The Combined Cycle Users Group invites you to share your experience with industry colleagues at the organization’s 2018 Annual Conference and Vendor Fair, August 27-30, in the Louisville (Kentucky) Marriott Downtown.

Make a presentation. The steering committee has listed possible topics for presentations on the CCUG website based on suggestions from attendees at last year’s meeting. You may want to discuss one or more other subjects of interest to combined-cycle owner/operators; the committee welcomes the opportunity to hear your ideas.

Here’s all you have to do by April 25: Write a sentence or two describing your proposed presentation and email it to the steering committee along with your contact information. A committee member will contact you within 72 hours to discuss further and answer any questions you may have.

Access advice from attendees. Presentations are not the only way to participate in CCUG meetings. Less formal, but perhaps more valuable to you and your company, is to ask attendees for their advice on a particular challenge you and your plant colleagues are facing. Think of this as free consulting from experts with deck-plates experience like you.

Here are two approaches to access the experience of others: First is to bring a thumb drive to the meeting with three or four PowerPoint slides describing the situation you want to resolve. It will take you only about five minutes to run through your slides and explain what you’re trying to do. The best part is that you can do this from your seat or at the podium, wherever you feel most comfortable.

The second benefits all those who may not be able to attend the meeting. Simply compile the slides as suggested in the previous paragraph and write a short description (100-200 words will suffice in most cases) of the challenge you face. A member of the steering committee will act as your proxy at the conference and contact you after the meeting with recommendations from your colleagues.

Important: If you want to hear how other plant personnel would approach a challenge like the one facing you, please provide the background to the committee via email by May 1 so the subject matter can be incorporated into the agenda.

Individual Achievement Award. The CCUG also would like to hear by May 1 via email about a colleague you believe the steering committee should consider for its 2018 Individual Achievement Award. Please use the form posted on the CCUG website to do this. 

Recall that this annual award recognizes industry professionals who have demonstrated excellence throughout their careers in the design, construction, management, operation and/or maintenance of generating facilities powered by gas and/or steam turbines. You might get an idea or two by reading through profiles of last year’s award recipients.

CCUG Steering Committee

Chair: Phyllis Gassert, Talen Energy

Vice Chair: Brian Fretwell, Calpine Corp

John Baker, Riverside Public Utilities
Jimmy Daghlian, NV Energy
Aaron Kitzmiller, Vistra Energy Corp
Robert Mash, Puget Sound Energy
Ben Stanley, DGC Operations LLC