Mahfooz Hilaly of Burns & McDonnell

A healthy power system depends on the quality of power. One of the prominent power quality issues is harmonics. Modern power systems include more and more DC/AC or DC/AC converters and numerous nonlinear loads. More electronic appearance creates harmonics in our grid system. Not all the harmonics are harmful unless it creates a problem.

Harmonics can cause an increase of the line current within the power system, misoperation of circuit breakers & other protective devices, incorrect reading of meters, etc. Harmonies can be the cause of overheating of transformers, motors, generators, and cables, which may lead to the failure of those equipment.

To maintain proper power quality, we need to know harmonics & their effect on the power system.  

Biography:

Mahfooz Hilaly is an Associate Electrical Engineer at Burns & McDonnell. He has 28+ years of experience in the power and telecommunication industry.

Mr. Hilaly obtained his master's in electrical engineering from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Before joining Burns & McDonnell in 2012, he worked for Power Engineers for more than six years.

He specializes in protection and control design, power system studies, relay settings, and system coordination. His special interests include Arc flash study, harmonic analysis, Renewable Energy, and IEC 61850.

Mr. Hilaly is a Professional Engineer and a Senior IEEE Member. He has contributed to several working groups of the IEEE PSRC. As a working committee member, he was involved in developing the IEEE Std C37.245:2018 standard on "Protective Relaying for Phase-Shifting Transformers."

Ian Ramsay of Siemens Energy

Biography:

Ian Ramsay joined Siemens in 1988. He has had many roles in the company over his tenure, ranging from FACTS control system design and FACTS software programming to commissioning. Ian programmed the control system for the world’s first ASC/TCSC and wrote the software and commissioning the first Siemens containerized SVC.

Following on from that Ian spent time as a project manager for FACTS projects including the first FSC to be built in China and then moved to Sales and Business Development for FACTS devices. Ian spent about 5 years with GIS substations as Regional Director for GIS substation for the US and Canada. After spending around 19 years in Germany, he and his family moved to the US in 2008. After which he was Project Director for a Pump Storage Development project in California. Since 2011 Ian has had numerous positions at Siemens now Siemens-Energy, including FACTS Business Development, Director of Engineering, Director of Project Management and now Head of Technical Sales for FACTS devices in the US.