| Finepoint's 16th Annual Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Training Conference October 5-9, 2009 Sheraton Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia |
In 1994 Finepoint inaugurated the annual Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Training 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. Delegates attending the 2008 conference represented 216 different companies, 47 states, and 11 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 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 2009 conference.
Future conference dates and locations are October 4-8, 2010 in Pittsburgh PA, October 3-7, 2011 in Jackson MS, and October 1-5, 2012 in Pittsburgh PA.
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 and 2009), 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). Please note that invitations to participate in the factory day event are given at the discretion of our factory day host.
HVB AE Power Systems, Inc., located in Suwanee GA, is known internationally as a premier manufacturer of dead tank high voltage breakers. ISO 9001 certified since 1997, HVB produces a variety of substation solutions including SF6 gas circuit breakers from 115kV to 800kV, vacuum circuit breakers at 72kV, gas insulated switchgear from 69kV and above, generator breakers, metal clad switchgear (C-GIS), and medium voltage transformers. Their Product Service Department offers training, supervision and extended warranties for cost effective maintenance solutions. From turn key installations to total service agreements, HVB has the flexibility and experience to provide customized field service programs to meet their customer's specific needs. Details about their Factory Day scheduled for 10/6/09 will be added as they become available.
The venue for Finepoint's 16th Annual Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Training Conference will be the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Time passes quickly at this well-planned event as participants familiarize themselves with each supplier exhibit. Complimentary food stations and bars are scattered throughout the Expo to highlight this unique venue. Ninety exhibits will feature products and services in 2009. 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 2009 conference will include seminars of vital interest to the electric utility industry. The "Westinghouse AA-7/10/14 Circuit Breaker Mechanism Maintenance" seminar presented by ABB is on Wednesday afternoon, October 7, and the "Oil Analysis and Processing" seminar presented by TJ/H2b and Velcon Filters is on Friday morning, October 9.
An estimated 60,000 AA mechanisms are still in service, and ABB is presenting an updated version of their AA mechanism training session at the 2009 conference. The seminar will cover the history of breaker operating mechanisms, design and theory of operation, and key components and how they work. Suggested maintenance and troubleshooting will also be presented. ABB's George McCracken and Andy Sebek will combine to deliver a useful mix of theory and practice that can immediately be applied by conference attendees. McCracken and Sebek, along with working models of the AA mechanism, will be available for the duration of the conference during the exhibition hours to make sure participants get the most out of this popular training course.
Have you ever processed transformer oil only to find that it tested worse after filtering? Ever wondered what the differences are among oil dielectric test methods? TJ/H2b has continuously been in R&D mode for more than 35 years. While results are still coming in, some findings have led to diagnostic tests that go well beyond the basics. TJ/H2b has learned that an enormous amount of information resides in the particulate of samples. TJ/H2b's Dave Hanson will share information about that aspect of analysis and will address several industry hot topics related to the real mechanisms behind the corrosive sulfur issue. Ben Taylor of Velcon Filters has worked for the company for more than 20 years as product development manager and is now senior marketing manager. His presentation will include contaminants in transformer oil, filter cartridge construction, and filter system design. Participants will learn the importance of understanding differential pressure and vacuum gauge readings as well as other helpful oil handling components.
Are you planning to attend the conference this October and want to get more out of your training investment? Finepoint's conference organizers have recently announced that Megger will host a FREE pre-conference "Best Practices Seminar" on Monday, October 5, from 9 AM to 4 PM. Registration for this pre-conference event is limited to the first 50 people and a complimentary lunch will be served. Megger's seminar will address many of the critical and costly aspects of substation maintenance. The interactive sessions will feature practical presentations on current methods and practices to help ensure the reliability of high voltage circuit breakers and power transformers. With the recent integration of both Programma and Pax Diagnostics into Megger's line of products, they have shaped a team that is internationally recognized as experts with circuit breaker analyzers, and testing and diagnostic solutions. Participants of this training seminar will improve their skills, share insights, and learn from Megger's technology specialists Mats Karlstrom, Romain Douib and Mark Meyer as they share their expertise by addressing many of the challenges seen in the electric power industry today. Sessions topics will highlight HV Circuit Breaker Testing, and Condition Analysis and Assessment of Power Transformers. Each session will include show and tell demonstrations on the practical aspects of ensuring reliability, including common methods and practices with applicable test equipment. This pre-conference seminar is offered by Megger to share knowledge, exchange ideas and help the industry realize its full potential. Megger will also be exhibiting in Booths 71 and 72 at The Hospitality Expo each evening during the conference. Click here to register.
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 12 of the 15 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 whenever possible 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 seven 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. All the 2009 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.
Electricity Today magazine has again been selected to be the Official Show Guide for the Finepoint Conference. Electricity Today, a CCAB audited publication, is published 9 times a year by The Electricity Forum (a division of the Hurst Communications Group Inc.), the conference management and publishing company for North America's electric power and engineering industry. It is distributed free of charge to electric utility personnel and electrical consulting engineers across Canada and the United States, providing up-to-date information and timely articles on topics relevant to today's electrical power industry. Visit Electricity Today for information.
Please make your hotel room reservation directly with the Sheraton, the conference host for all events, by calling 404-659-6500 and requesting the Circuit Breaker Conference special group rate of $189 per night. Alternatively, you may book on-line by visiting Sheraton Group Rate.
Copyright © 2009, Last Revised 5/26/09