Jason Conn Email and Phone Number

Assignments include commissioning, start up, and the development and implementation of maintenance programs for several new 175 MVAR Synchronous Condenser stations located in the Texas panhandle.

I manage a staff of more than 30 engineers and technicians. My engineers are responsible for performance testing, condition assessments, project development and project management for all power plant systems and equipment. My technicians are responsible for maintenance and repair of instrumentation and control systems.

In July 2011, I moved into Xcel Energy’s Energy Supply (Fossil Generation) Engineering & Construction department. I was given an assignment to develop a fleet wide plan to implement electronic overspeed protection for the SPS steam units. Four SPS units (Harrington 3, Jones 1 & 2, Nichols 3) already had projects in the 10-year plan to install overspeed protection as part of a larger turbine control upgrade project. As part of developing a fleet wide plan, thirteen (13) more projects were proposed to be added to the 10-year budget. After the fleet plan and the individual projects were approved, the first four projects were kicked off. As part of the overall plan, all of the proposed units were included in the RFP bidding process that included multiple vendors. A diverse project team of E&C and plant engineers and Technical Experts was assembled to develop the steam turbine overspeed standards and to review the technical proposals from each vendor. Once all proposals were evaluated on technical and commercial merits, a single vendor was chosen for the entire SPS fleet. This vendor was awarded the purchase orders for the first four units with options to extend the contract to all 13 units. Two additional units are planned for Electronic turbine overspeed, however due to significant differences; these units were not included in the RFP.

From January 2010 to July 2011, I was Plant Engineer at Xcel Energy’s Nichols Station. In addition to having a nameplate capacity of 450MWe, Nichols Station also produces all of the cooling makeup water and boiler makeup water for both Nichols and near by Harrington Station. My projects at Nichols Station were diverse and included: several months trouble-shooting some very pesky 2000HP VFDs, Boiler Tube Repair, Boiler water makeup improvement projects, Cooling Water makeup improvement projects, Boiler emmissions & Performance tuning, Cooling Tower Repair, Circulating Water Pump Suction bell replacement and a mile underground piping project.

I was a Plant Engineer at Xcel Energy's Harrington Station from May 2005 to December 2009. Harrington Station is a 3 unit 1040MWe sub-bituminous coal fired power plant that began commercial operation in July 1976. Harrington Station has somewhat unique environmental and air quality control systems (AQCS). Unit 1 was designed in the early to mid 1970s when early legislation had just begun to address air pollution. Harrington was early in the evolution of plants in the country to be designed to burn low sulfur sub-c coal from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The plants Tangential fired boilers were designed to produce low Nitrous Oxide emissions and the fuel source was naturally low in sulfur. Though much cleaner, PRB coal did have difficulties, such as high ash content. This high ash content and calcium content made the ash difficult to collect and control, but also made the ash a valuable by-product. As a plant engineer at a large power plant I was assigned primary responsibility over all of the equipment down stream of the Ljunstrum air heaters and other Balance of Plant equipment. These systems included gas ducts, expansion joints, ID Fans, Electro-Static Precipitator, Fabric Filter Baghouses, continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS), stacks, cooling tower make-up lagoons and cooling tower make-up pumps and the large make-up water storage pond. As part of my system assignment for AQCS, I performed root causes analysis for every recordable and reportable opacity/particulate air permit “exceedance.” These root-cause-analyses were used to develop maintenance and operations best practices that helped to reduce the frequency and severity of these events. The RCA reports were often submitted to the Texas TCEQ regional inspector in response to information requests.

Plant Engineer – Coal Plant Electrical System & SPS Fleet Arc Flash AnalysisI was a Plant Engineer at Xcel Energy's Harrington Station from May 2005 to December 2009. Harrington Station is a 3 unit 1040MWe sub-bituminous coal fired power plant that began commercial operation in July 1976. Harrington has a large and complex electrical system including Medium Voltage buses at 4160v and 6900v and well as low voltage switchgear and motor control centers and lighting control centers. There are hundreds of motors and protective relays as well as dozens of oil filled transformers. As a plant engineer at a large power plant I was assigned primary responsibility for the electrical system including the station auxiliary transformers, generator step up transformers, Iso-phase bus, medium and low voltage switchgear, motor control centers, medium and low voltage motors, and DC Emergency system.I was assigned was to complete a Short circuit and Arc Flash analysis of plant Medium and Low Voltage switchgear for Harrington 1, 2 & 3, Nichols 1, 2 & 3, Jones 1 & 2, Plant X 1-4, Tolk 1 & 2, Cunningham 1 & 2 and Maddox Station. As a result of the analysis that I preformed of each plant’s electrical systems, I was able to develop improved engineering controls and specified personal protective equipment (PPE) systems that dramatically improved the safety of Xcel Energy Employees.

A Plant Engineer at Xcel Energy is responsible for analysis of power plant systems and supports the operating goals of the fossil generating fleet through reliability centered maintenance.