POWER November 2020 - 14

FOCUS ON O&M
year alone has shown the value of reliance
on technology in all sectors, which will only
continue into the future. AIM is a forwardthinking
solution for overhead electric asset
management that provides more efficient,
cheaper, and accurate digitized asset data
than traditional methods used. The technology
has been developed in a way that is
easy-to-use by electric utilities, and through
further development, has potential for other
inspection applications in the future.
-Ali Asmari, PhD
(aasmari@ulrobotics.com) is head of
machine learning at ULC Robotics.
Finding a Security Solution
for a Control Room
Control rooms are the nerve center of
any power plant. Two recent control
room upgrades at U.S. facilities highlight
the logistical challenges and solutions to
issues that come with improving an important
workspace.
VTI Security is an industry leader in designing,
installing, and supporting a full
range of advanced security technologies.
VTI has worked with many companies
for almost 40 years across a number of
sectors, including utilities, to form software
and hardware security solutions.
One of VTI's recent projects came with
a unique challenge. A large, Midwest-headquartered
utility that serves several states
needed to update a control room (Figure
3) for its security team while making room
for a new group to use the workspace. The
new space would house an enterprise resiliency
department, in addition to a security
team, responsible for incidents involving
major catastrophes, natural disasters, executive
travel, and more.
VTI turned to a longstanding partner,
Winsted, to collaborate on the project.
" We did look at other manufacturers at
the client's request, " said Jerry Klapak,
senior account manager for VTI Security.
" But after looking at other lines, we found
that the [other companies'] cost, level of
service, and attention [wasn't comparable
to what] we received from Winsted. "
The consoles VTI was helping its client
replace were original Winsted furniture,
which had been in the space for more
than 20 years. " It really spoke to the longevity
of the equipment, " said Klapak.
Winsted let the client drive the solution.
" They took the time to set up several
meetings in the beginning to find the
right furniture for the space, " said Klapak.
" Once they understood what the needs
were, they rolled that into a design that
fit the physical space. "
A Space for Everyone
VTI doubled the space for the shared
area to 2,300 square feet. To create cohesiveness
in the space, Winsted was able
to customize furniture for the smaller enterprise
resiliency department space. Although
the furniture was different, it had
the same look, feel, and function as the
primary security operation.
The new space includes eight Impulse
dual sit/stand consoles split into
three workstations-six for the security
operations, and two for the enterprise
resiliency department. Each workstation
features a Winsted clamshell credenza.
Winsted also retrofitted the space with
38 custom lockers for staff.
Klapak also noted Winsted's service
across a project's lifecycle. " Their attention
to detail and high focus before, during, and
after installation is key, " said Klapak. " It's
one thing to provide that level of service to
get a sale, but after the sale the staff came
out and made some adjustments to finetune
and polish the installation. "
New Control Room for New Era
of Clean Energy
RED-Rochester LLC supplies energy for
the Eastman Business Park in Rochester,
4. A New York business park's energy center
control room needed to be updated after
the power plant switched from burning coal
to firing natural gas. The space was retrofitted,
giving staff more-efficient workstations.
Courtesy: Winsted
New York. Eastman Business Park is a
1,200-acre industrial campus with more
than 16 million square feet of multi-scale
manufacturing, distribution, lab and office
space, interstate rail, and highway access.
The business park is powered with
five new natural gas-fired boilers, after all
coal-fired units in the park were recently
retired. The park is now entirely coal-free
for the first time in 127 years, and CO2
emissions have been reduced by 50%.
RED-Rochester currently supplies 110
customers in the Eastman Business Park
through a suite of 16 utility services. To
help effectively and efficiently control the
output of energy to the park, RED-Rochester
turned to Winsted for a needed update
to its control room (Figure 4).
" Our existing room was from the
1960s, and the current furniture needed
an upgrade, " said Ken Gerew, senior project
manager for RED-Rochester. " We
also needed to consolidate everything in
the same room. "
With consolidation and efficiency in
mind, Winsted proceeded to retrofit the
control room space with a series of Impulse
dual sit/stand consoles. The consoles
provided an ergonomic update to
the furniture, giving operators the freedom
to easily adjust their desks to a sitting
or standing position. The room layout
was improved, having the consoles form
a " U " shape around a conference table.
With improved furniture and layout,
RED-Rochester's new control room embodies
the forward-thinking mindset of
the energy provider. As RED-Rochester
continues to make strides in clean energy,
it will do so with a control room
of operators working on state-of-the-art
equipment to help the energy provider
3. The upgrade to a power plant control room operated by a Midwestern utility needed to
incorporate workspace for an enterprise resiliency department, along with a security team.
Courtesy: Winsted
14
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run as efficiently as possible. ■
-Randy Smith is president of Winsted,
a global leader in command and control
room consoles, desks, and furniture for
24/7 mission-critical applications.
POWER | November 2020

http://www.powermag.com

POWER November 2020

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