At KEC, engineers like me are always looking for ways to improve reliability for our members. One of the ways we do this is by conducting sectionalizing studies, which involves verifying protective devices are installed at the right location to minimize outage areas. This requires critically analyzing each piece of the system, validating that devices are sized and configured to work properly in coordination with each other, and ensuring that equipment is of sufficient capacity to provide our members with dependable power.
I also helped develop and now assist in overseeing KEC’s Inspection and Maintenance Plan which directly serves to improve reliability for members by ensuring that our equipment is routinely inspected and functional. Engineers lead end-of-life equipment replacement projects and remain actively involved in a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system integration project. SCADA will allow KEC to remotely monitor and control devices to be alerted to abnormalities and respond to outage situations quickly.