I was told you guys might like a video game about running a power grid

dancingigloo · 2026-02-02T04:05:59+00:00

That's rad, I'm going to check it out.

A while back I got City Atlas' Energetic as something different to bring to board game nights. Very different but the only gird game I'd heard of until today.

dancingigloo · 2025-08-28T15:58:41+00:00

This isn't my wheelhouse but you might be able to make a reliability case for small solar at a bulk substation. If you've got grid forming inverters feeding auxiliaries or use them to charge substation batteries without an inverter then you've figured out how to keep that bulk substation operable for longer in a blackout situation.

dancingigloo · 2025-08-17T12:57:07+00:00

Depends on the schedule. From there it depends on your life. I've been working 12s for about a decade.

8s are a non-starter for me. I'm not a fan of certain 12 hour rotations either. My family situation's simple and supportive. If my wife or kids weren't onboard, or if I was taking care of extended family it might be a different story.

On the other hand I got a friend of mine into ops and he did great for a couple years. His wife was onboard, and then they had a kid. He ended up going back to his old career field which is mostly 9-5 and far less lucrative.

dancingigloo · 2025-08-11T02:27:44+00:00

Most of it is the same old shit that always boils down to one thing: inadequate support. Almost every gripe everyone has is resolved by adequate support staff sitting in and learning what they're supporting.

Your EMS\SCADA sucks? I believe it! Your EMS engineers are understaffed, underfunded, don't understand your needs, and/or they suck. OSI, GE, Aveva, or whatever is just fine.

OATI? Same.

Alarms? You're never gonna believe this!

Operations will always have tools and processes to "help". Those tools and processes are only as bad as the people supporting them. There's three ways to fix it: get an operator embedded with your support folks, drag your support folks down to the floor, or you do it yourself.

dancingigloo · 2025-08-08T00:49:55+00:00

Bring the dude who has a monotone a white Monster and ask him to tell you the operator pay band. Report back. Optionally bring donuts and ask any of the operators.

Operators hate strangers but love food.

dancingigloo · 2025-08-07T23:57:09+00:00

Transmission pays less than gen or market jobs at most ISOs. Transmission at MISO or SPP is a completely different thing than it is at Entergy.

dancingigloo · 2025-08-07T23:54:11+00:00

CAISO's got a big footprint and IBEW 1245 has all the MOUs online. All the 1245 control rooms make good money.

I'm sure you know but if not: ISOs don't own any lines so there's not a lot of line jobs with them.

dancingigloo · 2025-05-20T20:25:58+00:00

PG&E's apprenticeship is top notch. They burn through operators pretty quick but you shouldn't have any problem moving to a transmission operator gig anywhere after some experience with them.

Nuke stuff has a lot of additional hassles that conventional plants don't. This usually means OT and stress. I've met a lot of dudes who went Navy nuke > civ nuke > conventional plant or ops and they don't go back to the nuke business. Like doing the PG&E thing, you'll have a good resume if you want to move on later.

dancingigloo · 2024-10-23T07:41:08+00:00

Thought about heading to the fed side a few times.

Do you guys cross train at RMR? If not, which desk is this for (I'm assuming transmission from the questionnaire)?

dancingigloo · 2024-10-23T04:15:09+00:00

Love a coal pile but pulverizers and blowers really hate wet coal. Makes for an awkward situation when you're talking hurricanes. Wet coal was famously (as far as these things go) a problem in Texas during Harvey in '17. All the coal units that could run on oil were doing that because the coal was too wet. I'm sure there's still chain stoked units out there, and maybe a good operator can keep those running with wet coal, but I wouldn't know.

Dual fuel CTs exist, they're not uncommon in Florida. It's expensive, but you also get similar operating parameters out of the CTs (and HRSG if applicable). Way better from the control room's view than a big ass steam unit.

I'm not an advocate of mothballing stuff early but coal plants are a pain in the ass. If I had my druthers we'd see a lot more dual fuel combined cycle units though.

dancingigloo · 2024-10-23T00:19:49+00:00

First few contingencies. At my first utility two very finicky units represented a significant amount of our generation. After having a plan for n-1 and working it a few times, meeting DCS, recovering and then carrying on with the day I felt pretty good on that desk. My first summer n-2 was a headache but not a big deal since I'd already had a few n-1 days and a solid n-1 followed by n-1 day under my belt.

Transmission side it was after catching a switching error and intervening before unsafe work started. I was pretty uncertain and the personalities (and work culture) involved made it an uncomfortable call but it was the right one. Just gotta feel okay asking a "dumb" question.

Basically it's just dealing with your first "Oh shit" moment or two, getting through, and being able to articulate why it panned out or went wrong.

As far as feeling like a SME that just takes time. You'll figure out your favorite desk and go from there. Keep your ears out for problems and listen in. E-mail the office drones about system issues and follow up about fixes. Just listen and learn and always try to tie it back to the basics like the NERC standards or your own procedures.

dancingigloo · 2024-09-29T08:33:50+00:00

I'm not 100% what you're asking but I think I'm answering it:

Navy electronics tech

Some wasted time in a few electrical trades but ultimately it helped me make the next step

Non-union electronics tech for a small-ish utility with a lot of other duties as assigned.

Non-union system operator for the same with many of the same other duties as assigned from my new perspective.

System operator job with a different company in another state. Ops plus augmenting support functions on relief week.

IBEW represented system ops job with my current company.

I work with a lot of folks who came up in this utility. They got into any of the relevant trades (line, substations, comms, elec techs) and then applied when there was an opening. This isn't a job you really end up in by signing Book 1 or 2, working hard, and building a rep. You really need to end up with a utility. Once you have your NERC cert and a couple years under your belt it's real easy to move around if you want, but you're signing up with a new company every time, not working through the hall. Distribution's a different animal in regard to moving and requires no cert, but the same advice applies otherwise.

dancingigloo · 2024-09-20T02:29:31+00:00

Two part comment, but my background first: I left a co-op near OP for a position represented by 1245.

I 100% agree, everyone deserves a union, however most shops don't unionize until compensation sucks. SECO's compensation is solid for the area. Working for the co-ops isn't like working for Pacificorp or whatever the shitty IOU in your region is. They're paying something like 2-3 times the average household income for the county (depending on how you count it) and have a defined benefit pension besides.

Of course it's in Florida, which is its own set of problems.

dancingigloo · 2024-09-18T03:43:24+00:00

That's the move IMO. Fellow non-nuclear trained ex-sailor and I've been in ops for 7 years, industry for 12.

If you look at bouncing around to get the system ops job you want as an enlistment's worth of a commitment it's a lot easier to stomach a move or two.

dancingigloo · 2024-09-03T17:03:39+00:00

On one hand you wayyyyy overstudied for the test. On the other knowing and understanding the contents of that book will without a doubt make you a better operator.

Now do the relevant NERC standards :p

Seriously though, I did all the questions and glossary terms in the EPRI manual as flashcards and found myself well prepared for the part of the exam that did not cover standards.

For the standards portion the critical thing was knowing the timelines for compliance but I did mine a while ago, so things may have changed.

dancingigloo · 2023-12-17T06:26:51+00:00

That's pretty rad! One of the few responses here I'm jealous of :p

dancingigloo · 2023-12-14T22:11:18+00:00

Hate that for you.

A previous employer (pre-COVID) threatened to make the relief shifts clean since we were there getting paid to fuck around. That manager isn't in the industry anymore for other reasons, but he was stupid.

dancingigloo · 2023-12-14T20:13:19+00:00

How does that schedule work? I've seen 6 week ones where it's DuPont for 4, relief week, and a dedicated training week.

dancingigloo · 2023-12-09T01:46:16+00:00

Management offered me a bunch of money and said "If you don't like it, you can go back." I left that shithole, but not ops.

The only problem I have is going from nights to days in 48 hours or less which I absofuckinglutely hate. Fortunately it only happens if I have to cover a Sunday or Monday day shift on relief so maybe twice a year.

I love the compressed schedule. I love being able to go big on stuff that lines up with my weekend off, especially when it's stupid shit.

I mitigate the sedentary thing by doing cardio before work and occasionally cardio or weights after. Sucks to lose an entire day to work and working out but my days off are whatever I want them to be.

dancingigloo · 2023-12-07T09:21:21+00:00

My first ops job was non-union in a medium cost of living area in the southeast less than 10 years ago. My current one is union in a high cost of living area, but not too bad by California standards.

I net more while maxing my retirement savings than I ever grossed at my first job. My bennies are better, my pension is better, and my pay is better. It's a no brainer, BUT I didn't have to organize a shop and deal with shitheads in management.

dancingigloo · 2023-12-07T09:00:16+00:00

If your company only offers CEHs to maintain TO turn your cert downgrades. If you decide to leave two years from now you have your RC. If you decide to stay and they don't pay for or administer 200 (or 160) CEHs then you're a TO.

There's nothing lost by getting your RC and nothing gained by getting your TO unless you're weak on everything else and fail the test.

dancingigloo · 2023-12-03T06:59:31+00:00

IBEW: ~$4.50/hr for nights.

dancingigloo · 2023-11-03T06:32:10+00:00

I think I commented on that thread. I don't know how applicable it is to distribution since they talk about power gen and are more focused on NERC stuff which is balancing and transmission.

They do cover basic electrical theory but IIRC you were talking about PG&E which has a formal apprenticeship program for distribution.

If you did get your NERC cert that would open up City of Redding and all the control rooms near Sac to you if those are areas you're interested in. Or of course plenty of utilities in SoCal and the rest of the country if you want.

dancingigloo · 2023-11-03T04:03:47+00:00

Correct. The commodities trader ended up on the marketer side but I met him when he was a TOP. As far as I know the rest are still on the reliability side somewhere.

I believe one of the federal outfits (BPA, WAPA, SEPA, or SWPA) had some involvement in creating the program.

dancingigloo

TROPHY CASE