Three Hydro One Employees Win EPRI Technology Transfer Awards

March 2, 2017

Three Hydro One employees have been awarded prestigious Technology Transfer Awards from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for their achievements in research and development (R&D).

Presented annually, EPRI’s Technology Transfer Awards recognize power system leaders and innovators who have helped their companies deliver safe, reliable, and affordable and environmentally responsible electricity via the application of R&D in the utility industry.

“Research and development helps Hydro One modernize and find ways to work safer and more efficiently,” says Greg Kiraly, Chief Operating Officer, Hydro One. “The work of these employees and the other award winners benefits the whole utility industry. We’re extremely proud and congratulate them on behalf of everyone at Hydro One.”

The following Hydro One employees were honoured with Technology Transfer Awards:

• Hassan Hamzeh for field demonstrating a conductor corrosion inspection tool that identified the presence of iron oxides due to corrosion. The field trials were required to understand the operational aspects and limitations of the technology. To satisfy these gaps, Hydro One provided circuits with known issues in a variety of environments. Data analysis is providing significant design specification changes that enhance accuracy, reduce risk, and improve system performance.

• Mike Tanaskovic for applying EPRI’s transmission and substation asset management analytics research to assess the health of in-service assets, better understand failure rates, and apply them to develop capital plans, testing, monitoring, and maintenance strategies.

• Jigar Patel for streamlining the application of hosting capacity to large groups of distribution systems to help refine methodology and tools. Determining hosting capacity can help a utility understand its potential for reliable integration of distributed energy resources.

“The 2016 Technology Transfer Award winners have taken EPRI R&D to new levels in order to shape a sustainable energy system,” said Arshad Mansoor, senior vice president of R&D at EPRI. “Working in a collaborative environment, their advancements benefit their utility and the entire industry because we all have a stake in power system transformation.”

EPRI conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public. An independent, nonprofit organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers as well as experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity, including reliability, efficiency, affordability, health, safety and the environment.