TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Do you need designs grounded in common sense? Designs leveraging field knowledge to ensure they are buildable, operable, and low maintenance. Most importantly designs that, integrate safety from the start rather than add it on after.
Do you need designs that minimize total cost of ownership by considering the future? The big picture includes long-term load projections, lifecycle asset management, evolving customer needs, and a shifting regulatory landscape. If you want designs for the future, let’s start a conversation.
If the design serves the most people, the most reliably, with the least infrastructure, then it will also be the most profitable
Whether defining system architecture, developing team templates, or outlining multi-phase project scope, experience is essential. Laying a solid foundation is key to the team’s success.
DESIGN TEAM MENTORING
If you have a great team and want to elevate it for an ambitious project, let’s discuss a partnership. Sometimes, when an existing team is delving deeper into the utility business, a Senior Designer can help everyone grow. Each team will have unique needs, but here are some examples of what mentoring could look like:
- Design foresight: Enhancing efficiency by addressing all threats and opportunities at the preliminary design stage, rather than waiting for the QA/QC stage.
- Mentoring: Guiding the design team through safety legislation, material availability, and utility best practices. Topics likely not covered in university or technical school.
- Guided Site Visits: Junior designers are often told to “get out there and see things.” How does a designer know what to look for? Mentoring helps designers prepare site to-do lists, identify threats and opportunities, and spot safety concerns or business cases for scope expansion.
SITE SELECTION
A bad plan well executed is still a failure! Successful infrastructure projects start with good site selection. Good site selection considers land ownership, environmental sensitivity, infrastructure, technical needs, and future maintenance. Whether for a power line route or station site, this stage is where experience matters most.
STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT
It impacts hundreds of designers, hundreds of construction workers, and millions of citizens. You can benefit from our experience in writing Standard Engineering Practices (SEPs), Construction Standards, and Master Agreements for utility collaboration. Having someone on your team with attention to detail, who mitigates risk and delivers on time, is key to success.
MULTI-YEAR MASTER PLANS
Two things are required when creating a roadmap for the future: technical expertise to understand future needs and communication skills to document the plan. Master plans will likely remain in use long after the authors have moved on. We build a rock-solid business case based on technical requirements like load growth projections, asset health. We also consider more dynamic factors like shifting regulations. All the while we seek opportunities to add value for stakeholders.
SMART GRID
If you need two devices separated by land or water to communicate over a network, we can help. With experience in constructing, commissioning, and operating Communication Protection & Control (CP&C) networks, as well as both legacy SCADA and next-generation Smart-Grid devices, we can design your network. From the Precambrian Shield to the Great Plains, we’ve built secure, 99.99% reliable networks. We have expertise with fiber optics, Power Line Carrier (PLC), radio, cellular, satellite, and legacy serial protocols. Whether connecting to a brownfield network or bench-testing a new configuration, success relies on hard work and expertise.
