Hello everybody,

I am supervisor for a year 2000 project in an electricity and gas company in the north of Spain; the company is a small sized provider for a region with no more than one million people; I am trying to identify the most critical areas in terms of risk for production within the company but have some problems with that since I am not an electric engineer and also most of the company people involved seem to be reluctant to accept that there might be a risk of interruption when the millenium turn occurs; the most frequent answer that I get is that the system is not affected by date malfunctioning, but that is precisely the question we are trying to determine, so I am in a kind of catch 22 situation. After reading the messages on this list I wondered if you guys are managing much larger projects so that I should not worry about a lot of things said here or if I should just start piling up some wood and food supplies for friends and family, if you know what I mean. I would like to know what are the most critical areas in terms of assuring production after the 2000 year within your projects if you happen to manage a project for a small hidroelectric and gas company.

Sincerely

Carlos Fernandez

-- Anonymous, December 21, 1998

Answers

Carlos,

There are some documents on the euy2k.com website that might help you. Click on the RESOURCES button, and you'll see a link for TOOLBOX. Click on that, and choose whatever you need for download.

Also, visit the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) website (www.nerc.com). While the NERC website is targeted to North American electric utilities, there are many good documents there that you could use to jump start your project.

-- Anonymous, December 21, 1998

Hello, Carlos. Don't forget that any business is also dependent on its suppliers/vendors. Inquire about their Year 2000 readiness, also. Is your hydroelectric company connected to other electric generating facilities via a transmission grid as ours are here? If so, then that is another area of risk to be investigated.

My personal opinion is that when there is a "catch-22" situation, in which uncertainties abound, it's the wisest thing to prepare for possible disruptions. It certainly wouldn't hurt to gather that wood and food as an insurance precaution. Then you can do your job to the best of your ability knowing that you have provided an extra measure of security for your family regardless of what happens. If there are no major disruptions, then food can always be eaten and won't be wasted. Preparing is a win-win situation. Not preparing is what involves risk. All best wishes to you in your efforts! Buena suerte.

-- Anonymous, December 21, 1998

Hi Carlos. On the gas side of the utility some of the things you want to pay close attention to are the following (not a complete list but a quick start): you SCADA system, both hardware and software; pipeline RTUs; odorizers (won't cause a failure but over-dosage will cause a major increase in gas leak calls); chromatographs (if you bill by energy content); corrosion sensors if you have them; everything electrical in compressor stations; flare stack sensors; flow meters, etc. Basically, anything with a plug, a pigtail, a keyboard, or anything else that looks like one. Also, in dealing with vendors of these and other embedded system vendors our approach is to accept vendor statements that devices are NOT compliant and test everything else - regardless of vendor statements.

John

-- Anonymous, December 22, 1998

Carlos:

You may already have this URL, but I thought I'd pass it on...just in case. http://www.map.es/csi/2000.htm

It's in Spanish so it's Greek to me. Merry Christmas!

-- Anonymous, December 25, 1998