What I Do

So, I realize that many of you know that I am an Electrical Engineer and I work at MGE in the Substation Dept. But most of you probably don't know what I actually do. So let me satisfy your curiosity with one of the projects I'm working on at the moment...

Right now I'm working on a substation control and relay upgrade at our Blackhawk Sub. (Not affiliated with our church) which is located just north of University Ave. in Middleton about a block from Lake Mendota on Spring Harbor Dr.

There are three main pieces to this upgrade:

1. Upgrade the old RTU (Remote Telemetry Unit) in the control house with a new one.
2. Take out the old 14kV-4kV transformer (3MW) and set a new one with a higher capacity (7 MW)
3. Upgrade the controls in the new transformer and run fiber optics to the control house for communication.

The process starts by taking the existing schematic and wiring diagrams and editing them by taking out old components and adding new ones. I do this by marking prints with colored pencil (yellow for remove, red for add, blue for comments) Then I take the prints to drafting and the drafters draw them electronically. This process can take weeks or months and is usually never done until the project is complete since changes are constantly being made.

Next I have to create a Bill of Materials and order all the parts I need for the project such as new microprocessor relays, fiber optic cable, junction boxes, switches, fuses, etc. I also have custom aluminum panels made to mount the new components.

Once I have all the components, our wireman can start creating some of the communication panels I designed ahead of time. It takes about a week to build a large panel. This is the part that is going on right now. I have 5 panels that need to be built.

We also have to hire a crane company to come in a take out the old transformer off of it's pad and place the new transformer. This new transformer is coming from Blount Station (The plant with the 4 ugly smokestacks)

Once all the panels are installed and the transformer is set and the fiber is connected, the only step left is to commission it and verify everything works as it should. This is the most important step since if something goes wrong, people could get hurt, customers will be out of power and there could potentially be hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to our system. We basically go through a checklist and verify the schematic does what it says it does. This process will probably take 3 days or so. Once that is complete we're done!

Check out some photos:

New components that will be installed

Part of the new panel and components that will be installed in new transformer

(Orange cable up top is the fiber optic)

Old Transformer that will be removed from Blackhawk.

Transformer that will be brought to Blackhawk and upgraded.

Old Panel that I will be upgrading

Other than that, I saw Glen Phillips alst night and he was amazing, just him and a guitar, he played 3 Toad the Wet Sprocket songs but that didn't matter since they were all so good. Amber and I are going out to dinner with a few couples tonight and then the rest of the weekend is open! Let's hope the crew can pull off a few wins!