When I was younger I bristled with annoyance about all the talk of New Year’s resolutions. Why make changes only at the New Year? Why not change immediately when you realize something needs changing? As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve softened my views on New Year’s resolutions, and I better understand their attraction. The New [...]
I cherished the Christmas season as I grew up in Cadillac. I remember walking downtown with my sisters to shop with the meager spending money we earned from babysitting, shoveling, or raking leaves for the neighbors. A local bank would offer free hot cider and donuts on the downtown sidewalk, and Christmas music played continuously [...]
Thanksgiving. A day much like Christmas, which gets gobbled up (pun intended) by travel, business and retail obsessions. Yet at its core, is the simple premise — let us set aside one special day to pause and give thanks. My memories of Thanksgiving sit among my favorites. Family, food, laughter — perhaps the three strongest [...]
Hesperia is a little village in west Michigan, like many others. Its roots go back to the logging boom of the 1800s, but the only remnant of that era is the White River running through it, which powered the lumber mills of yesteryear. Hesperia is quiet like many of Michigan’s former logging towns, and it’s [...]
On Wednesday of this week, I traveled north with Klint Weaver to observe the Grawn, Chanda Yard, and Atlanta crews change out a bad transmission pole near Boyne City. The pole tested bad in Wolverine’s eight-year test cycle, so we needed to replace it. Adding to the pole change-out risk was the fact that the [...]
I spent last weekend in Leelanau County and saw firsthand the devastation caused by last month’s August 2nd storm. That day dawned with a typical Michigan forecast — warm, with a chance of thunderstorms. Within a few hours, the “chance” had turned to certainty, and a freakish storm slammed into the Traverse City area. The [...]
In my last blog I introduced the Merchant Operations Center (MOC) and the job it does managing electric load and generation in two different regional markets: MISO and PJM. I discussed their mission of ensuring affordability, but I didn’t go into much detail. The actual tools, rules, and strategies the MOC uses to accomplish its [...]
Wolverine’s mission as a Generation and Transmission (G&T) cooperative is simple— produce power and transmit it to our members’ rural substations. This mission is straightforward, and to support it, Wolverine operates two separate 7x24 centers to manage the functions of transmission and generation. The Energy Control Center (ECC) monitors transmission, and I will speak about [...]
Wolverine and its member-cooperative employees feel satisfaction from providing essential electric service in rural areas. Our linemen especially feel this when they restore service after nasty Michigan storms occasionally wreak havoc for days on end. Imagine though, if you found a remote village that survived with no electricity for years, and you could light up [...]
Danny Janway retires this week after 16 years with Wolverine. Danny, like many at Wolverine, spent his entire career in the electric industry. Yet Danny’s career also spans his lifetime. He grew up watching his father in the business, and he has spent most of his life working on electric utility projects, including many facets [...]