles pertinent to the electric power industry - as well as new product reviews and general industry news.
Since 1916, the Omni William Penn Hotel has captivated guests with its striking beauty and charming elegance. The two-tier Grand Ballroom with dramatic balconies is a unique conference venue. For information about the hotel facilities, visit the Omni Hotels website.
Please make your hotel room reservation directly with the Omni, the conference host for all events, by calling 1-800-843-6664 and requesting the Circuit Breaker Conference special group rate of $149 per night. Alternatively, you may book on-line by visiting Omni Group Rate.
Copyright © 2008, Last Revised 4/25/08