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Commission Summary 2-8-2022: Commissioners choose Rich Wallen to lead Grant PUD

An experienced manager, Wallen formerly headed the utility's operations divisions

EPHRATA, Wash – Grant PUD commissioners Tuesday unanimously chose Rich Wallen as the utility's new general manager and chief executive officer.

Wallen has served as interim general manager since Jan. 1, after former general manager Kevin Nordt stepped down to focus on his health and take on a new role ensuring the utility a reliable energy supply.

Commissioners pointed to Wallen's knowledge, experience gained at Grant PUD and benefit of mentoring by Nordt for their decision.

"This process with the commission is part of what we've supported to bring folks up through the ranks that are part of this PUD family," Commissioner Tom Flint said, pointing to Wallen's credentials in the military and energy industry. "Rich has been very open and transparent… I'm happy to have you on board."

"I can't thank this team in here enough," Wallen told commissioners and fellow executive managers. "Everybody's been willing to help out, train and calibrate me when I needed to be calibrated… We've got a great group of folks on board, moving the District in a positive direction."

Wallen joined Grant PUD in June 2017 as managing director of Power Production, overseeing hydropower operations and ancillary hydro programs. In his most recent role as chief operations officer his responsibilities expanded to include power delivery, safety and operational excellence.

Wallen is a 30-year veteran of the energy industry. He grew up in West Virginia and joined the Navy. He spent more than a decade in the military, eventually becoming the chief mechanical operator aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. He holds a bachelor's degree from West Virginia University and a master's degree in business from Clayton State University. He and his wife, Dara, have five children.

Hear comments from commissioners and Rich Wallen at 3:18:00 on the commission audio.

Asset management, field work, training and more a focus of C&M in 2022

Power Delivery's construction and maintenance group is looking to build upon the success of 2021 to continue its ongoing efforts to improve the reliability of the utility's electrical system and telecom network.

Senior Manager of Power Delivery & Construction, Ron Alexander updated the commission regarding the group's asset management program that was initiated in 2021. The asset management group has defined the department's asset management strategy for 2022. A document that will help guide overall efforts throughout the year including the utilization of tools to track asset data and planned maintenance work within the department.

Pole fire mitigation efforts will continue in 2022. Since 2020, crews have replaced components on nearly 3,000 power poles that will help reduce the potential risk of pole fires in the county. An issue typically seen in Grant County when rain arrives after a long dry spell. The rain can cause the dust and debris that has accumulated the power pole insulators and other components to moisten and create an electrical path for the current to ground. In the right situation this can cause the wood pole to heat up and catch fire. These newly installed components reduce this risk.

Alexander also shared:

  • Updates regarding the status and progress of department's new apprenticeship and training programs.
  • Notification of the recently assigned craft training specialists within the departments to support the new apprenticeships
  • Information regarding the newly partitioned maintenance engineering group
  • Details on the efforts to continue the utility's tree trimming program

Hear the discussion which begins at 1:47:40 of the commission audio and see the presentation materials on pages 11-24 of the commission packet.


Commissioners also:

-- Received an update on a $3 million contract to replace Grant PUD's Energy Management System (EMS) – a system of computer-aided tools used by electric-grid operators to monitor, control and optimize generation and transmission. Grant PUD's current EMS dates to 2009 and is no longer supported by the existing vendor. A request for proposals went out in April 2021. Two vendors, General Electric and OSI (Open Systems International) submitted bids. Grant PUD chose OSI, which scored highest following an internal analysis. Execution of the project is expected to take 16 months and will include advanced tools for analysis, trouble shooting and training.

View the full presentation on pages 1-10 of the presentation materials. Hear the full discussion at 57:50 on the commission audio.

-- Heard from the Large Power Solutions Team that their most recent study in Fall 2021 did not identify enough combined energy use and future energy demand among Grant County's nascent businesses for any of them to meet the criteria to pay the higher, risk-adjusted Rate Schedule 17 for Evolving Industries.

The team now monitors daily to get a more precise read on energy use and energy requests by these nascent industries and any associated risk. To be classified as an "Evolving Industry," energy use by a specific business type must meet concentration risk and either business or regulatory risk. Energy use by Grant PUD's "core customers" – residential, irrigation and small- and medium-sized businesses – are not subject to the Rate Schedule 17 policy requirements.

See the full presentation on pages 83-109 of the presentation materials. Hear the conversation at 5:41:13 on the commission audio.

-Learned that state lawmakers are nearing the halfway point of the 2022 legislative session and Senior Policy Analyst, Cliff Sears shared with commissioners highlights of a number of bills being monitored during this year's session.

Included in those are several energy, telecom, tax policy and natural resource issues.

Sears added that the upcoming days in Olympia will determine which bills will continue to progress during the session and which others may falter.

Senior Manager of External Affairs and Communications, Andrew Munro included updates around federal legislative issues. The utility is currently reviewing hydropower related provisions in the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into law in January, to determine how they may relate to Grant PUD.

Hear the full discussion beginning at 4:26:05 of the commission audio and see the full presentation on pages 53-67 of presentation materials.

-Heard that preliminary results show capital and labor expenditures added $15.1 million to Grant PUD's 2021 budget, driven mainly by projects at the utility's dams and electric system.

The approximately 5% increase boosted total year-end expenditures to $301.8 million, up from the originally budgeted $286.6 million.

Including labor costs, capital expenditures ended the year at $145 million, up $1.7 million over the original budget; operations and maintenance ended at $156.7 million, up $13.4 million over the original budget.

Major projects underway include construction of two new transmission lines and electrical system upgrades, as well as an ongoing effort to replace old and warn equipment before it fails, causing power outages. Construction work has also begun on a new, secondary embankment at Priest Rapids Dam to improve seismic strength.

See the full presentation on pages 68-82 of the presentation materials. Hear the conversation at 5:0:15 on the commission audio.

-Learned that state lawmakers are nearing the halfway point of the 2022 legislative session and Senior Policy Analyst, Cliff Sears shared with commissioners highlights of a number of bills being monitored during this year's session.

Included in those are several energy, telecom, tax policy and natural resource issues.

Sears added that the upcoming days in Olympia will determine which bills will continue to progress during the session and which others may falter.

Senior Manager of External Affairs and Communications, Andrew Munro included updates around federal legislative issues. The utility is currently reviewing hydropower related provisions in the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into law in January, to determine how they may relate to Grant PUD.

Hear the full discussion beginning at 4:26:05 of the commission audio and see the full presentation on pages 53-67 of presentation materials.

-Learned that the service desk staff completed 2,110 IT related service requests across the district from July 1 through the end of 2021. All while receiving a 93% satisfaction rating from those that responded to a follow-up survey.

It was one of the updates commissioners received from Acting Senior Manager of IT, Charles Meyer regarding the department's accomplishments during 2021.

A new quality assurance team within the department was also launched last year to ensure implemented technology solutions are meeting the district and user's needs.

Meyer also highlighted several strategic projects the group is looking to implement during 2022 including:

  • -Maximo Expansion Program to support the Enterprise Asset Management Program
  • -ESRI/ArcGIS implementation to replace legacy electric and fiber design tools
  • -Several firewall modernization and deployments
  • -Upgrades to the district's hardware and software within the conference rooms
  • -Implementation of a mobile workforce management as a replacement of the current trouble report and service work.

-Unanimously approved a resolution modifying commissioner boundaries. Typically redistricting occurs every 10-years following the U.S. Census to keep the populations within the respective districts nearly equal.

The changes also coincide with boundary adjustment for Grant County government.

See details of the resolution on pages 11-17 of the commission packet and see the new the new boundaries Grant PUD: Commissioners and read more https://www.grantpud.org/blog/commission-meeting-1-11-2022

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