Los Angeles Council

PES CHAPTER HOMEPAGE
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
See  PES Homepage for latest Society News:
September 12, 2000 Meeting Notice
IEEE PES LA Chapter

Distributed Generation & Distribution Planning

Who:  Dave Redding and Lyle Hill, Riverside Public Utilities
When:  Tuesday, September 12, 2000.
Where:  Luminarias Restaurant,
Details:
Please reserve your seat early.   To reserve your seat, please call:
Fernando Calderon (626) 744-7064   fcalderon@ci.pasadena.ca.us
Or Don Laird at (626) 302-8616 lairddn@sce.com
Distributed Generation & Distribution Planning
Non-utility owned generation has been a part of the overall electric supply system from the beginning.  In the recent past, this generation was generally confined to large industrial plants or generation subsidized in some way such as wind machines in a concentrated location.  However, recent advances in electronic controls, mechanical design, and materials science are bringing small generators into the realm of commercial viability.  These relatively small generators which can be installed nearly anywhere on the electric distribution system, and therefore distributed throughout the electric grid, are referred to as distributed generation (DG).

The desire to employ renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and photovoltaics, and use clean fossil-fuel technologies like gas turbines and fuel cells is helping drive the push for deployment of DG.  The need for improved reliability drives some installations. Special features of DG include simplified, infrequent maintenance schedules, and packaged installations as opposed to requiring separate fuel handling, control, protection, and other ancillary equipment.  Distributed generators may produce as little as one kilowatt of power and, by some standards, go beyond ten megawatts.  Practically speaking, installation of a generator on a typical distribution system becomes more difficult as it approaches one megawatt in size.

How will the proliferation of small generators on the electric system be handled from a distribution planning standpoint?  Lyle Hill and Dave Redding from Riverside Public Utilities will provide a quick overview of current planning practices and then discuss how DG is expected to affect future practices.  A review of the California Public Utilities Commission, Energy Division, report on Distribution System Planning and Operations, and an update of other DG activity at the State level will be included.

Lyle Hill is a Senior Electrical Engineer for Riverside Public Utilities. He joined the City of Riverside in 1991, heads the Distribution Planning Section, and is also responsible for compiling the annual 5-year, $50 million capital improvement plan..  He has completed several subtransmission planning studies and distribution reliability studies for the municipal utility. Previously, Lyle Hill worked at Southern California Edison for 23 years in the areas of transmission/subtransmission operational studies, WSCC EHV interconnection studies, and finally as a protective relay engineer.

Dave Redding is a Principal Electrical Engineer for Riverside Public Utilities.  He has had management responsibility for the Distribution Planning Section for the last 13 years.  He is a Senior Member of IEEE, has a BSEE from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and is a Registered Professional Engineer in California.

Please reserve your seat early.   To reserve your seat, please call:
Fernando Calderon (626) 744-7064   fcalderon@ci.pasadena.ca.us
Or Don Laird at (626) 302-8616 lairddn@sce.com
  1. CHAPTER OFFICERS:

Current as of 2/1/00

PES Webmaster
 
PES HOMEPAGE   http://www.ieee.org/organizations/society/power
PES CHAPTERS   http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/membership/chapters/PES_Chapter_Homepages.html
LOS ANGELES COUNCIL  http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r6/lac