PACE Power Industry Panel Members

The IEEE PACE group held a panel session on careers in the power industry on Wednesday, October 19, 2016. This meeting was held downtown at TECO hall and was very well attended. The panel consisted of four local engineers who work for the four different power companies that serve customers in the area: Glenn Spurlock (Seminole Electric, Tom Blair (TECO), Lisa Lohss (Duke), Serge Beauzile (Lakeland Electric).

The meeting lasted for 90 minutes and during that time the panel covered a wide range of topics. These included a discussion of how the different power grids operate: coal fired, gas, and some nuclear. The changes that are getting ready to sweep across the power industry were also covered. Glenn Spurlock was able to share his experience with adding new solar energy generation equipment to the existing power grid. Tom Blair provided an excellent overview of how the existing coal fired power generation equipment is both used and maintained. Lisa was able to provide insights into how the different power companies interoperate and Serge shared his experiences working on the transmission side of the network.

What made this panel session unique was the fact that the audience was able to ask the panel members questions. A large number of questions were asked which ranged from how the power grid is secured to what the future of nuclear energy was anticipated to be. The panel was able to provide the younger members of the audience with good insights into what working in the power industry is like and what skills they would need to have in order to be successful. All in all, a good time was had at yet another successful PACE meeting!

A video of this meeting was made and can be viewed online at: http://bit.ly/2eaQ0l7