More than 180 engineering and operations professionals gathered May 5-6 at the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront resort for the 2022 E&O Conference. The conference was last held in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
VMDAEC thanks its associate members and other sponsors for their continued support. With more than 40 vendor exhibits, the two-day conference offered great opportunities for networking.
Presentation topics included protection and control relay design by Kevin Johnson and Brian Winoski of Ampirical; electric vehicles by Robbie Astrop of Shell Recharge Solutions, and battery energy storage by Andrew Foukal of East Point Energy and Leigh Brock of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative. Tolu Omotoso provided a technology update on behalf of NRECA, and Shelli Richardson and Richard Jenkins gave a Rural Utilities Service update. Sam Brumberg, VMDAEC general counsel and vice president of regulatory affairs, spoke on regulatory issues to finish up the first day.
Jay Palmer of Central Virginia Electric Cooperative discussed infrastructure inspection and maintenance, followed by a presentation about drone technology with Gresco Utility Supply’s Tim Wiley and Gunner Goldie.
NRECA’s Robert Harris closed out the conference with a fiber discussion and co-op roundtable. Harris was also recognized for his 35 years of service by Omotoso and Hank Zarandi of NOVEC.
Thank you to all who attended and supported this year’s event. Save the date for the 2023 E&O Conference on May 1-2 at Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront.