IEEE Central Texas Section - Power Engineering Society

Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers

IEEE
Central Texas Section
Power and Energy Society
San Antonio Chapter

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Next Meeting: Thursday, September 25,The Challenges of Renewable Resources

Our next meeting is planned for Thursday, September 25, where John Michael Harris of CPS Energy will enlighten us on The Challenges of Renewable Resources. " Green Energy" sounds great, but it isn't as easy as it sounds. The focus of the talk is a look at the practical considerations and problems inherent with green energy. Here's a few examples: Wind isn't steady. The wind's generation profile (on average) is exactly opposite of the load profile. Other units (usually natural gas fired) have to "take up the slack" when the wind dies down. Solar energy is QUITE expensive. Landfill gas is steady, but a bit more expensive. We'll also talk about some of what the future holds, including algae, solar, energy storage and even "the hydrogen economy". And of course we'll need to talk some about natural gas, coal and nuclear, the mainstays of the electric power industry.

The meeting will be held at Grady's Bar-B-Q on San Pedro (no. 4). If you plan to attend, please RSVP to John A. Brogan, 210-353-3375 or jabrogan@ieee.org. For information on the speaker's background as well as directions to the meeting, please see the announcement.

PES Changes its Name and Logo

The Power Engineering Society will now be known as the Power & Energy Society.The new PES Logo is shown at the top of the page. New trends related to increased public interest and awareness of energy topics, aging workforce in the power industry, and recruitment of young professionals to the field are critical for the survival of our industry and the PES. IEEE believes that the new name will provide a better focus toward our mission scope, our field of interest, our relationship with the public and our ability to recruit and maintain new members. For more detail see the December 15, 2007 letter to the membership that appeared in the January/February 2008 Power and Energy Magazine.

Continuing Education

Certificates. This meeting is credited as one hour. You may pick up your CE certificates for IEEE meetings at the meeting.

Our thanks to Lane Bradford of Eaton Electrical

Many thanks to Lane Bradford of Eaton Electrical for his thought provoking presentation, Harmonic Sources and Solutions, exploring the dangers of too much harmonic distortion, the causes of harmonic distortion, and what can be done about it. We appreciate the new insights we have gained. Lane has been kind to allow us to post his presentation.

Updated 2008 September 2 by Don Drumtra