Volume 8,Issue 4 - December 2006
The Supplier
WUE Update
A Review of 2006, and A Look at 2007
This past year will be remembered as another year with unprecedented price increases ranging as high as 36%. It will also be remembered for the highest cost for fuel in our nations history. We experienced a shortage of flatbeds to ship our products. In 2006, we saw the rationing of some commodities, and some manufacturers not being able to honor all of their contractual agreements. In 2007, we can expect continued price increases, primarily where steel, oil, and metals play a large part in the manufacturing of material. We expect freight issues to remain a challenge in 2007, as the shortage of trucks and drivers will continue. 2006 was a very busy and rewarding year for WUE. We continued to promote Inventory Management Partnerships. We delivered more than 30 million dollars of material to our customers from our Brighton warehouse. Our W.E.S.T. department worked on projects from many states, and booked more than 20 million dollars worth of material for small and large projects.
In 2007, WUE will continue to maintain the largest inventory in the Rocky Mountain Region. We will continue to work hard to find cost savings for our many customers, and do everything we can to keep the cost of your material to the lowest level possible.
Convectair
Western United Electric Supply
By Shelley MartindelCampo
Hello from Convectair and WUE! Believe it or not winter is upon us! The cumulative efforts of all of us this past year are beginning to bear fruit and Convectair sales are rising fast. Up to this point, most shipments have been frequent small lots...with some resultant freight/shipping damage...truck line and UPS (Usually Poor Service) can tear up an anvil. Our experience shows that if we ship tight, full pallets we rarely have any damage.
Sooo... We would like to make you an offer that will:
Minimize freight/handling problems
Maximize your ability to have the two fastest moving items on hand for instant sale
Avert some of the impact of an expected January price increase...
Give you an Apero 1250 watt heater free of charge...
give it away, use it as a door prize, make it an employee reward or sell it and make a great profit... you decide
Here's the deal: 18 Apero 1250 watt units and 8 Apero 500 watt units (26 total) make a great, secure and shippable pallet of our fastest turning products. These pallets will move virtually unopened from the Convectair warehouse to Western United Electric Supply and directly on to you...minimal handling...minimal damage.
Call Shelley MartindelCampo today at 1-800-748-3116 for more information!
S&C IntelliRupter PulseCloser
by Travis Johnson
S&C has introduced a breakthrough in overhead distribution protection called the IntelliRupter PulseCloser. IntelliRupter is a unique alternative to a traditional recloser. Instead of subjecting the components of the system to the stresses of fault current, the IntelliRupter accomplishes the same end without repeatedly closing into full fault current to test the circuit.
With a traditional recloser, once a fault is detected it will trip and then reclose to test the circuit after a certain delay. If the fault is temporary and has been cleared, then the recloser will stay closed. But, if the fault is still present, the recloser will open and reclose again. Conventional reclosers test the line simply through uncontrolled closing into the fault – repeatedly applying damaging fault currents to equipment from the source to the fault.
The IntelliRupter PulseCloser takes a different approach to clearing a fault. When the IntelliRupter senses a fault, it trips. This is similar to the traditional recloser, but from this point the IntelliRupter sets itself apart. The IntelliRupter PulseCloser applies a very fast, low-energy pulse to the line—significantly reducing damaging fault currents and voltage sags on the faulted line as well as adjacent feeders. Substation transformers experience fewer through-faults, extending their life. Cables, conductors, splices, and terminations experience less thermal and mechanical stress from through-faults too.
The IntelliRupter's vacuum interrupters remain in the open position when the pulse of energy is sent to test the line. If the fault has been cleared, the IntelliRupter will close at a precise point on the voltage wave for minimal system interference. If the fault still exists, after a certain period of time the PulseCloser will send another pulse to see if the fault has been cleared. If you look on the graph below, the advantages of the pulse closer are quite clear. The damaging overcurrent occurs on the initial fault only (not on subsequent tests of the line like conventional reclosing). This protects your equipment and your customer's equipment from having to endure multiple surges from the same fault.
If you are interested in S&C IntelliRupter Pulse Closer and would like to learn more about the features and benefits of the Pulse Closer, please contact WUE and we will be happy to assist you.
An Electricity Escalation
By Brian Baseflug
Colorado's demand for electricity is on track to jump 50 percent over the next two decades. To meet that burgeoning need, the state will require new power plants, which will cost billions of dollars, to generate 4,900 megawatts of additional electricity through 2025. Unless Colorado's 61 electric utilities start planning immediately, customers will suffer more outages in the future and also pay higher rates. And that will mean thousands of job losses and millions of dollars in economic losses. Those were the findings of a report titled "Colorado's Electricity Future" released by the Colorado Energy Forum. A comprehensive, statewide report on the future of the state's energy needs was last compiled in the early 1990s. The purpose of the report is to clearly outline the magnitude of the problem.
Colorado's current peak demand is 10,080 megawatts. The report projects demand will increase by 50 percent to 15,114 megawatts by 2025. One megawatt powers roughly 1,000 households.
Inadequate capacity in the coming years could lead to outages and result in huge financial costs, found P.K. Sen with the division of engineering at the School of Mines who also worked on the report. For example, a one-hour summer outage of every Colorado business is estimated to cost $500 million, while an eight-hour winter outage of all businesses could cost $3.5 billion.
Source: Rocky Mountain News.com, August 31, 2006
Considering Alternative Insulating Fluids for Transformers?
By Kent Davenport
While the vast majority of transformers supplied to the utility industry today use traditional mineral oil, Western United Electric Supply can provide transformers with alternative insulating fluids such as seed-based fluids. All transformer manufacturers represented by WUE can provide seed-based fluids instead of mineral oil.
Seed-based fluids provide certain unique attributes such as a very high fire point, as well as, biodegradable characteristics that can make it attractive in distribution transformer applications. There may be possible environmental regulatory benefits available in the future as well. These benefits do come at a price. Seed-based fluids are considerably more expensive. Although mineral oil has seen dramatic price increases recently, seed-based oil costs approximately three times as much as mineral oil. This cost differential could increase the price of an average transformer fifteen to twenty percent. It also remains to be seen if there are any spill remediation benefits.
Each individual utility will have to determine if seed-based fluids are a viable option for their system based on their unique requirements. If you choose to pursue that option, Western United Electric Supply will be able to help you fill that need.
For further information, contact your
WUE Representative today!
EUDA Annual Meeting
By Ron Schott
Western United Electric Supply attended the Annual Meeting of the Electric Utility Distributors Association in Raleigh, North Carolina in November. The Associations membership consists of all nine of the Cooperative Owned Distributors. It was reported at the meeting that combined sales for EUDA now is one billion dollars, with a combined inventory of more than 150 million dollars