Ten years ago, I attended my first Transmission & Distribution Maintenance Management Association (TDMMA) conference in San Diego, California. The event, hosted by San Diego Gas & Electric, brought linemen, engineers and managers from transmission, distribution and substation segments together for a week of education and networking.
Since that time, I have traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Los Angeles and Pasadena California; and Chattanooga, Tennessee along with Winnipeg and Vancouver, Canada for the conference. This year, I was planning on visiting SaskPower's hydroelectric infrastructure and meeting the team, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference shifted from in-person to virtual.
Through the Whoava app, SaskPower and the TDMMA steering committee organized three days packed with virtual educational presentations, interactive forums and workshops and networking events. As in past years, the event started out each morning with sessions on everything from new technologies and major challenges to successes and failures and safety practices. The afternoons, however, were devoted to topic-specific workshops and open forums.
As part of its tradition, TDMMA divided the virtual attendees into different work groups--transmission, distribution and substation--but this year, the organizing committee also added a fourth forum on the first day specifically on COVID-19 mitigation and response strategies. The focus also included workshops on wildfire mitigation and renewable resources to give the participants the opportunity to speak their minds and share their experiences and challenges with their peers.
Next year, I look forward to attending the 46th annual TDMMA conference Sept. 26-30, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I hope to see you there! For more information about the event, which will be hosted by Colorado Springs Utilities, visit https://tdmm.com/.
Also, check out this photo gallery to see some of the highlights from this year's conference.