Public Power - November 2008 - (Page 43)

stantly about things they can do to prepare for and deal with earthquakes. In the communications area, for example, the utility occasionally has mailers on earthquake preparedness included with bills and produces a local television show. Kennett, Mo., is another public power community in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Kennett’s preparations began in 1989 after a climatologist and business consultant warned of the potential for a powerful earthquake in the Midwest. While the earthquake never occurred, the false alarm pushed Kennett and other communities into preparation mode. “We went through a lot of effort then to get prepared, such as putting anchors on our substation transformers so they wouldn’t ‘walk’ off the foundations,” said Larry Jones, superintendent of utilities. “Clean water is an absolute essential,” he said. “We have a written plan to try to conserve water.” The city has one 1.5 million gallon ground water tank. An elevated tank may not topple during a powerful earth- quake, but it probably would be drained immediately because of ruptures in underground water lines. “As a result, we have a plan to shut off all the pumps on the groundwater tank in the event of an earthquake so we can save that water,” said Jones. Mayor Roger Wheeler Sr is a strong proponent of preparation and continues to spearhead a community-wide emergency planning effort. Because the city owns its electric generators, it would be able to restore power more quickly than communities who purchase power from other parts of the country, Wheeler said. Recently, the city received a rapid response vehicle, which is loaded with satellite communications devices. “If we have a really strong earthquake, we may be landlocked between the St. Francis River and the Mississippi River,” said Wheeler. The city completed a comprehensive inventory of all equipment that could be used in an emergency situation, such as trucks, tractors and generators. The city also has commitments from several area farmers who own large farm equipment with blades and front-loaders. They are included on the city’s first-response call list. In the meantime, the city’s emergency preparedness group has executed training drills with their equipment. “We have also done some cross-training, so anyone in any department can take on whatever task might be necessary,” said Wheeler. For example, firefighters are learning to operate bulldozers, excavators, and road graders belonging to the street department. The reason, according to Wheeler, is that there is a high probability the city would have as much as a 50 percent loss of personnel as a result of a major earthquake. “We’re not completely ready, but we are certainly promoting the idea that we need to be,” said Wheeler. The Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities in Missouri also has comprehensive earthquake preparedness plans. “Our first priority would be to try to restore power to the hospital, the health clinics, and then to The World’s Leading Stationary Battery Conference Suggested Topics Technical Developments Battery, system, and/or charging improvements. Life extending experiences. Batteries and the Go - Green Environmental Push Renewables. Hybrid systems. Sustainability. Advanced Technologies and Energy Storage New technology advances. Storage and renewables. New applications. CALL FOR PAPERS The Battcon® 2009 Stationary Battery Conference in Orlando, Florida, April 27 to 29, 2009, is a three day, noncommercial, technical event for storage battery users from a broad range of industries. Battcon also features a two evening trade show with storage power related vendors, plus optional seminars with CEU's awarded. Users, manufacturers of batteries and battery test equipment, installers, researchers, and standards and safety experts attend the conference to learn about and discuss the latest industry developments. The program typically presents 22 twenty minute noncommercial papers that address everyday battery applications, technical advances, and industry concerns. Thirty minute Q&A Battery Installation Battery sizing, applications, and testing. System design considerations. Environmental concerns. Ventilation. Spill containment. Protection and fault management. Monitoring Experiences Small and/or large battery applications. Field studies - Lessons learned. Submission Guidelines sessions follow each group of three papers. Four or ﬁve 60 or 90 minute panels round out the three day program. Battcon is soliciting papers that are noncommercial, unique, your own work, and of interest to all levels. You may submit an abstract on battery use, application, maintenance, or any battery related topic or one of the suggested categories that follow. Submit a two to four paragraph abstract describing the paper’s main points Service and Maintenance Battery and conclusions by mid-January. Email system management. Field experiences. your abstract as a Word ﬁle attachment to System safety issues. Jack.Mack@alber.com. Upon acceptance of your abstract, subCodes and Standards Tutorial. mit your paper by early February. The ﬁnal New developments. Field experience paper, including text and illustrations, in application. should not exceed ten pages. Case Studies and Field Experiences Abstracts and papers must meet the Small and/or large battery applications, conference's noncommercial guidelines successful or not. and not promote a commercial product Distributed Power Architectures or service. Your accepted paper, written in a Grid connected storage. Fiber to the curb (FTTC). Distributed power in data centers formal, academic style, will become part of the permanent conference proceedings. and central oﬃces. For info about being a presenter, contact: Jack Mack, Battcon Publications, at Jack.Mack@alber.com or Jennifer Stryker, Battcon Coordinator, at Jennifer.Stryker@alber.com. For further details, visit Battcon at www.battcon.com or telephone (954) 623-6660. www.APPAnet.org NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2008 43 http://www.alber.com http://www.APPAnet.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - November 2008

Public Power - November 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Capturing Knowledge Before It Retires Jackson’s GIS Search Keeping a Job Journal Japan Tackles the Kyoto Protocol Getting to 20 by 10 Damless Hydro Power Earthquake: The Hidden Disaster For Engineers Safety For Governing Boards DEED Hometown Connections Parting Shot

Public Power - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.