Georgia Power is celebrating Generation Appreciation Month, a time to recognize the more than 1,100 team members who “work tirelessly in power plants across state to keep reliable energy flowing to the grid on hot summer days, cold winter mornings and every hour in between.”

“In life, as well as with Georgia Power’s power generation facilities, there is no one-size-fits-all option,” said Rick Anderson, senior vice president and senior production officer for Georgia Power. “From the existing facilities that have powered Georgia for decades, to newer sources of generation such as renewable energy, cleaner natural gas and battery storage, Georgia Power’s diverse generation mix continues to evolve to meet the needs of a growing Georgia. To keep the energy flowing, we need a workforce that is just as advanced and diverse.”

Based on available opportunities, a career in power generation offers many possibilities for those who join the team, Georgia Power said. Career paths exist in the areas of operations, maintenance, electrical, instrumentation, engineering and more. Last year, the company hired over 80 team members across generation facilities and expects the hiring trend to continue in the coming years. Strong training programs exist in Operations, along with apprenticeships in Mechanical and Electrical, which develop experienced journeymen who work safely to keep energy flowing to the grid, 24/7.

Georgia Power also highlighted the “continuous learning” it offers, including the Rockmart training facility where electrical, mechanical, and instrumentation and control technicians hone their skills each year. In 2023, this facility conducted nearly 3,000 hours of both hands-on and classroom instruction. Subject matter experts from both Southern Company and external entities visited to assist in this training program.

The $169 million, 10 MW sCO₂ facility at the Institute in San Antonio is demonstrating the next- technology in a project led by GTI Energy. Partners include SwRI, GE Vernova, the U.S. Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory (U.S. DOE/NETL) and several other industry participants.

For the first time, SwRI said the pilot plant’s turbine achieved its full speed of 27,000 RPM at an operating temperature of 260°C and generated a small amount of power. The Insitute said the STEP team would slowly ramp up the operating temperature to 500°C and generate 5 MWe of power.

After completion of this first test configuration, the STEP Demo project would enter its final phase. The pilot plant would be reconfigured to boost its efficiency and overall energy output.

SwRI said this modification requires the installation of new equipment, as well as a new commission and test phase that would continue into 2025 until the pilot plant is running at full power. At the end of its final phase, the pilot plant would produce 10 MWe hourly.

SwRI Project Manager Dr. Jeff Moore said he believed this project would “change how we approach power generation in the near future.”

Unlike conventional steam power plants, which use water as the thermal medium in power cycles, STEP uses high-temperature sCO₂ to increase efficiency by as much as 10% due to its favorable thermodynamic properties. Carbon dioxide is nontoxic and nonflammable, and when CO₂ is held above a critical temperature and pressure, it can act like a gas while having the density near that of a liquid.

The STEP Demo pilot plant is one of the largest demonstration facilities in the world for sCO₂ technology. However, the pilot plant’s sCO₂ turbomachinery is approximately one-tenth the size of conventional power plant components, which shrinks the physical footprint and construction cost of any new facilities.

SwRI, GTI Energy and GE broke ground on the STEP Demo site in 2018. The facility achieved mechanical completion in October 2023, when major subsystems began commissioning.

Pride Month commemorates the riots and protests that created awareness of deep-seated problems and energized people to take action to create substantial change. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning and allies (LGBTQ+) Pride Month is celebrated in June to honor the Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan which lasted six days in June 1969 as police clashed with LGBTQ protesters.

Below, please find some Pride Month announcements and as well as Pride Month events related to electric utilities and the energy industry.

PNM and AVANGRID said they donated $25,000 to nonprofits in honor of National Pride Month. Alianza of New Mexico, Casa Q, Equality New Mexico, Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico and Youth Shelters & Family Services each received $5,000 toward their services.

“PNM is proud to support our LGBTQ+ community while promoting diversity, equity and inclusion throughout our state,” said Pat Vincent-Collawn, Chairman and CEO for PNM.

Pacific Gas and Electric celebrates Pride Month with #LoveandPride. Brian M. Wong, vice president, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary for PG&E shared a story on the PGE Currents website about a time earlier in his career when he pushed his organization to consider its LGBTQ+ employees’ rights when it proposed a relocation. Wong said PG&E’s Pride Network Employee Resource Group is holding online events over the course of the month and the group will be marching in several Pride Parades throughout the state.  

Also in California, the Public Utilities Commission tweeted that it expanded its supplier diversity program to include utility procurement goals from LGBT businesses.

The Orlando Utilities Commission and NiSource also tweeted that they are proud to celebrate and stand with the LGBTQ+ community.

Out in Energy, a national umbrella network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI) professionals working across the US energy and climate sectors, and across all energy sources and technologies shared several events that are relevant to Pride Month, including:

• June 6 at 10 AM EST, DOE Secretary Granholm will host an outdoor event to celebrate the raising of the Progress Pride Flag in front of DOE’s Forrestal Hall in Washington, DC. Out in Energy members are welcome and invited to attend. The Secretary and other DOE leadership will deliver public remarks and host this occasion to demonstrate solidarity with LGBTQ+ individuals working in energy, climate, and environment. 
• June 8 at 4 PM EST, Out in Energy will be co-hosting a free virtual “Ask me Anything” panel discussion with New England Women in Energy & Environment [NEWIEE]. Register here: “Ask Me Anything” featuring Out in Energy – NEWIE
• June 9 from 6 – 8 PM EST, Out in Energy hosts a Pride Happy Hour at Pitchers in DC.
• June 10 at 7 PM EST, Out in Energy participates in the DC Front Runners annual Pride 5K! There is an Out in Energy running team, and all proceeds are distributed to local and national LGBTQ organizations such as Casa Ruby.
• June 29 at 12 PM EST, the Department of Energy will host a virtual event to cap off Pride Month, featuring a number of LGBTQ leaders working across the Department.

BTW, Out in Energy has T-shirts for sale through mid-June. Learn more here.

Is your utility or company celebrating Pride Month? Let Power-Grid.com know what you are doing and we will add it to this list.

In recognition of Women's History Month, AEP Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lisa Barton talked about her rise to leadership and the future energy workforce.

Lisa Barton’s journey in energy hasn’t been without its barriers.

For starters, when she attended engineering school, the ratio of men to women was 10 to 1. And she has often been the only woman in the room, on the team, or in the department.

“I recall taking a course at MIT, and I could not even find a women's restroom,” she said. “Little did I know that in the energy field, the ratio would be much higher.”

Long before she ascended to leadership positions within American Electric Power (AEP), Barton had mentors to whom she looked for guidance.

Her interest in math and science led her to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, where she was attracted to electrical power engineering by one professor who fueled her passion for the industry and for leadership. 

“Dr. Harit Majmudar…even to this day when I say his name, I have to take a deep breath,” Barton said.

She said Dr. Majmudar cared about his students on a very personal level, taking them out for pizza and cooking for them at his home.

“[He] would constantly tell us when we tried to pick up the bill that we could come back and take him out when we launched our own careers,” Barton remembered. “He taught us the gift and power of paying it forward. He loved teaching, loved the power industry and the men and women who dedicated their lives to keeping the lights on so others could reach their potential.” 

Barton said she has carried that mindset of “paying it forward” with her through her career.

“I remember fondly the male and female leaders who mentored me along my professional journey,” she said. “It’s essential to keep that going.  To me, making a positive difference in the lives of others is how you should measure your life, your career and your contributions.”

Barton stressed the importance of seeing the energy industry from as many different perspectives as possible.

The Connecticut native started her career with Northeastern Utilities (NU), now Eversource, working in a little of everything: engineering, regulatory, legal, compliance, marketing and customer service. She earned a law degree along the way, and represented water and gas utilities and working in corporate and trademark law.

Her second stint with NU allowed her to start the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance program, a good fit for both her engineering and legal backgrounds. From there she accepted a role at AEP, moved to Ohio and invested time and attention on growing AEP’s transmission opportunities and leadership.

Barton continued to broaden her responsibilities at AEP before being named executive vice president and COO. She leads the day-to-day activities of all AEP utilities, as well as the operations of the Generation and Transmission business units, and the Procurement, Supply Chain and Fleet Operations organization.

When asked about the biggest accomplishment of her career, she spoke about AEP bouncing back from what had been an initial defeat. AEP had launched its $4.5 billion Wind Catcher project, a combination of a long transmission line and 2 GW in renewable generation located in Oklahoma’s panhandle.

After years of work, the company in 2018 pulled the plug on what would have been the biggest-ever U.S. wind farm. The project had received regulatory approval from three of the four states needed. But Texas regulators rejected the project because it didn’t offer enough benefits for ratepayers.

“Despite the setback," Barton said, "it was literally the next week that the team dusted themselves off and got back to work on our North Central Energy Facilities.”

AEP scaled down its effort to what is now known as the North Central Wind Facilities. The three wind farms offer 1,485 MW of generating capacity and are powered by 531 General Electric (GE) turbines.

In March, Invenergy and GE Renewable Energy completed the Traverse Energy Center, the largest and last of the three wind projects that constituted AEP's reconstituted effort to build large-scale wind. The 998 MW Traverse project is considered the largest wind farm constructed in a single phase in North America.

“After even more work and regulatory proceedings, the project was approved,” said Barton. “I was struck by the commitment of the team.”

More than ever, Barton said the energy industry needs to be thoughtful and intentional in its long-term planning. While capacity needs in power generation are especially changing, she said she doesn’t think about the industry’s assets when looking toward the future; Barton, instead, thinks more about its people.

“This industry is built on stewardship," she said. That makes it an attractive industry for younger people "who want to ensure that what they are doing provides value and has meaning,” As a result, "we need to focus on telling that story and ensuring that people can connect those dots.”

Barton said that the energy industry's transformation marks the beginning of a new journey. "We need a broad range of talent, diversity of skills, people and ideas to make it all happen," she said. And building trust among all stakeholders will be even more important in the future than it has been in the past.

“If you want to change the world," Barton said, "this is industry to do it!"

Growing up in the small town of Latta, South Carolina, James Richardson became interested in power generation when a local electric company presented at his high school.

“There was a stationary bicycle that was connected to a generator that lit a light when someone pedaled the bicycle,” he said. “I was fascinated by this as a freshman.” Richardson spoke with Power Engineering in observance of #BlackHistoryMonth.

Richardson’s pastor, Reverend Paul B. German, was the maintenance man at the nearby elementary school. He taught Richardson how to start up and operate the package boilers that heated the school, to sound fuel oil tanks and do other basic repairs. Richardson said these skills were valuable when he joined the U.S. Navy after graduating.  

“My mother and brother Charles walked to receive my high school diploma,” he recalled. “She was very proud.”

Richardson found success quickly. In the Navy, he was promoted to E-6, Machinist Mate 1^st Class in just four years. At 22 years old, he said he was leading some men who were more than twice his age. But knowing he might not progress to the next rank for a decade, he left the Navy to begin a career in the waste-to-energy sector.

“I worked my way from entry-level engineer to Plant Manager in 10 years,” said Richardson in an interview in recognition of Black History Month. “Along the way, there were issues that seemed discriminatory. However, I did not quit, I became more involved.”

He did everything: writing start up procedures for plant equipment, volunteering for plant commissioning teams, even appearing in company infomercials.

Richardson recalled learning a lot from a man named Steve Di Liberto, a plant manager he supported. One piece of advice he recalls Di Liberto telling him was to get a degree. Richardson had been six credits shy when he left the Navy.

“As a young, Black male, I might not be given first consideration for a job, but with a degree, employers have one less reason not to hire me,” said Richardson. “He told me not to give anyone a reason to not hire me.”

Six years later, Richardson had earned both a bachelor’s and master’s in business administration.

He has held a variety of positions at CPS Energy, the utility serving San Antonio, Texas. Previously, he was director at Sommers, an 830 MW gas-fired plant. He also oversaw the coal yard, which processes nearly 4 million tons of coal per year for the J.K. Spruce Power Plant.

In February, Richardson took over as director for Spruce, ensuring his teams operate and maintain the plant to provide reliable power in a safe, environmentally compliant manner.

“I have been in power plants since I was 18 and have enjoyed almost every minute of it,” he said.

Richardson said there isn’t just one attribute that helps make someone a great Director or Plant Manager. Here is the list he gave us, built from more than 40 years of experience:

1. Always enforce safety first. Demand it of everybody in your plant, division, or company.
2. Act with integrity. You can’t lead successfully without it.
3. Honor commitments. Team members remember when you don’t do what you say.
4. Strive for excellence. This is a part of the team building process. Set goals for your team that are SMART, but also require them to stretch and improve their performance.
5. Develop others and allow them to grow with guidance. Your support and guidance can help people to realize their potential.
6. Have a professional curiosity. Try to learn something about the plant or process every day.
7. If there is a plant issue, get to the root cause. There are no ghost or mystery trips. It is in everyone’s best interest to find and resolve the issue. Resolving issues allows maintenance personnel to sleep at night.

“There are days when you know you did great work and there are days when you feel like you could have done better, but you have another shift in 12 hours and you get to do it all over again,” he added. “The odds are in your favor that you win more days that you lose.”

Sarah Darmitzel didn’t think she’d become an engineer while attending the University of Missouri.

At that time, she considered a career in architecture or urban planning. She says she had a lot of encouragement on her path toward the energy division within Burns & McDonnell.

“It was really the people that led me to where I am,” said Darmitzel in an interview in connection with International Day of Women and Girls in Science Day (#WomenInScience).

More than 15 years later, Darmitzel has found a home with the EPC firm as a project manager. She specializes in steel and concrete design for coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants. She has worked on energy projects large and small, from formation through construction to operations.

Darmitzel explained that working in the power sector fulfills an internal purpose: solving problems in an ever-changing field, knowing we need efficient, sustainable energy sources to electrify our lives.

“I like knowing that what we're doing affects everyday life in some way, even when people may not realize it,” she said. “Engineering is solving problems. And regardless of what the [industry] changes are, in front of us, there will always be problems, and the nature of those problems will change.”

When she reflects on the most rewarding moments of her career, Darmitzel recalls her experiences in the field. She says for an engineer, she’s spent a significant amount of time on-site at different projects. This includes early in her career, spending two years assisting with the construction of Iatan Generating Station, a coal-fired plant in Missouri.

“[It] was really fascinating to be a part of a project of that scale so early in my career,” she said, “to see how many different people have to come together with different ideas and understanding and languages and perspectives to make such complex systems produce electricity in the end.”

Darmitzel stressed the importance of learning people skills as a project manager, understanding the strengths of each individual on a team.

“We don't build the projects, we have to build the people that build the projects,” she said.

She noted 3D modelling and other advancements have changed how the industry communicates in the field.

“I'm not out there picking up a hammer, loading concrete into a foundation,” she added. “But everything that I do as the engineering and project manager leads into somebody else being able to do so, and really requires a complex team to execute well.”

Darmitzel’s success has rewarded her with a new challenge across the world. In July she heads to India to lead Burns & McDonnell’s Energy Division in the firm’s Mumbai office. There Darmitzel says she’ll communicate with U.S. project managers and make sure the company’s Indian teams are meeting current project needs.

She says she hopes to develop further prospects for projects outside of the U.S.

“I was able to see ‘grandpa’s power plant’ and worked in the garage for years,” she recalled. “I was fascinated by it all. It just resonated with me. How cool that I could overhaul a transmission or pull an engine and rebuild it.”

Green went on to study mechanical engineering and graduated from the University of Missouri. From there she went to work in the power sector, her first job being the construction of a coal-fired power plant.

“The company I worked for had never had a woman engineer in the field, so it was a new experience for them,” she said in an interview in connection with International Day of Women and Girls in Science Day (#WomenInScience).

“I guess I just never saw it as a problem, and it wasn’t,” she added. “It was ‘interesting’ to most just because it was different, but I think I was just so open to learning that it really didn’t matter.”

That curiosity and openness has led her through “so many wonderful experiences” in a career spanning more than 40 years. She has held various positions in construction, engineering, operations and maintenance of power plants in Texas, Alaska, and Missouri.

Green joined CPS Energy – the utility serving San Antonio, Texas – in 2003 as O&M Engineer. She became Manager of Projects in Engineering & Technical Services in 2005.

In 2011 she was tasked with integration of a new generating plant into the CPS fleet and then served as Director, Strategic Planning and Analysis and Senior Director, Engineering & Technical Services.

Green now serves as Senior Director of Power Generation for the utility. Around 23% of the utility’s generation capacity is coal, 30% natural gas, 29% nuclear, and 14% renewables through power purchase agreements (PPAs). The balance is made up of a mix of PPAs.

“Being able to start in a construction role enabled me to see a plant literally from the ground up,” she told Power Engineering. “I built upon that with roles that included chemistry, environmental, operations, and maintenance, project engineering, and moved into leadership.”

She said each role allowed her to build her skill set and gain a deeper understanding of the business. Her current job focuses on data analytics.

“We currently can capture operational data like never before,” she noted. “The art is understanding how to view and interpret the data.”

Green says that data enables CPS Energy to build models to analyze and measure performance of plant equipment. Her role has included building graphics to emulate plant processes, using this to help observe changes over time that would indicate declining plant performance. She has built models to evaluate how the utility’s fleet responds to grid events.

“I am able to provide subject matter expertise in all areas of our operation, recently providing an evaluation of the operational impacts of several different coals based on their chemical analyses,” she said.

In a historically male-dominated field, Green still often looks around and realizes she’s the only woman in the room but says she’s proud of the fact she’s there for her knowledge and experience. She adds that while there may not be a lot of female engineers in the power sector, there are other skilled technical roles generally well-represented by women.

“Everyone brings a unique perspective to a role,” said Green. “The strongest teams are comprised of groups of diverse individuals who bring great logical skills, sensory abilities, organizational skills, and leadership. The broader the make-up, the more value that can be derived.”

At this point in her career, she takes pleasure in providing tours to elementary and high school students, aiming to educate them about the many career opportunities available in the power sector. She adds that so many young people don’t consider the generation industry simply because they’re not aware of it.

“The challenge is ensuring that all children are encouraged to develop a curiosity about everything, how things work, and why,” she said. “Getting a chance to show them what happens behind the switch on the wall is exciting.”

She added: “I believe that finding your niche, finding what keeps you engaged is a key element no matter what career you choose.”

The 15 utilities behind the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) hailed the proposal as providing “cost, reliability and environmental benefits.” So, why is the renewable energy industry so concerned?

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy describes the SEEM proposal as a “bilateral market among Southeast utilities that allows for trading in 15-minute increments, on a voluntary basis, with free transmission, and a split-the-difference price-setting mechanism” in the absence of a market monitor.

“The implementation of SEEM may slightly reduce the curtailment of solar among SEEM utilities, but could also potentially be used as a way for utilities to sell off excess generation that is a result of over building fossil gas resources,” Maggie Shober, the director of utility reform at SACE, wrote.

Meanwhile, a coalition of clean energy groups — Advanced Energy Economy, Advanced Energy Buyers Group, and Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance — issued a joint response to FERC’s split vote, calling it a “missed opportunity.”

“The acceptance of SEEM without a FERC order allows the sponsoring utilities to move forward without any Commission direction on how the new platform should be implemented and with no conditions that would improve transparency as to the benefits SEEM will actually deliver in practice,” said Jeff Dennis, AEE’s managing director and general counsel. “FERC appears to have passed on creating a forum to foster discussion with states and stakeholders regarding the future of wholesale power markets in the region. This result could allow utilities in the Southeast to lock in a subpar alternative that will not create meaningful savings for ratepayers and will do little to accelerate the adoption of advanced energy technologies, while allowing those utilities to cement their market dominance in the region.”

Background: On Aug. 20, Jeff Dennis, managing director and general counsel for Advanced Energy Economy, joined Renewable Energy World’s John Engel to discuss the latest back-and-forth (at the time) between SEEM and FERC.

Gizelle Wray, director of regulatory affairs and counsel at the Solar Energy Industries Association, said that SEEM will allow monopoly utilities to further cement their control on the marketplace.

“This proposal will embolden utilities to put up roadblocks for independent power producers and will slow our transition to clean energy,” Wray said in a statement. “We need a true market that encourages new entrants and competitive bidding, all of which could help bring Southeast utilities into the 21st century.”

A study released last month by the American Council on Renewable Energy determined that SEEM would produce the lowest cost savings and emission reductions of available options, and would imperil decarbonization goals.

The study — conducted by Vibrant Clean Energy — compared the proposed Southeast Energy Exchange Market to an optimal energy imbalance market (EIM) and regional transmission organization (RTO), finding an EIM would save $111 billion by 2040, while an RTO would save $119 billion.

Additionally, modeling from the study projects that an EIM and RTO would reduce carbon emissions by 67 and 70%, respectively, over the same time period, compared to just 30% under the SEEM framework.

“Accelerating the growth of renewable energy in the Southeast is critical to achieving our nation’s climate goals,” ACORE President and CEO Gregory Wetstone said following FERC’s effective approval of SEEM. “As our recent analyses have shown, a real-time energy market would generate significant cost savings and emission reductions beyond approved proposals.”

Southern Company, one of the driving forces behind SEEM, called the market a “21st century solution” that will provide “additional data transparency.”

“SEEM will allow resources to more easily access the electricity wholesale market and will enable and encourage new technologies and approaches necessary to deliver more economic and clean energy to our customers,” said Noel Black, Southern Company’s vice president of governmental affairs.

SEEM’s member utilities released a third-party report that estimated that SEEM would deliver $40-50 million in annual benefits to customers and utility grid operators in the near-term, increasing to $100-150 million annually in later years.

SEEM’s footprint will cover nearly 20 entities in parts of 11 states with more than 50 million people.