2016 – Director’s Comments

Polar_Bear was assigned 2 Engineering Standards this year and has completed both to a high level of quality and on schedule.  Polar_Bear has been able to solicit comments from the site on his engineering standards to help with site 'buy-in' and alignment.  This helps 'pave the way' for engineering standards implementation.

Support for the implementation of standards will continue in the latter part of the year.  There will be ongoing effort to ensure the engineering standards are practical and relevant to ensure that the Operations teams accept and effectively use them to drive the intended business results.

Manager's Comments

Refer director’s comments. Polar_Bear has successfully completed the OIP Maintenance Standards on transformers and motors, based on discussions and feedback from plant engineering groups. The transformer standard includes the components of the earlier widely used transformer maintenance standard which also had major contributions by Polar_Bear. These OIP standards would provide a good foundation for asset management including condition/risk assessments, life cycle tech plans and critical spares strategies.

Comments by Director

Great progress year to date on this goal.  This is the primary area where our department supports the organization and adds value to the business.

One area that stands out for Polar_Bear is his support of the zz arbitration. Polar_Bear had a critical role in the arbitration to articulate and defend the investigation into the protection system during the event.  Polar_Bear's testimony during the hearing had a direct positive influence on the hearing and arbitration.  Arbitrations and legal proceedings are a rare event for engineers to be involved in and can be very challenging when an individual is being personally attacked during cross examination.  Polar_Bear did exceptionally well and his testimony was so great that it immediately pulled positive reactions out of the arbitration panel members.  Legal counsel has been extremely complimentary to Polar_Bear's professionalism, technical knowledge and effort he put into the preparation leading up to the hearing and the hearing itself. 

Technical Support is a continued strength for Polar_Bear.  He has established himself as the technical go-to-person for complex electrical technical issues and has a strong relationship with the engineering teams.  I consider Polar_Bear a role model for how our department and Plant Engineering should work together.

Manager's Comments

Refer director’s comments. Polar_Bear has provided critical and excellent technical inputs and support to the zz arbitration case regarding the protection relay aspects, both in the case preparation as well in the arbitration hearing where he was a key witness. Polar_Bear's exceptional performance in this critical witness role related to the protection relay performance and trip has been mentioned both by the entire team members and the external legal counsel/arbitration team.

Polar_Bear continues to provide very good technical support to the engineering groups on a number of important issues. These include the zz AVR replacement project where Polar_Bear has provided QA technical review of the equipment ratings and design engineering; Polar_Bear identified key improvements in the ratings to enable compliance with the ISO reactive power requirements. Other areas of Polar_Bear's contributions include condition/risk assessments of critical transformers including B, Le and Sa transformers and select relay setting reviews.

Year-End Comments:

Polar_Bear has made outstanding and critical contributions to the company successfully defending and achieving a 100% win in the $180M zz Arbitration case. He has demonstrated the rare combination of deep theoretical as well as practical knowledge of electrical engineering, especially in the witness role and also in setting, testing and performance analysis of complex protection relays. His major role in this company's success has been recognized and acknowledged by all including the executive and the external legal team, and he has been selected as a recipient of the 2016 Special President's Award.

Polar_Bear continued to provide high quality, timely and high value technical support to the fleet. Just a few notable examples are QA/design/FAT reviews of the zz AVR manufacture and successful commissioning, WI Transformers 1 & 2 Bushing Failures Analysis, Testing & RTS, Transformer Condition/Risk analysis of a number of critical transformers, and Protection Reviews.

Polar_Bear has also done very good work to prepare the OIP standards for Transformers, Motors and Cables which included extensive outreach to Plant Engineering. He also prepared and delivered a very useful half-day presentation on "Generator Asynchronous Operation & Protection" to Plant Engineering which was well received.

He continues to be a critical resource for this company. Polar_Bear, congratulations and thanks for your outstanding 2016 performance.