Region 5 is composed of 23 chapters, and four student chapters. These are Arkansas, Central Texas San Antonio, Central Texas Austin, Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi Rio Grande, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth (FW), Fort Worth – Glen Rose, Galveston Bay, High Plains, Houston, Kansas City, Lafayette, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Panhandle, Pikes Peak, Saint Louis, Shreveport, South Plains, Tulsa, and Wichita. There are six sections in Region 5 that do not have a PES chapter but have the potential to form a new one, including SW Missouri, Baton Rouge, Beaumont, Ozark, Arkansas River Valley and El Paso.

Representatives from five Chapters in Region 5 are planning to attend the chapter officer training during the PES General Meeting in Portland, Oregon on Aug. 5, 2018. These  five chapters are Central TX – Austin, Fort Worth, High Plains, New Orleans, and Saint Louis

If you are interested in getting more involved with IEEE PES, there are numerous opportunities where you can volunteer. As an IEEE volunteer, you can take pride in participating in activities that interest you, while expanding your knowledge of IEEE, gaining valuable management and leadership skills, and connecting with others in your profession. Please contact me or your local PES chapter officers for more information.

IEEE New Orleans PES Chapter recently hosted the ‘IEEE1547 – Standard for Distributed Energy Resources’ short course in April 2018. The course was presented by Clayton Stice from ERCOT and Cat Wong from Entergy. It was well received by the audience who came from a variety of fields like distribution, transmission, energy delivery and technical consultants. The chapter organized another short course in July 2018 on ‘Power System philosophies’ presented by Power Grid Engineering, LLC, the company that organizes the PGE 101 to 104 courses.

IEEE Fort Worth PES Chapter had a successful year in 2017. They also hosted an “IEEE 1547 Standards Tutorial” presented by Clayton Stice. This event had an attendance of almost 50 people. In addition to this tutorial, PES Fort Worth held monthly technical meetings with presentations ranging from “The implementation of Large Scale Energy Storage on The Distribution System” to “An overview of distributed Solar generation.”

IEEE Arkansas PES Chapter has facilitated PE study sessions for the PE. These sessions provide a space for collaboration for those taking the exam to study. Additionally, PES members who have successfully passed the exam were present to offer insights into best practices for passing the exam. The Arkansas Chapter is also considering the development of an activities committee.

There has been quite a bit of creative activity in Region 5 PES chapters. We’re proud to have so many ambitious PES volunteers in leadership roles across the region. There are lots of exciting innovations in the power and energy industry. IEEE PES chapters & their officers are on the forefronts of informing industry professionals of these new technologies and continuing the advancement of technology for humanity.

As always, please reach out to us if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing some of you at the Officer Training in Portland soon!

Oklahoma Chapter hosted a Workshop on “Protection of Future Smart-grids and Distribution Energy Systems” in April 2018. Speakers at this event included Jared Candelaria from Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc., James Thomas from Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Igor Alvarado from National Instruments, Maggie Clout from Siemens, Jie Cai from University of Oklahoma and Johnson Controls.

Denver Chapter has been hosting regular PES and IAS Joint chapter meetings since the beginning of 2018. They had such meeting during the months of January, February, March and May in 2018.

Kansas City Chapter hosted joint PES and IAS seminars on four days on topics like Pipe Type Cable Basics and How It’s Manufactured, medium-Voltage Adjustable Speed Drives, Energy Infrastructure Modernization and Market Developments in the Southwest Power Pool and Power Compensation Solutions with Power Electronics.

Tulsa Chapter had couple of meetings since beginning of 2018. These were on Hitachi 72.5kV Dead Tank Vacuum Circuit Breaker and Green Country Energy Power Plant Tour.