At the Truckee Donner PUD we want to say thank you to all of our engineers. They work hard everyday to make our community a better place!

What is National Engineers Week?

Founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers in 1951, Engineers Week is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers. Engineers Week provides an important opportunity to recognize the Districts current engineers, while also highlighting the sector to prospective engineers. The District employs several engineers in various disciplines and departments, including electric, water, IT, conservation and even strategic affairs. Below is a look into what engineering looks like at TDPUD.

What does engineering work for the water department like look?

On the water side, almost all projects start with Neil, our Water System Engineer. He’s got a long list of key infrastructure projects he is working on this year, including pipeline replacements in Glenshire, a water tank rehabilitation in Tahoe Donner, the continued construction of the new Pioneer Trail Pipeline and Pump Station, and the construction of a new major water tank.

Neil is one of the longest-serving employees at the district, and the only engineer in the water department. Some of the things Neil is responsible for as the Water System Engineer are identifying infrastructure needs, creating designs for improvement projects, documenting project specifications, facilitating CEQA reviews, managing contractors and tracking project budgets. Much of the project design Neil works on can take years to come to fruition. Neil is constantly monitoring the needs of our community, and then priority and budget will dictate which projects are chosen to be completed each year.

What could engineering possibly have to do with conservation?

Quite a bit actually! Steven, our Conservation and Customer Service Senior Analyst, uses his mechanical engineering background and applies it to the district's conservation efforts, both for our own operations and for the programs we create to effect change in our community.

Conservation programs usually aim to influence people’s behaviors to reduce energy and water usage, but it takes math and physics to determine what those behavior changes should be. Steven analyzes and interprets data from the district’s water and electric systems to both forecast the energy needs of our community, and also find the most impactful and measurable ways for people to reduce their energy use.

One of Steven’s biggest focuses for 2023 is to conduct a greenhouse gas inventory for the district, to again use math and physics to identify our GHG sources and figure out how to reduce that output, and to provide a benchmark so we can quantify those reduction efforts.

How does engineering fit into electric operations?

TDPUD has three people on the electric engineering team, and they handle all of the design for the utility's electric infrastructure. This includes substation work and pole design, as well as new residential and commercial development projects. TDPUD is working to modernize our system to meet the current and future demands of our community, and engineering is the first step to accomplishing that work.

Our electric engineers are currently working on a substation project that will improve the reliability and resiliency of TDPUD’s electric infrastructure. This project will involve upgrading equipment, including some replacements that will reduce TDPUD’s carbon footprint, as well as constructing an enclosure to shelter some equipment, reducing exposure to weather and increasing accessibility year-round for maintenance. 

Pole replacements are also a major project the engineering team works on. Sometimes it’s obvious when a pole needs to be replaced, like when its been damaged, but our engineering team also identifies poles that need to be replaced to support our system’s reliability as the demand on it grows. Then they analyze factors like ice build-up and wind loading to calculate the size of pole needed, as well as the configuration of the lines on the pole and placement of anchors to the ground. Then they coordinate with other utilities that use these poles, like internet and cable companies, to share the cost of the replacement and schedule the work.

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Meet Keith, Assistant Electric Operations Manager.

In his role, Keith supervises the District’s electricians, fleet, facilities, and vegetation management. In the fall of 2021, Keith took on the role of Acting Electric Engineering Manager. This includes overseeing all of the District’s Electric Engineers and managing various projects, including designing new business projects and capital improvement projects while supporting crew and field personnel. Keith takes pride in finding new ways to do things, solve problems, and streamline his team’s work.

Keith’s past work includes concrete, finish and swimming pool construction, as well as satellite TV installation. In 2010, some friends of the family who worked for PG&E sparked Keith’s interest in utility work. He started to become more interested in the utility industry and decided to go back to school to get a degree in electric engineering. Over the years Keith had attended Community Colleges while working, enabling him to receive his 4 year degree in 3 years from UNR in 2014. Shortly after Keith starting attending UNR, he was hired at NV Energy as an engineering intern and then hired on full time upon graduating. Keith passed his Professional Engineering Licensure exam in 2016 and was licensed in 2018 by the California State Board of Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. In 2018, he was offered a position with TDPUD as an Associate Electric Engineer.

Keith dedicates his time because he loves that the organization is smaller than surrounding utility companies. He loves the challenges that come with his job and he is able to affect the outcome in this community on a wider scale. His job lets him get exposure to the full scope of what a public utility company does and the benefits of not being profit driven, which lacks in bigger companies.  Keith quotes, “The benefit of Public Power is the ability to reinvest maintenance in our own distribution system.”  In his spare time Keith enjoys fishing, golfing, and continually remodeling his home. He lives with his family in Sparks, Nevada and his wife and 1 ½ year old daughter are expecting a baby sister in May 2022. 

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Meet Roe, IT/SCADA Engineer.

Roe has worked for the District for 8 years and handles maintenance and operation of our IOT infrastructure including our SCADA systems. Roe’s expertise connects our server computers to all of our equipment out in the field that allows us to control, collect data and analyze the District’s water and power distribution systems, which includes server and controller health. Roe currently lives with his wife in Reno and has 2 daughters.

Before coming to TDPUD, Roe was a Foreman Mason early in his career. When deciding upon a different career path, Roe returned to school completing his Computer Engineering degree from Coleman University in San Diego County. Roe’s first job in automation and controls was doing building automation. In that early position, Roe learned SCADA programming hands on. Roe’s automation experience includes; building automation, water/waste water and pharmaceutical.

Roe was born in Florida, but moved to southern California when he was 5 years old where he grew up. When the TDPUD offered him a job as the SCADA Engineer for the District, Roe took the opportunity with excitement. Roe enjoys working in this community because it feels like it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to serve the customers directly.

Currently, Roe is working on replacing our old water SCADA system while maintaining all of the current software and upgrades. He is hands on when it comes to programming all of our controllers to the District’s specific needs in our water and electric departments. Specifically, in our Water Department, the SCADA system monitors the level sensors in our tanks. Roe engages and engineers for different solutions accounting for our environments with our weather changing from snow/winter to heat/summer. The District’s SCADA system helps the Water Department with data collection supporting the quantity of our ground water levels that we report to the State.

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The California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA), and Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPA),  sent letters to Assembly Member Luz Rivas in support of ACR 132 and ACR 133, a resolution to proclaim February 24, 2022 as "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day." A copy of the support letters can be found using the following links:

 ACR 132 (L Rivas) CMUA Support

ACR 133 (L Rivas) CMUA Support

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220ACR132

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