Make a Powerful Difference
We are engineers and consultants dedicated to influencing and shaping the secure energy future by unleashing the power of the nation's top talent.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
We've Moved!
Please visit us at our new blog home on cai-engr.com at https://www.cai-engr.com/vision/! We've got fresh content and perspectives on the electric power industry -- stop by and see us.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Getting energized
Commonwealth is proud to have provided engineering, environmental permitting support, and right of way acquisition to help turn PSE&G's vision for this new 500 kV transmission line into reality:
http://pseg.com/info/media/newsreleases/2014/2014-04-29a.jsp#.U2ERK41OXcs
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Labels:
electrical,
energy,
engineering,
NJ,
PA,
power,
PPL,
PSEG,
transmission,
utilities
Friday, April 25, 2014
Top Design Firms Named
Congratulations to the team for again being listed among the EC&M Magazine Top 40 Electrical Design Firms and the Engineering News-Record Top 500 Design Firms! This year, Commonwealth was particularly excited to be profiled among the EC&M Top 10 firms, coming in at #8.
It is always an honor to appear alongside such talented and impressive firms! We certainly are passionate about what we do and proud to serve the electric utility industry, municipalities, industrial clients, and some of the world's most prestigious educational, healthcare, and research institutions.
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Monday, March 31, 2014
IEEE in the Windy City
In just a few short weeks, we'll be in Chicago for IEEE PES T&D Conference and Expo 2014! If you're planning to join us for some green screen fun and a complimentary souvenir photos, and haven't already done so, you might want to check out and download the official app. With the app, you can:
It's a great resource -- I hope you'll check it out! See you in Chicago!
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- Easily locate Commonwealth at Booth 8033 (hint, hint!)
- Populate a schedule of other things you’d like to attend/see
- Explore a list of exhibitors with information about each and the ability to “favorite” the exhibitor, schedule a visit with them, and/or get directions to their booth
- View various maps -- exhibits, halls, hotels, etc.
- View technical program session info, locations, duration and more
- See a list of speakers, their employers, and when/where they’ll be speaking
- Access general information about shuttles, the schedule, special events, etc.
- View and contribute to a photo gallery
- Follow and contribute to a live Twitter stream using the hashtag #TandD2014
- Download and view handouts and videos
- Scan QR codes for more information
- Figure out where you are in relation to another point
- View an easy-to-follow ordered map of the exhibitors you choose to bookmark to make the most of your time
- Discover local Chicago attractions
- Follow “IEEE PES T&D Conference” on Facebook, and check-in on Facebook when you arrive, for the latest postings there and to contribute to that page
- Post on LinkedIn regarding the conference
It's a great resource -- I hope you'll check it out! See you in Chicago!
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Monday, December 23, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
Giving thanks
First, let us just say how very much we appreciate you -- our clients, employees, future employees, retirees, friends, and...most of all...our families.
To our clients...thank you for the opportunity to provide you with engineering and support services. We enjoy getting to know you on job sites and golf courses, at restaurants, and in your offices or ours. We value your time and work to continually earn the trust you place in us.
To our employees...thank you for your commitment to Commonwealth and for giving your very best every day to achieve our shared vision of being a recognized leader, the preferred consultant, and the employer of choice in the markets we serve.
To our retirees...thank you for the extraordinary 25 years we celebrated this summer! We are grateful for your participation in our events and for your willingness to mentor others.
To our future employees...thank you for considering employment with Commonwealth. We can't wait to see what the future holds.
To our friends and family...a very special thank you for your support and encouragement as we pursue a career we love, even when it takes us on the road or keeps us at work a bit later than planned. You make it all worthwhile.
Lastly, one more thank you to our employees. It's a big one! THANK YOU for your wonderful feedback on the Workplace Dynamics survey. Because of you driving us to be the very best and your willingness to share your thoughts and feelings, Commonwealth can proudly say we are a Detroit Free Press 2013 Top 100 Workplace!
What are you most thankful for this year?
From the Commonwealth Family to yours --
Have a very happy Thanksgiving!
_____
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Teaming up to reduce emissions
We're excited to be part of a collaborative groundbreaking project to provide information which ultimately empowers energy consumers in their daily decision-making about environmental stewardship. Get the HERO (Home Emissions Read-Out) app HERE.
As Commonwealth's Steve Miller recently put it,“If we are successful, one outcome might be a service which (people) can employ with their appliances. To choose the time of day or place where using their appliance will cause more or less emissions.”
Click HERE to read the full MLive article.
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As Commonwealth's Steve Miller recently put it,“If we are successful, one outcome might be a service which (people) can employ with their appliances. To choose the time of day or place where using their appliance will cause more or less emissions.”
Click HERE to read the full MLive article.
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Labels:
appliances,
electricity,
emissions,
energy,
engineering,
environment,
grant,
Great Lakes,
grid,
Jackson,
mapping,
Michigan,
power,
research,
technology,
university,
usage,
utilities,
Wayne State
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Shining the light on outage prevention
Over the past decade, a great deal of effort has gone into reducing the chances of a similar widespread outage occurring in the future. Areas of success include the creation and strengthening of standards associated with the planning and operation of power systems, and the application of new technologies, particularly Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) -- a technology driven by the same GPS technology driving the universal mapping functions in our phones and other applications -- to situational awareness.
Despite these advances, as more recent incidents demonstrate, more work remains to be done. Fundamental components, such as transmission lines and transformers that make up the grid, need to be updated and added to meet current needs and the desire to support new generation sources including wind, solar and natural gas fired plants. When it comes to the potential for cascading outages of the grid, techniques for consistent analyzing these events prior to their occurrence and identifying cost effective remedies are still in their infancy.
Commonwealth Associates is
an active participant in planning, identifying, and implementing such solutions and we always welcome opportunities to discuss techniques and collaborate in creating solutions. For information about our Transmission Grid Analytics - Cascade Analysis (TM) software that helps to prevent future blackouts, click here. In a nutshell, it provides:
- A verifiable and complete list of “breaker-to-breaker” contingencies
- Identification of ALL contingencies that cause violations and a direct or indirect assessment of all double (Category B and C) contingency combinations
- Analytical methodology to supplement your engineer’s experience and judgment
- Objective, repeatable, and reasonable classification of contingencies that cause A/R violations into those that will not cause outages beyond a predetermined area and those that cannot be eliminated as potential causes for widespread outages
- Priority list of trouble facilities that identifies and suggests root causes for contingencies that may initiate widespread outages
- Independent evaluation of your system suitable for use as compliance documentation that management can include in their "due diligence" reporting
- Custom solutions
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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Thursday, August 1, 2013
25 Years...and Counting!
This July, Commonwealth celebrated 25 years of being an employee-owned engineering firm providing world-class consulting expertise to the electric power industry and our utility, municipal, institutional, and industrial clients. You can read more about this particularly meaningful milestone on p. 28 (p. 30 of the .pdf) of Jackson Magazine's August issue.
The festivities included monthly fun activities, the official unveiling of new glass panels in our hallway of history; a Friday evening gala at the newly renovated Robert Snyder Hall in Jackson College's impressive Potter Center, where we recognized our founding shareholders and employees; and a spectacular day full of food, frolicking, and fun at our employee family picnic on the grounds of our headquarters in Jackson, Michigan.
We feel truly honored to work with such accomplished colleagues, many of whom serve on the committees setting tomorrow's industry standards, and even more honored to be given the trust and loyalty of our outstanding clients -- among them major utilities, industrial leaders, and some of the world's most prestigious educational and healthcare institutions.
Here is a look back at some of the best memories from this past week...we hope you enjoy them!
The festivities included monthly fun activities, the official unveiling of new glass panels in our hallway of history; a Friday evening gala at the newly renovated Robert Snyder Hall in Jackson College's impressive Potter Center, where we recognized our founding shareholders and employees; and a spectacular day full of food, frolicking, and fun at our employee family picnic on the grounds of our headquarters in Jackson, Michigan.
We feel truly honored to work with such accomplished colleagues, many of whom serve on the committees setting tomorrow's industry standards, and even more honored to be given the trust and loyalty of our outstanding clients -- among them major utilities, industrial leaders, and some of the world's most prestigious educational and healthcare institutions.
Here is a look back at some of the best memories from this past week...we hope you enjoy them!
On Thursday, President Dennis DeCosta proudly revealed
two new commemorative panels representing the past 25 years. |
Friday evening's gala attendees enjoyed the culinary delights of Continental Services before the program. |
Guests raved about the humorous delivery of keynote speaker, author,
and former professional comedian, Garrison Wynn.
Saturday's family picnic included: two bands, one dessert contest, a pinewood
derby championship, inflatables for kids, and the Great Anniversary Giveaway.
25 years meant 25 lucky employees took home 25 very cool prizes.
The other winner was the fight against cancer, as President DeCosta
and the VPs took to the dunk tank to raise money for Relay for Life.
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Labels:
achievement,
anniversary,
careers,
celebration,
corporate,
electric,
employee,
engineering,
event,
founders,
gala,
Jackson,
Michigan,
milestone,
party,
picnic,
power,
recognition,
utilities,
workplace
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Utilities and system protection
Expertise
Charles
Mason aptly described protective relaying as both an art and science. That’s
because there is not a singular, scientifically-proven “best approach” to
setting relays. In fact, there occasionally
are circumstances in which perfect coordination and protection simply cannot be
achieved and the engineer is required to make a judgment call. (Fortunately for our clients, Commonwealth's roots in the industry date back to
1888 and we have engineers with over 40 years in the business, so we bring a wealth of knowledge
to client projects and have a proven track record of making the right call.)
Insight
Modern
digital relays are complex. Each client
will have unique features used, philosophy, settings criteria, and relay set
up. This “tribal knowledge,” developed over the years, may not even be
known to all internal engineers. We are helping clients to capture and document
this knowledge, and providing a more rigorous, standardized format for
presenting study results. We also help translate this knowledge into standards that enable consistent relay setting by utility
employees or consultants.Software
There are two major protection software programs in the electric utility transmission system arena – CAPE and ASPEN OneLinerTM. With nearly a 2-to-1 utility market share, ASPEN is considered quite user-friendly. CAPE is more robust in modeling capability and running system simulations, but requires a steep learning curve and is more difficult to learn compared with ASPEN. Commonwealth is one of a very few consultants highly experienced with both.
Here are the Top 10 reasons to connect with Commonwealth
for system protection services:
1)
We
can be a seamless extension of your staff, following your utility’s philosophy
and settings criteria.
2)
You
get the benefit of our extensive experience with CAPE & ASPEN.
3)
You
can trust us to review your settings or utility practices for NERC compliance.
4)
We
can perform your system wide upgrades, including design work, updating protection standards, and relay studies and analysis to provide the
relay settings.
5)
You
can address the increasingly important arc
flash issues by using the automated process we developed in CAPE to
efficiently perform calculations in the utility environment.
6)
You
can tap into our experience with analyzing event files from digital relays for troubleshooting or independent review of
relay settings to diagnose misoperations.
7)
We
can provide databases and data
management to build combined short circuit models using data from both CAPE
and ASPEN users.
8)
We
have extensive field experience with commissioning and testing of new relaying
systems.
9)
We
can provide protection studies, coordination, arc flash, and troubleshooting
for power plant electrical systems.
10)
We
can help you with overflow work or
get you through a period of new staff development.
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Labels:
CAPE,
compliance,
electric,
energy,
generation,
NERC,
power,
protection,
relays,
settings,
system,
utilities
Friday, June 14, 2013
Commonwealth New Board Members Announced
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
June 13,
2013
Contact: Kelly
Engler (517) 768-7137
Commonwealth
Welcomes New Board Members
![]() |
Samuel R. Barnes, P.E. |
With over 22 years in the industry, Barnes is Vice President of Power Generation and Energy at Commonwealth. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Jackson College, as JC’s Representative on the Board of Directors for The Dahlem Conservancy, and as President of the Jackson Cascades Lions Club.
Millies,
a civil engineer, is a Section Manager in Commonwealth’s Transmission and
Distribution Line Engineering Department.
He has been with Commonwealth for over 15 years and in the industry for
over 20. Millies serves as Secretary for
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transmission Line
Construction Working Group.
Commonwealth
is proud to recently have been ranked 9th in the nation among the 2013 Top 40 Engineering
Design Firms by EC&M Magazine. We provide
solutions for utilities, municipalities, industrial clients, and world-class
educational and healthcare institutions. This year the corporation celebrates its 25th Anniversary as an employee-owned company. Headquartered in Jackson, Michigan, the company has offices in Mount Vernon, Washington; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbus, Ohio; and Roanoke, Virginia.
# # #
Commonwealth Associates, Inc. I PO Box 1124, Jackson, MI 49204 I
517-788-3000 I www.cai-engr.com
|
On
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/commonwealthassociates
On
Twitter at: www.twitter.com/caiengr_dot_com
Friday, May 31, 2013
Top Design Firm Rankings Announced
Last month, we learned that we had again made Engineering News-Record's Top 500 Design Firm list, so the question became how could we possibly repeat such excitement this month?
By making the 2013 Top 40 Design Firm list put out by EC&M Magazine, of course! This year, we come in at 9th in the nation...not too shabby!
Of course, this would not be possible without the loyal support of our clients, and the absolute passion for, and commitment to, technical excellence in engineering by our dedicated staff of employee-owners. To them all we say a very big, very heartfelt THANK YOU!
By making the 2013 Top 40 Design Firm list put out by EC&M Magazine, of course! This year, we come in at 9th in the nation...not too shabby!
Of course, this would not be possible without the loyal support of our clients, and the absolute passion for, and commitment to, technical excellence in engineering by our dedicated staff of employee-owners. To them all we say a very big, very heartfelt THANK YOU!
Labels:
business,
electric,
energy,
engineering,
IEEE,
list,
power,
rankings,
STEM,
Top 40,
utilities
Friday, April 26, 2013
New rankings out today!
Most days around here are really good (although we almost unanimously agree that real "Spring" can arrive any time now), but you know it's going to be a particularly exceptional day when you see your name up 39 spots in the Top 500 Design Firm List put out by McGraw Hill's Engineering News-Record.
We think the formula's really pretty simple...combine technical excellence with world-class client service, all for a fair price.
To see the complete list: http://enr.construction.com/toplists/Top-Design-Firms/001-100.asp
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
Valentine Sparks
Today is Valentine's Day -- a day to celebrate all of the powerful and heart-warming forms of love displayed on this planet by mankind. A cute article on the various celebrations around the globe can be found here.
Today, paper hearts with beginner's penmanship touch the hearts of mothers and fathers the world over,
men (and women) with sweaty palms make promises of forever with that certain someone they can't imagine life without,
and life-long couples reflect back upon the deep abiding friendship that kept the romance alive during years of sacrifice and struggle...couples like this one.
We demonstrate our affection in a myriad of ways, from handmade cards to chocolates and flowers, but sometimes"sparks" on Valentine's Day are not always a good thing and the gifts we give can actually cause harm. Learn more here: http://www.pgecurrents.com/2013/02/12/video-metallic-balloons-popular-but-they-pose-a-valentine%E2%80%99s-day-hazard/
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Today, paper hearts with beginner's penmanship touch the hearts of mothers and fathers the world over,
men (and women) with sweaty palms make promises of forever with that certain someone they can't imagine life without,
and life-long couples reflect back upon the deep abiding friendship that kept the romance alive during years of sacrifice and struggle...couples like this one.
We demonstrate our affection in a myriad of ways, from handmade cards to chocolates and flowers, but sometimes"sparks" on Valentine's Day are not always a good thing and the gifts we give can actually cause harm. Learn more here: http://www.pgecurrents.com/2013/02/12/video-metallic-balloons-popular-but-they-pose-a-valentine%E2%80%99s-day-hazard/
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