Electrocon International Annual CAPE Users’ Group Meeting and Conference Brings Record Attendance

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Aug. 12, 2015 - PRLog -- Electrocon International, the full-service developer and marketer of CAPE software for protection system simulation and data management, set record attendance at the annual CAPE User’s Group Meeting and Conference held June 22-26, 2015 at the Eagle Crest Conference Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The event attracted more than 80 protection engineers from 42 utilities, consulting firms and universities from nine countries.

The week-long conference began with a full day protection seminar on generation protection by Russ Patterson, President of Patterson Power Engineers. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the CAPE Users’ Group Meeting was held where a number of technical presentations were presented covering the latest features and enhancements to CAPE protection simulation software. Among the features are many that support compliance with many new and emerging NERC PRC standards. Electrocon highlighted CAPE 14, the next generation version of Electrocon’s CAPE family of computer-aided protection software which began shipping to customers in March.

http://electrocon.com/capeintro.php

Several current CAPE Users presented “best practices” technical presentations based on their real-life experience using CAPE in their daily operations. In addition, IPS-Intelligent Process Solutions GmbH, demonstrated an advanced IPS-CAPE Bridge™ in conjunction with Electrocon based on CIM XML data.

Attendees were given a preview of a new fault location program currently being developed by Electrocon and working in conjunction with SoftStuf, Inc. Wavewin software. Electrocon will be testing the new program with select CAPE utility customers beginning in the latter half of 2015.

On Tuesday evening, recognition was given to members of the original CAPE Advisory Committee members who were present at his year’s conference. The CAPE Advisory Committee began in 1985 with frequent meetings held at various locations around the United States where committee members met to discuss what capabilities were needed in a protection simulation program. Those receiving recognition included Charlie Rogers, Walter McCannon, John Zipp, Art Buanno and Rick Cornelison. “These individuals played a key role in defining the foundation on which CAPE software has been based for the past thirty years,” stated Paul F. McGuire, EE, MSEE, PE and President of Electrocon International. “We are grateful to each of the founding members for their participation and the support of their company on the advisory committee.” The ten utilities that were represented on the original CAPE Advisory Committee included Alabama Power, Southern Company Services, Consumers Energy, Georgia Power, Duke Power, Iowa Public Service, Cleveland Electric, Santee Cooper, South Carolina Electric & Gas and Oglethorpe Power.

On Thursday and Friday, Electrocon conducted a series of training sessions including a full-day “CAPE for New Users” session and several half-day sessions on topics including “Modeling Detailed Bus Structures,” “Using Coordination Graphics,” “System Simulator and Relay Checking,” “Introduction to Relay Setting Algorithms,” “Introduction to SQL and Reporting,” “Introduction to Writing Macros,” “Breaker Duty,” “Managing and Merging Data,” and “Conducting Transient Stability Studies using CAPE-TS Link™.” Electrocon training sessions were conducted by the Electrocon engineers who are experts in their field and have on average twenty-five years of experience in power engineering.

“The 2015 CAPE Users’ Group Meeting was the best we have ever offered,” remarked McGuire. “With the release of CAPE 14 and CAPE-TS Link, we have many incredibly powerful new features and enhancements that we discussed and demonstrated to CAPE users attending this year’s conference. The positive response from our attendees was overwhelming and confirmed that our development path is providing the types of features and capabilities that will allow our users to be more efficient in their daily operations.”

Attendees received continuing education units toward their accreditation for their professional engineering certification. Electrocon provides CEU credit to attendees at no additional charge.

The 2016 CAPE Users’ Group Meeting & Conference will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 20-24, 2016.  Details will be announced by Electrocon in January 2016. A recap of the 2015 CAPE Users’ Group Meeting & Conference is available on the Electrocon website at www.electrocon.com/ugm2015_recap.php.

For more information about CAPE, CAPE 14 or Electrocon services, visit us on the web at http://www.electrocon.com or call +1 734-761-8612 extension 202 or email eii@electrocon.com.