Issue: 74 / March 2021
Foreword
Welcome to the March 2021 issue of PSC News. Spring is upon us. Birds are singing and plants are budding in many parts of the U.S. And, in many parts of the world, COVID appears to be abating. As I look around, there are reasons for optimism.
Since our last issue, we’ve celebrated Engineer’s Week and International Women’s Day. We couldn’t be more grateful for our clients, colleagues and community of engineers and women for their contributions and achievements in our industry.
We are covering a lot of ground in this issue. We touch on everything from eclipsing 10,000 followers on LinkedIn to information for AEMO market participants in Australia. We’ve got advice for utilities considering joining the Western Energy Imbalance Market in the U.S. and we’re sharing knowledge about network innovation projects in the U.K. And much more!
We hope you enjoy this issue of the PSC News and encourage you to let us know if you’d like to share your industry articles or content with us. We’d love to include you.
Tim Ritchie, Chief Revenue Officer
New GPS requirement for Australia’s WEM Market Participants
Author: Stephen Bex and Shane Kerr
This is the second article in a three-part series about the Western EIM. You can read our first article, which provides an overview explanation of the EIM here. In this Q&A between Alex Lindner, PSC’s North American Sales Lead, and PSC Technical Director Tracy Rolstad, we explore some practical considerations of joining the Western EIM.
Considerations for joining the Western Energy Imbalance Market – Part 2: What do I need to know before joining?
Author: Tracy Rolstad
Power Networks and flexibility to accommodate changing usage patterns
Author: Ann Burns
PSC’s David Mills’ featured presentation during an IET West Midlands Power Group webinar covered recent projects looking into generator and demand flexibility to support decarbonization.
New U.S. administration seeks net-zero by 2050
Author: Kevin Cheung
Texas cold snap outages and extreme event planning
Author: Tracy Rolstad
PSC’s Tracy Rolstad lends his expertise to evaluate recent extreme weather events in Texas and how planning for such events and assessing the risks aren’t enough. Actionable language in standards and investment per Planning studies is a step in the right direction.
New U.S. administration seeks net-zero by 2050
Guest Contributor: Susan Christensen Eimer
PSC joins the Irish Solar Energy Association
Author: Ann Burns
PSC is proud to become an associate member of the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA), bringing with it the opportunity to collaborate with a strong network of like-minded companies recognizing the potential for solar in Ireland.
For data center stakeholders, sustainability is central to evolution
Client Success Stories
Power System Studies for EirGrid’s Kildare-Meath Upgrade Project (CP966)
EirGrid is the transmission system operator of the Republic of Ireland. EirGrid is assessing the options for an upgrade project called Kildare-Meath, or Capital Project 966. This proposed electricity network development will help transfer power to the east of the country and distribute it within Meath, Kildare and Dublin counties. EirGrid is currently assessing upgrade options to determine which is most suitable for ensuring the safe and secure electricity supply and bringing new renewable energy sources onto the grid, helping reduce carbon emissions and reach Ireland’s 2030 Climate Action targets.
PSC is thrilled to announce an important milestone: Our LinkedIn community now has more than 10,000 followers! A huge THANK YOU to all in our network for your followership and increasing engagement as we strive to create and share relevant and informative content to help power a more sustainable world.
Celebrating our People
During March, we celebrated two events – International Women’s Day and Engineer’s week!
PSC Staff Milestones
Warren Young celebrates 20 years of excellent service with PSC
Congratulations to Warren Young who recently achieved a significant milestone in completing 20 years’ service with PSC. Warren has had an extensive career in the electricity industry and initially worked on power station and substation construction, commissioning and maintenance across New Zealand. When Warren joined PSC, he was based in Hamilton working on the Transpower SCADA/EMS support contract.
In 2003, Warren relocated to Sydney and started assisting AEMO (formerly NEMMCO) with EMS support and various project assignments. He also completed project and support roles for AusGrid Services, TransGrid and Power and Water Corporation. 2008 saw Warren join the PSC management team in Australia and he has been busy since then supporting our staff and clients across Australia. The PSC management team thanks Warren for his outstanding service to PSC Australia and New Zealand over the past 20 years – well done.
L-R: Matt Robinson, GM Operational Technologies & Market Systems (APAC), Warren Young
John Everaarts celebrates 10 years of excellent service with PSC
Congratulations go to John Everaarts who recently completed 10 years of excellent service with PSC. John is a Senior Substation Control Systems Engineer and has been working for our clients across New Zealand on SCADA/EMS and control system related projects, in particular RTU configuration and support. He has also supported PSC Australia during this time with RTU configuration for clients in Adelaide and Darwin. John and the PSC Operational Technologies team from Auckland and Hamilton celebrated this important milestone with John and they all enjoyed a meal out at the Gothenburg Café Restaurant & Bar in Hamilton. Well done, John.
Top photo: L-R: Ross Gaspard, GM Operational Technologies NZ, John Everaarts
Left photo: L-R: The team – Naresh Kumar, Murray Brown, Ross Gaspard, John Everaarts, Peter Brown, Stephen Butler
PSC Welcomes New Staff
Osama Ansari – PSC North America
Welcome to Osama Amsari who joins PSC North America as an Associate System Studies Consultant as part of the Power Networks team based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Prior to joining PSC, Osama Ansari was a Senior Graduate Researcher at the Smart Grid and Energy Network (SMARTGEN) Lab, University of Saskatchewan, Canada, where he performed research and development of operational reliability evaluation tools for renewables-integrated power systems and investigated the integration of energy storage in power systems. He received his PhD degree in electrical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 2021. In his free time, Osama enjoys volunteering, playing cricket and soccer and traveling.
Mohammad Mahdavyfakhr – PSC North America
Welcome to PSC Mohammad. Mohammad joins us in the Vancouver, BC, Canada office as an Associate System Studies Consultant. Mohammad completed his Master’s degree at the University of British Columbia working on “Hierarchical Control of AC Microgrids.” He published several papers and has worked as a Power Electronics engineer for Kafa Electronic Co. in Iran. In his spare time he enjoys nature, camping and walking in the Vancouver forests. He is also passionate about sports such as skiing, volleyball and football.
David Thomas – PSC North America
Please welcome David Thomas to the North America Operational Technologies team. Dave comes to us with a tremendous amount of experience working on GE Systems where he recently provided technical leadership for Load Forecasting. Dave has in-depth knowledge of controls and has done work specifically in Pond Monitor, Reserve Monitor, PID/PIDCTRL, and DXAPI. Prior to this work Dave ran GE Grid Solutions’ Oil and Gas Pipeline Team. Living in the Pacific NW, you may see Dave at the Kirkland office from time to time after the pandemic is under control. In Dave’s free time he enjoys BattleTech (Giant Stompy Robots) and gardening.
Brad Sichter – PSC Australia
PSC welcomes Brad Sichter to the team in Australia. Brad is an experienced EMS Engineer and will be based in Sydney, Australia. Brad is joining the Operational Technologies team to assist with an EMS replacement project. Brad previously had a long and successful career at TransGrid, the main transmission company in New South Wales. In his spare time, Brad is a keen gardener and bushwalker and is looking to improve his golf game.
Andrew Tran – PSC Australia
PSC is pleased to welcomes Andrew Tran to the Brisbane Power Networks team in Australia. Andrew is a Graduate Electrical Engineer with experience in the rail and renewable energy sectors. Previously, Andrew was an intern at Aurizon in their power systems team where he was a part of a protection relay renewal project which involved the design of multiple relay protection schemes. Most recently Andrew has been working on grid connection studies for renewable energy projects where he has developed strong skills in Python programming and power systems modelling. In his spare time, Andrew enjoys going to the gym and spending time with friends.
Negar Shams – PSC Europe
PSC welcomes Negar Shams who joined the PSC UK Power System Studies team in January. Negar previously worked with RINA team where she was carrying out a significant number of grid code compliance studies for many on- and off-shore wind farms and other new connections into the power system. Prior to joining RINA, Negar undertook her PhD at the University of Manchester focusing on wide are control schemes and frequency response of the Great Britain network under different conditions. In her spare time, Negar enjoys going to the gym, cooking and reading.
Glenn Stephenson – PSC Australia
PSC welcomes Glenn Stephenson. Glenn is a Principal Electrical Engineer with over 17 years’ experience in electrical engineering consulting. Glenn’s experience has primarily been in surface and underground mining and metals projects in the coal, metalliferous, aluminum and iron ore industries. His areas of expertise include the fields of electrical substation and power distribution design, earthing system design, power system analysis, arc flash analysis and definition, general plant electrical and control systems design, and electrical construction and technical support. In addition, Glenn has also worked on projects in the transport infrastructure, manufacturing, and security industries. Glenn will be based in PSC’s Brisbane office and will primarily support our Power Systems team.
Upuli Jayatunga – PSC Australia
We welcome Upuli Jayatunga to PSC. Upuli is a Power Systems Engineer and has a PhD specializing in power quality management. Upuli has recently worked as a senior lecturer at the University of Sri Lanka and also as a tutor and demonstrator at the University of Wollongong in Australia. Prior to her PhD and her work in academia, Upuli worked at Lanka Transformers and also the Ceylon Electricity Board where she gained valuable experience in substation design and construction work, power system planning and modeling. Upuli is based in PSC’s Brisbane office and will provide valuable support to the Power Systems teams predominantly on power quality and harmonics work initially.
Stephen Bex – PSC Australia
PSC welcomes Stephen Bex to the Power Networks team in Australia. Stephen Bex is a Principal Engineer and Technical Director with over 30 years’ experience in the high voltage electricity industry. His areas of expertise include a strong focus on power system modeling and analysis, renewable energy systems and HVDC. Most recently he has been completing analysis of electrical systems for clients in the renewable energy sector. Stephen has extensive experience in the development of models for PSS/E, PSCAD, MUDPACK, Powerfactory, MATLAB and SIMULINK that allow the delivery of innovative solutions to meet client requirements and achieve regulatory compliance. Stephen will be based in PSC’s Melbourne office and will primarily support the Power Systems team in all aspects of power systems analysis projects.
Andrew Eviston – PSC Europe
PSC is pleased to welcome Andrew Eviston to the Power Networks team in Ireland as a Power Systems Consultant. He has a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Electrical Services and Energy Management and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Control Systems both from the Technological University of Dublin in Ireland. Andrew looks forward to helping our clients and developing his experience in energy management and renewable energy systems. Andrew’s interests include travelling (pre-Covid), music concerts and playing Gaelic Football.
Aiman Saifuddin – PSC Asia
PSC welcomes Aiman Saifuddin who has joined PSC Asia as a Power Systems Engineer. She joins us from the University of Tenaga, Malaysia, and previously Lloyd Register having excellent exposure and experience with Malaysian and Australian Grid Code through renewable energy connection projects. Aiman will work closely with Asia and AU PN team led by Roderick Kisten to strengthen our service delivery capability for our Asia Pac clients. Aiman enjoys reading in leisure time and practice Pilates.