DistribuTech 2024 - Interview with Mike Beehler and Ben Lanz

: Interviews

DistribuTech 2024 - Interview with Mike Beehler and Ben Lanz

: Interviews

Mike Beehler

Hey, Ben. It's so good to see you. We're here at DistribuTech 2024 and we thought we'd take a moment to talk a little bit about the Power Delivery Intelligence Initiative. You've been involved in the Power Delivery Intelligence Initiative from the early days, and I've been really fortunate to be involved with you in it. I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions. What is PDI²? And what kinds of things can people look forward to from PDI², both now and in the future?

Ben Lanz

PDI² is an organization of men and women in the industry who have diverse utility industry expertise. We have standards organizations, which by nature tend to move very slowly, and we have other organizations that produce best practice information that is exclusive to the membership. Where I see PDI² has a unique role is that it creates a space for experts, consultants, material suppliers, technology providers, people who've been in the field, have the data, have strong utility relationships, and are willing to share what they have learned to rapidly create a center of knowledge accessible to everyone.

Where I see PDI² has a unique role is that it creates a space for experts, consultants, material suppliers, technology providers, people who've been in the field, have the data, have strong utility relationships, and are willing to share what they have learned to rapidly create a center of knowledge accessible to everyone.

It's non-exclusive, because it's supported by companies like yours, OSMOSE, with a wealth of information available to the planners, the engineers, and the data scientists that are trying to make informed decisions about new infrastructure. This is 2024, it is time for new standards. We are spending billions of dollars on T&D overhead and underground lines, and we need to do it the right way. I think there's a lot of members of PDI², OSMOSE included, that have got some great ideas, proven ideas, to bring those costs down, the cost of design, the cost of construction, and the cost of operations and maintenance. Why has IMCORP and now OSMOSE been part of PDI² for all these years? Tell us why you think it’s valuable to be a part of this organization.

IMCORP and now OSMOSE has a cable reliability consulting and diagnostics, offering that provides detailed, foot-by-foot profiles of underground power cables to detect microscopic defects before they fail. Our service is valuable for both aging assets, operating and maintenance, but also during commissioning.

As we worked with major industry players like Dow, Borealis, and Southwire, we often encounter similar questions from utilities about cable longevity, failure mechanisms, and best practices. OSMOSE’S extensive experience, including hundreds of thousands of cable systems scans and thousands of component dissections, positions us to lead in these areas.

We have seen that our data has been invaluable to help create effective best practices and in return the opportunity to network with people who are answering those same questions, some of the biggest names in the industry, like ABB, Quanta, Burns & McDonnel, and some of the equipment can component manufacturers, like Okonite, Prysmian and Southwire and Vermeer.

New proven technologies from PDI² members are currently being put into the specifications for new cable installations. I think it’s incumbent upon young civil engineers and electrical engineers, that are building billions of dollars worth of assets, to develop these cable installation and commissioning standards.

I can name a few more, like Condux, Champion Fiberglass, Ditchwitch or Polywater. We have other members, and it makes up a nice team of resident experts in undergrounding.

You've had your company engaged at PDI² for many years. Why do you keep coming back to PDI²? You see there's value there. Why?

We have panel sessions, like the ones at DistribuTech, and those rooms are great to meet prospective clients and utility advisors. We’re bringing people together, not only the experts, but also the opportunities, and isn’t that what we want for the industry?

That's what we want to do. We are at DistribuTech here in Orlando, and we have a good panel today. A couple of the panelists, one was from City of Loveland and had just moved from Fort Collins, which is 80 to 90% underground. and another panelist was from Beaches Energy, and they are 90% underground. these are public power utilities that have been underground for a long time.

There is empirical data out there to support improved reliability with underground. Look at The Ferc-1 report, for example, and you will show that investor-owned utilities across America, that must fill out reports for the Federal Energy Regulatory commission, stating for the record that their cost of underground operations and maintenance is lower than cost of overhead. Our panelist agreed. Do a good job installing cable and conduit and set it and forget it. They had cable systems that have lasted for the 44 years that he was personally aware of.

That is a story we want to continue to tell.

We are continuing to look for members to grow that dynamic network that we have, as well as utility advisors, folks that are engaged with us and that want to tell their story about underground. That's a wealth of information on the website, www.pdi2.org and evolves also on LinkedIn.

We appreciate your leadership over the years of PDI², Ben. Thank you very much. It's always a pleasure to see you.

It’s great to be with you too Mike and thank you for your commitment to the future of our industry.

Mike Beehler is the national spokesperson for the Power Delivery Intelligence Initiative and the chief opportunity officer for Mike Beehler & Associates LLC. He started his career designing and building transmission lines and substations for Tucson Electric Power and the Hawaiian Electric Co. and then spent more than 20 years designing T&D infrastructure and consulting on emerging trends at Burns & McDonnell. He has written, presented and consulted on reliability-centered maintenance, critical infrastructure protection and program management. In addition, he is a well-known industry writer and speaker on the early definition of the smart grid, 3-D and building information modeling applications in T&D, and development plans for smart cities. Most recently, he is sought for his strategic leadership and vision on the application of emerging technologies in changing business models to include the integration of distributed energy resources, augmented/virtual reality and artificial intelligence. He authored the book, The Science of the Sale. Beehler is a registered professional engineer in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Georgia and Alabama. He also is a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of IEEE and CIGRE.

With over 30 years in the electric power and energy industry, Ben Lanz is responsible for Osmose (Osmose.com) technical outreach and education efforts and is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of the Power Delivery Intelligence Initiative (PDI2.org), a nonprofit dedicated to disseminating grid investment best practices. He is a senior member of IEEE PES and ICC, and a voting member of DEIS, IAS, ACP, CIGRE, SaRA & NETA. He has chaired IEEE technical committees associated with power system reliability, protection, and testing, has published over 100 papers, articles and technical conference contributions on the subjects of power system reliability, asset management, design, work practices, longevity and diagnostics, and is a regular guest speaker at numerous conferences and seminars.

This article was originally published in the December 2024 issue of the Transformers Technology magazine, which you can access here.

To download the PDF version of this article, click here.