They Keep the Lights On
Lori Burkhart is Editor-in-Chief of Public Utilities Fortnightly.
The Association of Edison Illuminating Companies was established by Thomas Edison in 1885, which is auspicious in itself. Fast forward these one hundred thirty-seven years and AEIC is celebrating its achievements this October at the 138th annual meeting of AEIC's members in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Public Utilities Fortnightly Team will be at AEIC in force, to listen to the top operations and engineering leaders of the electric industry exchange ideas. That's important because AEIC is where experts from more than one hundred and eighty utilities come together to provide direction essential to attaining operational excellence in all aspects of generation, transmission, distribution, and storage of electric power.
At this year's annual meeting, the theme is Powering Possibilities Together, highlighting the strength and value of collaboration among AEIC's member companies. With unprecedented legislative and technological challenges coming, AEIC believes in working together to address the industry's greatest operational needs.
The future of electric grid operations will be exponentially more complex, with all eyes focused there, and AEIC member companies take on the imperative to innovate every day. Some of those innovations will be honored by AEIC at the annual meeting with achievement awards.
These are AEIC's most prestigious awards for members who have clearly demonstrated significant contributions for advancement of the operations of the electric energy industry. These award winners are celebrated in this issue and take their place among a prestigious group of past awardees.
The highest award this year is to PPL Electric Utilities for a first-of-its-kind technological solution to wood pole inspections. Six awards also will be given to:
- PPL Electric Utilities - Distribution Protection Analysis Toolkit;
- Florida Power & Light Company in two areas - Mobile Safety Application and Construction Services Interactive Voice Response Communications;
- Southern California Edison - Faulty Object Recognition Through Computer Eyesight (FORCE);
- Con Edison - Enhanced Operational Processes Leveraging AMI; and
- Eversource - Innovative Energy Storage Microgrid.
Read all about these innovative company award winners later in these pages. Congratulations to all.
