Project Management An Electric Utility Perspective Michael Jackovich President and Owner Project Management Plus, Inc. May 18, 2009 Copyright 2009 Project Management Plus, Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction Focus on substation, transmission and distribution (T&D) Project manager (PM) rather than lead engineer is now the responsible individual Effective PM requires insight –Technical aspects –Work practices

Agenda Inception and categories of substation, transmission and distribution projects Composition and interaction of a typical electric utility project team Case histories Keys to success

Project Categories Regulatory –EPA –NERC Public Improvement New Business

Project Categories Reliability –Tree trimming –Cable replacement Capacity (Summer Critical)

Budgeting and Prioritization Budget set by upper management Priority system for projects using proven metrics Projects are racked and stacked

Project Team PM needs to pull the team together Knowledge of work flow process Environmenta l Testing Operations Procuremen t Construction Engineerin g Real Estate Planning Network

At the Forefront Planners (analysts) –Review load data –Recommend changes based on planning criteria Customer support –Involved if new business –Liaison between customer and utility Project controls –Schedulers –Work planners

Design Stage Engineering –Substation, transmission or distribution Real Estate –Easements, Right of Ways, Surveying Environmental –Wetland permits, endangered species Procurement –Acquire major equipment Stores –Reserve material (cable, conduit, etc.)

Construction Stage Construction –Substation, transmission or distribution Operations –Outage and switching plans Network - IT –SCADA, communications Testing –Set protective relays, equipment check-out

Unraveling the Underground Maze Overview –Install 5 miles of 138kV underground transmission through the streets of a large city. –Need signoffs from 24 city and private entities –12 designers and 4 engineers assigned to project team –Inexperienced with city permit process

Unraveling the Underground Maze Action Plan –Need to locate a firm familiar with Underground facilities Permitting process –A subsurface utility engineering (SUE) firm was identified and interviewed

Unraveling the Underground Maze Results –SUE firm was approved as a subcontractor –Designers reduced from 12 to 6 –Received critical advice and support during the permitting process

The Mystery of the Missing Control Building Overview –Substation control building – critical path –The buildings subcontractor schedule was fluid –Client facing a substantial penalty if the project was not completed on time

The Mystery of the Missing Control Building Action Plan –Visit the subcontractors plant –All hands meeting at the plant –Added shift and personnel –Metric to measure progress –Corrective actions implemented

The Mystery of the Missing Control Building Results –Control building shipped in 3 weeks –Entire project completed on schedule –Penalty clause not invoked

The Secret of Conceptual Drawings Overview –3 projects, 2 were summer critical –The 3 rd project was a public improvement –All 3 in the same geographic area –Goal was to complete summer critical projects without any rework later –Internal construction resources unavailable –Detailed design and easement acquisition not complete

The Secret of Conceptual Drawings Action Plan –Develop a construction bid package using Conceptual drawings Unit prices –Estimated total of almost 23,000 feet of conduit and 6 underground vaults –Design and easement acquisition proceeds during bid process

The Secret of Conceptual Drawings Results –Bid package release and award on time –Design released to construction in phases as easements were obtained –Summer critical projects completed on schedule –Contract extras resolved via unit prices

Keys to Success Safety Understand the workflow Beware of hand-offs and interfaces Meetings – agenda and action items Communicate –Field forces –Operations –Governmental entities Compliment excellent performance

Questions? Michael Jackovich President and Owner Project Management Plus, Inc. May 18, 2009 Copyright 2009 Project Management Plus, Inc. All rights reserved.