Old Meets New in Historic Williamsburg: EGSA Annual Conference

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff August 17, 2005

Historic Williamsburg, Va. hasn’t been this “cutting edge” in more than 200 years. The Williamsburg Marriot Resort is the site of the 40thAnnual Electrical Generating Systems Association (EGSA) Fall Technical & Marketing Conference 2005, September 18-20. With conference speakers and topics designed to be of interest to virtually every on-site power professional, this year’s conference is covering all of the bases of generating systems: business, codes, statistics and technologies.

Covering the business side, Bob Hirschfeld’s “Funny Business: A Satirical Look at Corporate Life” presentation includes interactive parodies, an irreverent history of business and technology and a look at future trends in the workplace. Robert Wedover, General Manager, The Center for Generational Studies, will begin with an overview of American society’s changing generational demographics and their impact on business, continuing with an exploration of how the generations relate in the workplace along with a presentation of how managers can make measurable improvement in supervisory relationships. Steve Burton, President, Power Broker Sales Training, Inc. will explain the benefits of videotaped, role-play sales training.

Herb Whittall, EGSA Technical Director, and Stan Pukash, V.P. of International Business Development, ASCO Power Technologies, are focusing on the International Fire Code provisions that currently require modifications to the integral fuel tank of a packaged generator set and the International Electrotechnical Commission-proposed changes to IEC Standard 60947-6-1 on Automatic Transfer Switches, respectively.

Mark McNeely, Publisher and Editor, Diesel and Gas Turbine Publications, will be analyzing this year’s survey figures for the annual Power Generation Order Survey published by Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide, which encompasses all piston and gas turbine engine orders for power generation applications 1.0 megawatt and above. Ray Kacvinsky, Vice President — Power Generation, Marathon Electric Mfg. Corp., and 2005 EGSA President will be reviewing EGSA generator statistics through the turbulent period of 1999-2004 with some interesting observations by kilowatt range.

Lastly, in terms of technology, Dr. Sherif Kamel, Ph.D., Director of Engineering Raycap Corp., will be explaining the major advantages of a new approach that has overcome the problems associated with the current technology of Transient Voltage Surge Suppressors (TVSS). Michael Pope, Senior Sales Engineer, Sud-Chemie Prototech and Chairman, EGSA Education Committee, will be outlining some of the technologies that have resulted in “clean diesels” and how to meet the tough new regulations of EPA Tier 3 engine emission limits that are about to be implemented.

All in all, this year’s EGSA Fall Conference is bringing cutting-edge on-site power technology and business concepts to a place that is stuck in the colonial ages by comparison.

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