Consumers Energy - LVD Planning - Metro
Ryan
Experience Information
Employer: Consumers Energy
Job Title: Cooperative Assistant
Major: Electrical Engineering
Received Credit: Yes
Paid: Yes
Abroad: No
Description of the Organization
Consumers Energy is a rather large company broken up into many departments across the state of Michigan. There are many service centers each catering to their own region in order to provide localized support and energy distribution. I worked in a subset of the Low Voltage Distribution Planning (LVDP) department which is common throughout many service centers across the state. My department, LVDP Metro however, operates out of the Grand Rapids & Flint service centers only.
Description of the Tasks/Projects Completed
Working in Metro as a co-op, my main task was to help the other 5 system owners with any projects/designs they were working on. Metro is a bit special in the fact that we work out of the GR & Flint service centers, yet we cover Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Flint, Saginaw, & Jackson. The main difference in Metro is that all of our electrical infrastructure is located through a network of vaults, manholes, and ductwork beneath the streets and sidewalks of the areas we service. My job included planning new civil work throughout these areas and then planning the electrical equipment that would be needed to serve customers wherever we had a request.
Skills/Knowledge Gained Through The Experience
This semester, I learned a lot about communication between the engineering side of the business and our operations side. Along with the general power calculations and electrical designs this rotation, I have been able to communicate with the operations to set up field visits in order to make progress on my projects. Gaining this communications skill has helped me to speed along my projects and branch out my network here at the company.
Favorite Part of the Experience
My favorite part of this co-op experience was getting to go into the field and go underground into our vaults/manholes. After receiving the necessary training, I was able to use my connections to the operations side of the business and make arrangements to go down into vaults containing live electrical equipment such as transformers and fuses. This was something that I had always heard about my first 2 rotations but had never had the opportunity to experience.
How the Experience Influenced Future Career Goals
I hope to apply for a full time position in this department once I have graduated. I never thought about the power company and all the things they do across the state so it has opened my eyes to a new interest of mine.