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Technology You too can join the fascinating world of electricity – a host of technologies that captured the imagination of Thomas Edison and thousands of engineers since. High-voltage systems We are proud to be home to engineers and technicians who are on the forefront of our industry’s high-voltage systems. Every aspect of our work – designing, building and maintaining systems — touches new technology. Planning: Planners work with sophisticated modeling systems to project electric load growth and anticipate new system requirements to meet constantly changing residential, industrial and business needs, as well as regional power generation conditions in one of the fastest growing states. Literally millions of homes and businesses rely on this planning to prevent widespread outage problems. We work with other utilities in Georgia and neighboring states to jointly plan and operate the entire regional power grid. Planning for new substation and power line construction is supported by teams of experts in mapping and geospatial systems. In fact, Georgia Transmission recently teamed with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to develop a new GIS-based computer modeling system and new procedures for systematically evaluating potential geographic locations for electric transmission lines. This industry-leading model has been adopted by other utilities and could change the way many utilities evaluate and determine new high-voltage power lines sites.
Future of electricity: With us, you can help us stay on the forefront of technology as our industry sees changes in energy conservation, renewable generation, distributed generation and other areas. Training and education
Georgia Transmission teams with its sister electric membership cooperative (EMC) companies to offer an impressive portfolio of technical, business, professional and self-improvement opportunities. These include: The Learning Academy On-site education and training opportunities for the more than 600 employees at the three statewide cooperative companies that share an office campus in Tucker, Ga. Dozens of courses are offered each year in business practices, such as defensive driving, CPR and information security; leadership and management skills, from conflict management to human resources legal issues; professional skills, such as analytical problem solving and classes in emotional intelligence, public speaking, technical writing and other skill development.
GTC University The “university” is Georgia Transmission’s talent development program which enables employees to gain education and experience in other aspects of the company’s electric transmission business. This progressive program could enable a transmission line designer, for example, to gain valuable experience in power line construction. The program has academic and job rotation tracks.
Georgia EMC’s Training, Education and Safety Facility
Professional Organizations As members and officers of professional associations, many GTC employees attend professional conferences and seminars sponsored by Georgia’s EMCs, as well as national and international professional groups. Education Benefits Our employees can also continue their formal education and training through company paid tuition assistance (please see benefits section for details). |
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Technology and Learning
Building: Our new construction and equipment upgrades involve the latest in high-voltage transformers, capacitors, regulators and other substation equipment. Our employees, for instance, recently worked with a leading manufacturer in Japan on the design of a new voltage amperes reactive (VAR) compensator which helps keep voltage stable over long-distances — a first for Georgia’s bulk transmission system. In addition, we employ the latest power line component technology, such as experimentation with low-sag, high-capacity cables. We have national-level expertise with underground high-voltage systems, and overhead power line construction. Our company recently created an improved 500-kilovolt power line tower design, and we use the latest substation and power line design and construction techniques. This work can involve conceptual photography, 360-degree view shed modeling, and detailed analysis of components.
Maintenance: What is built must be inspected and maintained. Our operations and maintenance departments have worked together to field install and maintain new digital fault recorders/sequence of events and relay data servers. We’re using dissolved gas analysis, the diagnosis of gas from transformers for early detecting of operational abnormalities. We are working with the latest daylight infrared cameras to improve damage assessments during aerial and ground inspections of transmission lines and substations. We are experimenting with satellite communications as well as correlating lightning strikes with transmission line faults. In addition, our electronics maintenance department manages a wide range of electronic communications (satellite, frame relay, spread spectrum and wireless cellular) and metering equipment, as well as hardened substation computers that allow for remote maintenance and repair at the company’s 600 substations and 3,000-mile network of transmission lines. Since systems problems can affect electricity for thousands of people, we are front-line emergency personnel for recovery from major storms and natural disasters and rapid repairs. Our operations are so advanced that our electronic maintenance department has created an in-house research and development laboratory that simulates our statewide electric system and enables engineers and technicians to troubleshoot real-world problems and test emerging technologies prior to field implementation.
Georgia Transmission’s employees, along with thousands from other EMC companies in Georgia, are also eligible for training at the EMCs’ training facility in Smarr, near Macon. Here, electrical workers learn how to work with transformers, regulators, capacitors, breakers and other power line and substation equipment, and professional accreditation and certifications are earned in electrical safety and occupational safety. Technical training is offered in everything from power line design to energy auditing to arboriculture. Also, the University of Georgia offers a Management Development Program at the facility.
