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COMMONWEALTH LEADERS OF INNOVATION

Commonwealth's staff has a long and distinguished history of innovation in power generation and delivery, but we don't believe in resting on our laurels. Today, Commonwealth engineers continue to take new ground and lead the industry by affiliation with, and active leadership in, numerous organizations and working groups that are setting today's standards and paving the way for tomorrow's achievements. Our team members listed below are representative of Commonwealth's extensive involvement in the power industry.

Brian L. White, P.E.

Electrical Engineer

  • Chair: Publicity, IEEE PES Summer Power Meeting, Seattle, Washington, Circa 2000.
  • Chair: of the IEEE PES Seattle Chapter, 1981-1982.
  • Co-Treasurer: IEEE Summer Power Meeting, Seattle, Washington.
  • Director: LineSoft/Itron User Group Board, 2002-2008.

Dennis F. DeCosta, P.E.

President / Electrical Engineer

  • Award: 2012 Outstanding Engineer Award, IEEE Power and Energy Society, Southeastern Michigan
  • Affiliations
    • IEEE Substation Committee Working Group E6 - Chair, Ground Testing
    • IEEE Substation Committee Working Group D7 - Substation Grounding Safety
    • IEEE Substation Committee Working Group D9 - Permanent Connections Used in Substations
    • IEEE Substation Committee Working Group D3 - Substation Bus Design
    • IEEE Insulated Conductor Committee Working Group C2W - Guide for Bonding High-Voltage Cable Sheaths
    • IEEE Insulated Conductor Committee Working Group C23 - Design Considerations for Underground and Overhead High-Voltage Transmission Circuits
  • Co-author: "Design, Commissioning and Testing of IPP Ground Electrodes," IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 3, No. 4, October 1988

Douglas R. Emmons, P.E.

Section Manager/Electrical Engineer

  • Affiliations
    • National Society of Professional Engineers
    • Michigan Society of Professional Engineers
    • IEEE Power & Energy Society's Power System Analysis, Computing and Economics Committee
    • IEEE Power & Energy Society's CAMS Task Force on Understanding, Prediction, Mitigation and Restoration of Cascading Failures
    • IEEE Power Engineering Society's Task Force on Power System Analytical Data, past member
    • Past contributor to Industrial Applications Society's Brown Book
  • Publications: Contributing author to the following Rural Utilities Services (RUS) Bulletins as a member of the Transmission Line Subcommittee of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) T&D Engineering Committee
    • RUS Bulletin 1724E – 204: Guide Specifications for Single Steel Pole and H-Frame Structures, 1997.
    • RUS Bulletin 1724E – 206: Guide Specification for Spun, Prestressed Concrete Poles and Concrete Pole Structures, 1997.
    • RUS Bulletin 1724E – 214: Guide Specification for Standard Class Steel Transmission Poles, 2001.
    • RUS Bulletin 1724E – 216: Guide Specification for Standard Class Spun, Prestressed Concrete Transmission Poles, 2000.

Everette E. Chartier, P.E.

Consultant

  • Past President / Lifetime Member: Rocky Mountain Electric League (RMEL)

Gerald R. Callison, P.E.

Electrical Engineer

  • Affiliations
    • IEEE PES Power Systems Planning and Implementation Committee – Transmission Planning Group
    • American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) – Electrical Energy Utilization (Committee 33)

Nijam Robert Uddin, P.E.

Electrical Engineer

  • Award: 2013 Engineer of the Year – Michigan Society of Professional Engineers – Jackson Chapter
  • Affiliations
    • IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES)
    • IEEE Standards Association (SA)
    • National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
  • Senior Member: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • Senior Member: IEEE PES – Insulated Conductors Committee (ICC)
  • Vice President - Mid-Michigan Region – Michigan Society of Professional Engineers
  • Past President/Vice President - Michigan Society of Professional Engineers – Jackson Chapter
  • Technical Editor: IEEE ICC – IEEE Standard 1727 - IEEE Guide for Working Procedures on Underground Transmission Circuits With Induced Voltage
  • Contributor - IEEE ICC – Working Group C23W - IEEE Standard 1793 – IEEE Guide for Planning and Designing Transition Facilities Between Overhead and Underground Transmission Lines

Richard D. Cook, P.E.

Electrical Engineer

  • Co-author: "Pop-up Generator Step-Up: A Narrow Look at the State of U.S. and Canadian Transmission Model Data," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, November 2004, Vol. 19, #4
  • Co-author: "Available Transfer Capability Applying Linear Phasor Methods to the AC Power Flow," IEEE PES Power Systems Conference & Exposition, March 2011

Richard N. Collins, P.E.

Vice President / Manager – Transmission Engineering

  • Chair: IEEE PES Subcommittee – Overhead Lines
  • Former Chair: IEEE Working Group – Line Design Methods
  • Chair: "Aging Infrastructure on our Transmission Grid" Panel Session – IEEE Joint Technical Committee Meeting, February 2013.
  • Presented: Bridge Optimization Using WIRELDS and MINDES for the Marketplace-Mead-Westwing 500 kV Transmission Line Lattice Tower Design, Electrical Power Research Institute Midwest Users Group Meeting, Jackson, Michigan, July 1992.
  • Presented: Interfacing with Structure Modules, PLS-CADD Users Group Meeting, Jackson, Michigan, October 1998.

Richard P. Keil, P.E.

Electrical Engineer

  • Chair: IEEE Working Group – Substation Grounding and Preparation of IEEE Std 80-2000, IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding
  • Chair: IEEE Substations Subcommittee – Transmission and Distribution Substation Design
  • Co-author: "Safe Substation Grounding - Part II," IEEE Transactions, Vol. PAS-101, No. 10, October 1982, Co-authors J. G. Sverak, R. V. Benson, W. K. Dick, et al.
  • Co-author: "Substation Grounding - Update of IEEE Standard 80," Fourteenth Annual Transmission and Substation Design and Operating Symposium, University of Texas at Arlington, September 1981, Co-author W. K. Dick.
  • Published Standard Chapters
    • "Chapter 11 – Substation Grounding," Electric Power Substations Engineering, Second Edition, Editor John D. McDonald, CRC Press, 2007.
    • "5.10 Substation Grounding," The Electric Power Engineering Handbook, Editor-in-Chief, L. L. Grigsby, CRC Press, IEEE Press, 2001.
    • "Chapter 1, Introduction and Historical Perspective of IEEE-80, Guide for Safety in Substation Grounding," IEEE Tutorial Course 86 EHO253-5-PWR, Practical Applications of ANSI/IEEE Standard 80-1986, IEEE Guide for Safety in Substation Grounding."
    • "Chapter 6, A Look at the New Design Equations and Constants in Guide 80," IEEE Tutorial Course 86 EH0253-5-PWR, Practical Applications of ANSI/IEEE Standard 80-1986, IEEE Guide for Safety in Substation Grounding.

Robert G. Putnam, P.E.

Electrical Engineer

  • Affiliations
    • EPRI Advisory Council on Wind Energy
    • IEEE Power Engineering Society
  • Chair: Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Solar Power Program Committee
  • Chair: EPRI Photovoltaic Group, Planning and Evaluation Working Group
  • Chair: New York Power Pool (NYPP), Multi-Area Production Costing Task Force
  • Former Executive Director: Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG)
  • Publications
    • R. Putnam and M. Pehosh, "Interconnection of Large Wind Turbines to Co-op Distribution Grids," IEEE Rural Electric Power Conference, Orlando, Florida, May 2010

Robert J. Millies, P.E.

Section Manager / Civil Engineer

  • Secretary: IEEE Working Group – Transmission Line Construction

Samuel R. Barnes, P.E.

Vice President / Manager – Power Generation & Energy

  • Affiliations
    • American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • Chair: “Public Outreach – Campaigning to Improve Coal’s Image” Mega Session, Coal-Gen, Louisville, Kentucky, August 2012.
  • Co-authored: We Energies’ Pleasant Prairie Power Plant – AQCS Retrofit Project, as presented at ASME Power, Chicago, Illinois, 2005.
  • Co-authored: Modern Implosion Prevention, ASME Power, Atlanta, Georgia, June 2003.
  • Co-Chair: “Efficiency Improvements to the Existing Coal-Fired Fleet” Mega Session – Coal-Gen, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 2010.
  • Presented: Update on EPA RICE Rules and Compliance Issues, MMEA Fall Conference, Grand Rapids, Michigan, September 2012.
  • Presented: My Ash Pond Will Be Closed. What Do I Do With The Wastewater?, Electric Power, Baltimore, Maryland, May 2012.
  • Presented: New Plant Status Update – Trimble County Unit 2, Coal Gen, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 2010.
  • Presented: New Build Contracting Approach, Doosan Babcock Energy’s Annual Technology Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, August 2008.
  • Presented: A Comparison of Wet and Dry Scrubbing Systems for Industrial Facilities, CIBO Industrial Emissions Control Technology II Conference, Portland, Maine, August 2004.
  • Presented: Conversion of a GE 7FA from 60 Cycle to 50 Cycle Generation, ASME Power, Atlanta, Georgia, June 2003.

Stephen S. Miller, P.E.

Manager – TRANSMISSION 2000®

  • Affiliations
    • CIGRE – U.S. National Committee
    • IEEE Power & Energy Society's Power System Analysis, Computing and Economics Committee
    • IEEE Power & Energy Society's CAMS Task Force on Understanding, Prediction, Mitigation and Restoration of Cascading Failures
    • IEEE Power Engineering Society's Task Force on Power System Analytical Data, past member
    • Past contributor to Industrial Applications Society's Brown Book
  • Co-author: "Risk Assessment of Cascading Outages: Part I – Overview of Methodologies," IEEE PES General Meeting, 2011, Detroit
  • Co-author: "Survey of Tools for Risk Assessment of Cascading Outages," IEEE PES General Meeting, 2011, Detroit
  • Co-author: "Risk Assessment of Cascading Outages: Methodologies and Challenges," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2012, Volume PP, Issue 99.
  • Co-author: Available Transfer Capability Applying Linear Phasor Methods to the AC Power Flow, as presented at the 2011 IEEE PES Power Systems Conference & Exposition.
  • Presented: Extending Traditional Planning Methods to Evaluate the Potential for Cascading Failures in Electric Power Grids, 08GM1365, Panel Paper and Presentation, 2008 IEEE PES General Meeting.
  • Co-author: "Pop-up Generator Step-Up: A Narrow Look at the State of U.S. and Canadian Transmission Model Data," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, November, 2004, Volume 19, Number 4.
  • Co-author: "A Dictionary and Self Defining Protocol for Exchanging Power System Information," IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, May 2002, Volume 17, Number 2, Pages 337-341.
  • Co-author: "Chapter 4: System Modeling," In IEEE Recommended Practice for Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Analysis. New York: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., August 1998.
  • Co-author: "Implementation and Use of a Transient Stability Post-Processor," IEEE Computer Applications in Power, January 1990.