TDMMA 2021: Utility Industry Connects Virtually
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.
About the Author
Amy Fischbach
Electric Utilities Operations
Amy Fischbach is the Field Editor for T&D World magazine and manages the Electric Utility Operations section. She is the host of the Line Life Podcast, which celebrates the grit, courage and inspirational teamwork of the line trade. She also works on the annual Lineworker Supplement and the Vegetation Management Supplement as well as the Lineman Life and Lineman's Rodeo News enewsletters. Amy also covers events such as the Trees & Utilities conference and the International Lineman's Rodeo. She is the past president of the ASBPE Educational Foundation and ASBPE and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Kansas State University. She can be reached at [email protected].