WEBINAR

Underground substation for the Greater Cambridge Energy Program

As the demand for clean and reliable power grows, utilities are turning to underground substations to meet increasing energy needs in urban areas. Join Chris Arnieri as he shares insights on overcoming the complexities of designing Eversource’s underground substation to improve efficiency, resilience, and future growth potential.

March 06, 2025

7:00 PM UTC

1 hour

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Duration: 1 hour

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Summary

Substations are an indispensable part of the energy delivery value chain amidst the accelerated push for electrification, which is driving increasing power loads that require more substations. However, in response to protracted shortages of viable real estate in urban areas to meet energy needs, utilities are pivoting to underground substations to keep their commitment of delivering clean and reliable power to customers. While underground substations are a cost-effective and time-efficient alternative to traditional substations and make the system more resilient against climate change, utilities must overcome several layers of complexity to realize these benefits and must strike a delicate balance of safety, technical design, efficiency, and environmental sensitivity. In this session, Chris Arnieri will share some of the challenges they’ve encountered, and best practices applied to optimize the electrical design of Eversource’s pioneering underground substation to improve distribution efficiency and allow for future growth. 

Key discussion points include:

Technical and design considerations for operations and maintenance
Strategies for grid connectivity to improve distribution efficiency

Speakers

Chris Arnieri

Manager, E.MA Substation Design Engineering

Eversource

Chris is currently the Manager of Substation Design Engineering for Eastern Massachusetts at Eversource Energy (Eversource). Eversource is an electric, gas and water utility in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire providing both electric transmission and distribution services. As the Manager of Substation Design Engineering, he oversees a team of engineers and coordinates the engineering efforts for all Substations within the eastern Massachusetts territory. Prior to this he was the Manager of Capital Project Engineering for the three state Eversource Service Territory. He has 22 years of experience in the utility industry, holds a BSEE and BSCE from Northeastern University.

Mike Beehler

National Spokesperson

Power Delivery Intelligence Initiative

Mike Beehler P.E. is the national spokesperson for the Power Delivery Intelligence Initiative and the chief opportunity officer for Mike Beehler & Associates LLC. He started his career designing and building transmission lines and substations for Tucson Electric Power and the Hawaiian Electric Co. and then spent more than 20 years designing T&D infrastructure and consulting on emerging trends at Burns & McDonnell. He has written, presented, and consulted on reliability-centered maintenance, critical infrastructure protection, and program management. In addition, he is a well-known industry writer and speaker on the early definition of the smart grid, 3-D and building information modeling applications in T&D, and development plans for smart cities. Most recently, he is sought for his strategic leadership and vision on the application of emerging technologies in changing business models to include the integration of distributed energy resources, augmented/virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. He authored the book, The Science of the Sale. Beehler is a registered professional engineer in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Georgia, and Alabama. He also is a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of IEEE and CIGRE.

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