Electric Programs
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Electric Programs >> Engineering Items of Interest to the Engineering Community 2009 Rural Electric Power Conference The 2009 Rural Electric Power Conference, sponsored by the Rural Electric Power Committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, will be held April 26-28, 2009, in Fort Collins, Colorado, at the Hilton Fort Collins. The conference is geared toward the practicing utility engineer working for a rural electric cooperative, an investor owned utility, or a municipal electric utility. Information can be found at http://www.ieeerepc.org. Avian Protection Plan Guidelines The revised Avian Protection Plan Guidelines (April 2005) are now available on the website of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This is a joint document prepared by the Edison Electric Institute’s Avian Power Line Interaction Committee (APLIC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Suggested Practices For Avian Protection On Power Lines: The State of the Art on 2006 The revised and updated manual "Suggested Practices For Avian Protection On Power Lines: The State of the Art on 2006" is now available on the Avian Power Line Interaction Committee's (APLIC) website. The manual is an update version of the 1996 document. The document was jointly prepared by the Edison Electric Institute, the Avian Power Line Interaction Committee, and the California Energy Commission. Hard copies are available for $35.00 and can be obtained through the Edison Electric Institute (http://www.eei.org/products_and_services/descriptions_and_access/suggested_pract.htm). Sample Engineering Forms As a service to borrowers, the Electric Programs now have several sample engineering forms available in Excel worksheet format on our Forms page. The forms include several inspection forms, as well as other forms of interest to the engineering community. The use of these forms is not required by the Electric Programs and may be modified as needed. EPA Regulations The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) rules in the Federal Register on July 17, 2002. As explained in the summary of the Final Rule, the regulations became effective on August 16, 2002, plans were due February 17, 2003, and implementation of the plan was required by August 18, 2003. The new regulations are available on the EPA website in both HTML and PDF formats. Because of the length of the document, EPA posted the rule in three parts. Part 1 (Pages 47041-47090) - (HTML)
(PDF) Additional information concerning the new regulations is available on the EPA website. Guidelines for the Use of Non-wood Poles for Distribution Lines Fiberglass Reinforced Polymer Poles NRECA T&D Engineering Committee Members of the Electric Programs staff participate in the T&D Engineering Committee and its subcommittees. Information concerning recent committee activities may be found in the following Engineering and Operations Community Newsletters on the NRECA website. 2008 Electric Engineering Seminar Rural Development's Utilities Programs held an Electrical Engineering Seminar in conjunction with NRECA's TechAdvantage, February 20, 2008, in Anaheim, California. The seminar reviewed "hot button" issues and industry trends, such as Geothermal heat pumps, Broadband Over Powerlines, FERC Reliability Rules and Distribution Automation, and updates on the latest publications and standards. The agenda and links to individual presentations may be found here. 2006 Electric Engineering Seminar The Electric Programs held its 2006 Electric Engineering Seminar on February 14 and 15, 2006, at the Rosen Centre in Orlando, Florida, in conjunction with NRECA's TechAdvantage 2006. The agenda and links to individual presentations may be found here. Additional information concerning the seminar is available from Bob Lash, Chief, Transmission Branch, Electric Staff Division. His telephone number is (202) 720-0486. 2004 Electric Engineering Seminar The Electric Programs held its 2004 Electric Engineering Seminar on February 10-11, 2004, in New Orleans, Louisiana, in conjunction with NRECA's TechAdvantage 2004. Over 250 attended the seminar which explored the latest developments in the electric utility industry as they relate specifically to rural America and RUS' role. Copies of the presentations are available in PDF format. The file size is approximately 15M. Contact the Electric Program Webmaster concerning availability of individual presentations. (The Homeland Security presentation is available for download and viewing.) 2002 Electric Engineering Seminar The Electric Programs held its 2002 Electric Engineering Seminar on March 5-6, 2002, in Dallas, Texas, in conjunction with NRECA's TechAdvantage 2002. The seminar explored the latest developments in the electric utility industry as they relate specifically to rural America and RUS' role.& Papers are available at http://www.usda.gov/rus/electric/engineering/2002seminar.htm. 2000 Electric Engineering Seminar The Electric Programs conducted a seminar on rural electric distribution and transmission system engineering and operations on March 14-15, 2000, in Kissimmee, Florida. The program included presentations on various topics of interest to the rural electric engineering community. Papers presented at the seminar are now available in PDF format. National Electrical Safety Code The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) now has a website for the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC). In addition to ordering information for the 2007 NESC, the website also contains Tentative Interim Amendments, Errata Sheets, and Interpretations. The NESC Zone home page may be found at http://standards.ieee.org/nesc. Items of Engineering Interest The 2008 Summary of Items of Engineering Interest continues the practice of furnishing annually, on an informal basis, engineering information and developments related to the rural electrification program. The summary includes some new ideas and techniques developed for the purpose of encouraging further thought when designing, purchasing or operating certain facilities. It should be noted, however, that nothing in this summary should be construed to change existing policies and procedures as set forth in RUS regulations or bulletins, the National Electrical Safety Code or other publications. It is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Previous issues are also available in PDF as indicated below. Please keep in mind that previous issues are provided for reference only and that points of contact, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses may have changed since the original publication.
The free Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view PDF files. You may download it from: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
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