Our engineering workforce is critical to advancing our mission to build the cleanest, safest, and most reliable energy infrastructure company in America. We recently highlighted our Engineering Excellence Luncheon, and are now spotlighting individuals who received awards at the event as part of our "Engineering Excellence" series. Our second feature is on Arthur Giourdjian, who was recognized with the 2022 Innovation Award.
This week, we're featuring Arthur “Art” Giourdjian, a Senior Engineer with the Systems Protection and Automation Control Engineering (SPACE) team, who was recognized with the Innovation award. Although his work allows him to collaborate with teams across the company, Art is directly responsible for protection and special automation projects in the Eastern District.
Art joined our company with an electrical engineering degree from Cal Poly Pomona. During his time at the company, Art has managed a number of important, innovative capital projects, such as designing and commissioning several battery energy storage sites, supporting engineering design work for the Borrego Springs and Miguel Vanadium Redox Flow Microgrids, collaborating with the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) team to develop and set up an automated energy storage testbed, supporting the Kearny team circuit breaker maintenance program, and leading the complex process of relay switch replacement jobs. In each of these initiatives (and many more), Art takes a collaborative approach to his work and often exceeds his colleague’s expectations as a knowledgeable subject matter expert who expertly leverages his network to meet important deadlines and budget constraints.
Finding a cost-effective solution
Certified as a professional engineer, one of Art’s most recent projects involved working with the DER team to find new ways to island company energy storage and microgrids assets. In order to give the team more flexibility with microgrid construction, Art and his team tested reclosers that can be installed on top of utility poles rather than mounted on the ground pad. This option allows our company to save valuable space on the ground and potentially reduce costs. For over a year, Art examined the feasibility of a pole-mounted recloser at our Integrated Testing Facility in Escondido and also in the field at the Miguel substation, home to the vanadium redox flow battery and microgrid. With testing in the field about to begin, the new recloser will help automate our energy storage sites at a lower cost, plus make the location easier to interconnect and commission.
“Art is a gifted engineer, who in additional duties as an Emergency Operations Center leader still manages to find time to support SPACE shifts during Red Flag warning conditions,” shared Daniel Dietmeyer, Team Lead in Electric Engineering and Art’s supervisor. “He’s also made a big impact on his fellow engineers, and managers within the company, for his ability to problem solve, his flexibility, and professional demeanor.”
A Los Angeles native, Art joined the company after employees (and fellow Cal Poly Alums) visited with the school’s IEEE Power and Energy Society. After interning with the Metropolitan Water District, Art knew he wanted to work in utilities and was excited to join our team in 2015.
When asked why he stays, Art shared, “I love the supportive environment at the company where everyone is helpful and eager to collaborate, which all contributes to a culture of continuous learning and innovation.”
Thank you, Art, for all that you continue to do for us!
