2014 IEEE Rural Electrification Excellence Award Recipient

Wolven Earns National Rural Electric Innovation Award

Gregory A. Wolven, P.E., was awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) “IAS/PES A.P. Seethapathy Rural Electrification Excellence Award” on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, in Fort Worth, TX. Wolven, Director of Engineering at WIN Energy R.E.M.C., was nationally recognized for his innovative work in rural power utilities.

The Seethapathy Award is presented “to recognize exceptional power engineers who have worked, implemented or innovated better and cheaper electrification technologies for the rural sector,” according to the IEEE website. The award is funded by the IEEE Power & Energy Society and the IEEE Industry Applications Society, with the initial endowment being partially funded by the family of A.P. Seethapathy, who was instrumental in bringing power and technology to impoverished rural areas in India.

Wolven graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with an electrical engineering degree in 1981, and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1979. He has worked in electrical cooperatives over the past 33 years. Wolven began working at Knox County R.E.M.C. in January 1996, and continued with the company after it merged with Sullivan County R.E.M.C. to become WIN Energy R.E.M.C. A licensed professional engineer in Indiana and Virginia, Wolven previously worked as an electrical engineer at Mecklenburg (VA) Electric Cooperative and Central Virginia Electric Cooperative.

In his current position, Wolven is in charge of staking, mapping, system planning, AMR, and telecommunications. He has a working knowledge of rural electric cooperatives, including system planning, operation, and design management. Wolven oversaw the WIN Energy alpha test site for both Landis & Gyr AMI and Milsoft OMS and Engineering Analysis.

Throughout his years with rural power cooperatives, Wolven has been responsible for engineering, staking, metering, system planning, line construction, load management, telecommunications, creating and coordinating an outage reporting system, mapping, drafting, writing long range plans, working outages, and many other responsibilities.

Wolven was recently named as a principal member of the National Electric Safety Code (NESC) and represents the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association on the NESC Subcommittee 3, Electric Supply Stations. The NESC “sets ground rules for practical safeguarding of persons during the installation, operation or maintenance of electric supply and communication lines and associated equipment”.

In addition, he presently serves as chairman of the NRECA’s Software Integration Initiative (MultiSpeak) board and has been a member since its creation in 2002. Furthermore, Wolven serves on the NRECA Substation Design Committee, NRECA’s Software Integration Initiative task force, and is a R.U.S. Approved Engineer. Wolven has been a presenter at Tech Advantage, a national conference for rural electric utilities, multiple times for more than 20 years.

He is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, the IEEE, the IEEE Power Engineering Society, and the Virginia Military Institute’s Department of Electric and Computer Engineering’s Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Reaccreditation Committee.

In his spare time, Wolven volunteers as an instructor of Tae Kwon Do at the Vincennes YMCA.

PHOTO ID’S – PHOTOS INCLUDED ON A CD

Gregory A. Wolven, P.E., (on left) receives the “IAS/PES A.P. Seethapathy Rural Electrification Excellence Award” from Peter Sutherland, P.E., Chairman of the IEEE Industry Applications Society Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Department on May 20, 2014, in Fort Worth, Tx.

Individuals of Gregory A. Wolven, P.E.