Memorable Professional Experience in the Power Industry

I graduated from a Tier 3 engineering college in Tamil Nadu in 1983. The pressure to excel academically was immense, and the focus was heavily on grades and CGPA. After my graduation, I joined the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which proved to be a unique and transformative experience.

My Journey at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

I was hired into a Test and Start-up group, a role that I found to be highly rewarding. My responsibilities involved not only ensuring that electrical installations were correct but also making sure they functioned as intended. This role was particularly challenging, especially during the expansion of the Pacific HVDC intertie, a high-voltage direct current transmission line from Oregon to Los Angeles.

The expansion included the addition of a 100kV thyristor valve to the existing 3 obsolete 133kV mercury arc valves, which gave the station a /- 500kV 2000 MW rating. Although most of this equipment has since been upgraded, I recall it fondly for its significant contribution to the power industry.

Transition to a Staff Position

Shortly after joining, I purchased a home in the vicinity of the station, which made my transition to a full-time position a win-win situation. A few months later, during an annual maintenance period known as SIR (Scheduled Inspection and Repair), I was tasked with performing critical maintenance checks on the mercury arc valves.

One part of the job was to test a protection system that was notorious for being problematic. The protection system was designed to prevent dangerous short circuits, yet it was bypassed every year. My task was to ensure that everything was in order, and this is where my journey truly took an interesting turn.

Challenging Protection System Maintenance

The protection system for the mercury arc valves involved a complex set of capacitive voltage transformers (CVTs) and relays. The challenge was to ensure that the CVTs were adjusted properly so that the protection system would function correctly. One key phase of the test involved ensuring that the secondary voltages of the CVTs summed to zero, indicating that no ground fault had occurred.

When I first started, I encountered significant issues with the CVTs, which were providing non-zero voltages. After several attempts, it dawned on me that the issue was in the delta configuration of the system. By separating the secondaries, I was able to adjust each phase independently and achieve the desired balance. This revelation led to a successful completion of the test, much to the astonishment and relief of my colleagues.

The experience was memorable not only because of the successful test but also because of the hearty support I received from my colleagues. They had been skeptical, but as the test progressed, they began to realize that I had indeed cracked the code.

The control room was filled with operators and maintenance staff who had undergone multiple years of this test. When it was my turn, they were watching intently, and the tension was palpable. I managed to complete the task within a short time frame, much to their amazement. This experience taught me the importance of thorough preparation and the value of perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Keywords: Engineering Experience, Electrical Maintenance, Direct Current Transmission