hursday, March 11
7:00 AM Registration & Full Breakfast
8:00 Welcome and Conference Overview Meeting
Mike Kawleski, Wisconsin Public
Service Corporation, MREC President
8:15 Smart Grid Projects - Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Power
9:15 Introduction to Breakout Session Topics and Speakers
Track 1:
Farm Wiring, Stray Voltage, and Electrical Distribution
a.
Sorting out Dairy Farm Management and Symptoms Attributed to Stray Voltage
- Roger Mellenberger
b.
Review of Recent Stray Voltage and EMF Research
c.
VFD Applications and Installation -Robin
Priestley, Rockwell International
d.
National Electric Code Review: Grounding -
Jim
Biesterveld,
Dunn
Electric Coop
e.
Stray Voltage Testing on farms with 480/277 Volt Service, Tom Seidl, We Energies
f.
Contact Voltage Detection - A We Energies Update, Chad Hadley, We Energies
Track 2:
Energy
Efficiency, Renewable Energy, and Conservation
a.
What’s happening in the Small Wind Market?
- Jenny
Heinzen,
Lakeshore Technical College
b.
What’s
Happening in the Solar PV Market? -
Niels Wolter,
Wisconsin
Energy Conservation Corporation
c.
Metering and Interconnect Issues for Small Wind and PV, Jim Hunt,
WE Energies
d.
Real-Time
Power Monitoring: How will It Help the Consumer?, Dan Gunderson,
Minnesota
Power
e.
Meeting our RPS Goals: Incentives and Technologies, Brian
Rude,
Dairyland
Power
f.
MREC Scholar Projects -
MREC
Scholars past and present
Friday, March 12
We will offer the stray votlage investiagtion series again in 2010. The exact dates will be fixed shorty:
- May 2010: Introduction to Stray Voltage and Stray Voltage Testing
- October 2010: Advanced Stray Voltage Analysis
Stray Voltage Investigators Course
Offerings For 2009
Our strategy is to combine web-based instructional modules with our classroom sessions.
When you enroll for a course you will be sent instructions on accessing the web-based instructional material.
You will need to successfully complete these instructional modules before attending the class room session. Each instructional module will have a short quiz to test your knowledge. After the classroom session you will take a ‘final exam’ on-line as well.
The dates for this year's classroom sessions are:
- 12 May 2009: Introduction to Stray Voltage
- 13-14 May 2009: Stray Voltage Testing
- 28-29 October 2009: Advanced Stray Voltage Analysis
Click here for registration info
|
47th Annual MREC Conference
and Agricultural Electric
Code Workshop
Embassy Suites, Bloomington, MN
(Near the Minneapolis airport and
Mall of America)
February 25-27, 2009 |
|
The MREC Board
has put together the following agenda for
our annual educational conference
Wednesday,
February 25
Agricultural
Wiring Code Update
Thursday and
Friday February 26 and 27
Annual
Conference
General
Sessions
-
Virtual tour of
integrated Dairy and Energy production
facility
-
Establishing Customer
Relations
-
Review of stray voltage
rules and regulations in the US and Canada
-
Virtual tour of ongoing
stray voltage research in France
Breakout
sessions
-
Farm Wiring, Stray
Voltage and Electrical Distribution
-
Phase converters and
VFD installation
-
Qualification of
experts
-
Veterinarians field
experience
-
Testing protocol for
livestock waterers
-
Transmission under
build issues
-
Overview of new web
assisted stray voltage training courses
-
Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy
-
Biogas to pipelines
-
Benefits of
geographically dispersed wind energy
development
-
Algae Biodiesel
-
Farm energy audit case
study
-
Wind turbine
construction and maintenance
-
What's new in Biofuels
-
Biomass co combustion
-
Dinner Program
Click here to download the program brochure.
We look forward
to seeing you in February!
CHECK IT OUT!--
MREC 2008 Annual Conference Proceedings and
Presentations.
Thank you for your
attendance. It was a great success!
New and Improved Stray Voltage Investigators Course Offerings!
We are in the process of redesigning the series of stray voltage investigators’ courses with the following objectives:
- 1. Reduce time out of office, travel time and time in the classroom
- 2. Improve knowledge retention
- 3. Review basic materials at home before attending the course
Our strategy is to combine web-based instructional modules with our classroom sessions.
When you enroll for a course you will be sent instructions on accessing the web-based instructional material.
You will need to successfully complete these instructional modules before attending the class room session. Each instructional module will have a short quiz to test your knowledge. After the classroom session you will take a ‘final exam’ on-line as well.
The dates for the classroom sessions are:
- 8 April 2008: Introduction to Stray Voltage
- 9-10 April 2008: Stray Voltage Testing
- 14-15 May 2008: Advanced Stray Voltage Analysis
Click here for registration info
Mark Your Calendars for the Premier
Agricultural Energy Conference of 2008!
46th Annual Rural Energy
Conference
February 27-29, 2008
At the LaCrosse, WI Radisson Conference
Center
Check out the
2008 Conference Brochure here for details
Come join your peers and colleagues for the
longest-running event addressing the most
up-to-date and relevant topics to help you
succeed in advancing your rural energy
agenda. The MREC and its member energy
providers and land grant universities in
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota
have been at the heart of agricultural
energy issues for the past 50 years.
This
year we will return to La Crosse, WI to
discuss recent trends in electric
distribution technology, distributed
generation and interconnection, stray
voltage issues, energy efficiency in
agriculture and meeting the needs of the
expanding bio-energy market.
The MREC 2008 conference will include two
days filled with informative workshops from
rural energy professionals. These workshops
will be sure to make this the most
worthwhile event you’ll attend in 2008. Our
keynote speakers will be announced in the
near future.
Click here to download the
2008 Conference Brochure here (pdf)
2007 Annual MREC
Educational Conference
Conference Brochure
The 45th annual MREC
conference will have two tracks; One devoted
to Farm wiring, electric code and stray
voltage, and the other focusing on energy
efficiency, distributed generation and
assessment of renewable energy options.
Our keynote speaker will give us an overview
of the changes occurring in rural
communities in the upper Midwest:
demographically, economically and socially.
We will also hear about a major study of
integrating wind into the grid and get and
overview of the ethanol boom from the
perspective of corn growers, cooperatives
and utilities serving these electric and gas
loads. For more information and to
register for the conference download this
brochure.
This year's pre-conference Workshop
will provide you with an update on the
latest measurement tools and techniques for
stray voltage investigation. We will give
you an in-depth understanding of how to
program and use the PMI, SVM-10 Stray
Voltage Monitor. Our second session will
give you an overview of 'non-standard' stray
voltage measurements that you might run
across in the field. Chuck Forster will
give us an overview of DC voltage
measurements and Doug Reinemann will give an
overview of the influence of DC voltage on
animal sensitivity. Chuck will also discuss
issues relating to proper and improper
measurement and interpretation of high
frequency transient events. The last
session will be a panel discussion with of
the speakers and other MREC members to
answer your specific questions on both rural
and urban stray voltage.
The MREC was granted the authority to post selected handouts and presentations
on-line. This will allow people who attended the conference to review
the information presented, while at the same time provides valuable information
to first-time views who were unable to attend.
Archive of Past Conference Brochures
Interested in obtaining information about past MREC conferences? Consult the
Archives Page
for conference brochures and agendas of past conferences.
Are you on our mailing list?
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MREC, please send your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address to the
Webmaster.