Technical Training Courses
(With Optional Level 1 Certification)
Advanced Technical Seminar on Electrical System Grounding, Transient & Electromagnetic Interference Analysis
Registration Course objective
Education credit Course outline
Cancellation policy Course instructors
Course fee
Upcoming seminar dates
Registration
Technical training is offered in webinar and in-person formats. See Training Registration for dates and enrollment information.
Course Objective
The Advanced Technical Seminar provides attendees a unique opportunity to acquire practical and up-to-date engineering knowledge, from the world's leading specialists and researchers, on how to study and design efficient and economical grounding and lightning mitigation systems.
Whether you wish to protect a power system, plant or a nearby utility subjected to electromagnetic interference from power system faults, lightning or switching surges, this course will present pertinent principles for utility, industrial and various public installations, during steady state, fault and transient conditions, using realistic models of the environment.
Emphasis is placed on the demonstration of scientific concepts, using practical examples drawn from the extensive number of research projects and engineering studies conducted by SES researchers since 1978. Pertinent analytical derivations are included in an extensive Reference Manual made available to all course participants. One of the main goals of this course is to explain and eliminate many misconceptions, ambiguities and incorrect measurements, analysis and design techniques which still abound in the industry and are taught at some courses.
The Course Outline and Course Schedule for the webinar format are provided below.
Course Outline
In Week 1, we cover the three modes of electromagnetic energization. Earth resistivity measurement and interpretation techniques will also be discussed, for uniform and multilayered earth (soils with two and more horizontal and vertical layers). The concept of soil model equivalence and soil layer resolution will be explained based on computer simulations. The analysis and design of simple and complex grounding systems made of arbitrarily oriented three dimensional conductors buried in multilayered soils will be discussed and illustrated with practical examples. The case of a grounding system partially buried in a finite volume (e.g., backfill) of heterogeneous soil will be explored. The scientific concept of earth impedance measurements using the Fall-of-Potential method will be clearly explained based on various realistic soil models. Transmission line, buried cable and buried pipeline parameters (self and mutual impedances) in layered earth will be analyzed and fault current distribution computation techniques will be described. Electrical safety concepts will be introduced, and issues related to body currents, body impedances and foot resistances will be discussed for power frequency and high frequency electric exposure.
During Week 2, the focus is on demonstrating how to use SES’s powerful input and output processors such as SESCAD, ROWCAD and SESShield-3D. Week 2 also includes conductive and inductive interference effects caused by energized conductors on overhead and buried bare or coated metallic structures and conductors, such as pipelines, fences and communication wires are introduced and investigated in detail. Mitigation methods and equipment are presented and their relative merits are discussed. Interaction between the sources of the interference and the victim lines or circuits will be examined in detail. Finally, electric and magnetic fields generated by energized overhead and buried conductors at low and high frequencies as well as during transient conditions, such as lightning strikes, will be described and typical analysis methods and computation results explained.
Course Schedule
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Course Instructors
Dr. Farid P. Dawalibi, Director of R&D and Engineering, co-founded SES in 1978. An internationally recognized expert in grounding and electromagnetic interference, he has authored more than 450 technical papers and research & engineering reports, and has presented over 150 short courses and technical seminars.
In 2012, Dr. Dawalibi established the SES Software Certification program, and currently serves as the Managing Instructor for all SES training activities, contributing to and providing oversight for the ongoing development of the curriculum as well as the cadre of instructors who lead the course sessions and workshops.
In addition to his ongoing training activities and pioneering research work, Dr. Dawalibi was the project leader of the team that developed the GATL and ECCAPP software packages (EPRI EL2699 and EL5472) and the AUTOGRID software package (CEA 249 D 541). He has served as an expert witness at several challenging court hearings, and is a technical advisor and industry consultant to several leading power, pipeline and railway utilities. He has also made significant contributions to, and authored portions of, ANSI/IEEE Standard 80.
Dr. Dawalibi obtained a doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Montreal Polytechnic, an engineering institution affiliated with the University of Montreal.
Christian Voyer, PhD, is a Senior R&D Manager who, since joining SES in 2010, has been involved in multiple aspects of the company’s activities including: analytical research projects, third-party technical report reviews, client technical support, software development, and studies related to grounding, safety, and electromagnetic compatibility problems. With his extensive experience, theoretical proficiency, and unwavering commitment to quality instruction, Christian is a valued member of SES’s instructor team, which he joined in 2013, as well as the Manager of SES’s Level 1 Certification program.
Christian obtained a doctorate in Experimental Physics in 2011 from McGill University.
Luis Valcárcel, PhD, is a Senior R&D Manager who joined SES in 2009, and has since been continuously engaged in software development, analytical research reports, major client projects, and technical support. His considerable practical experience in all aspects of grounding and EMI studies includes field experience with soil resistivity and touch/step voltage measurements. A member of SES’s instructor team since 2013, he leads courses at all certification levels, and is also involved in internal training to ensure that the required high bar of performance is met by all SES technical personnel.
Luis obtained a doctorate in Experimental Physics in 2008 from McGill University.
Maxime Daigle, PhD, is a Senior R&D Manager who has been with SES since 2014. In addition to his training responsibilities, Maxime is regularly engaged in client support and research activities which have contributed to significant improvements to multiple SES applications. He has also been involved in several client projects involving grounding and electromagnetic interference studies. With a solid combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience, he has been a key member of SES’s instructor team since 2015.
Maxime obtained a doctorate in Electrical Engineering in 2011 from Montreal Polytechnic.
Parisa Dehkhoda, PhD, is a senior R&D researcher who has been with SES since 2021, where she is involved with research, software development, and providing technical support to SES’s clients. Parisa joined SES’s instructor team in 2023, bringing with her an extensive teaching experience of more than 10 years at the university level. Her main research interests are in numerical methods in electromagnetics, especially electromagnetic compatibility. She is the author or coauthor of more than 50 scientific articles and conference papers.
Parisa obtained a doctorate in Electrical Engineering in 2009 from Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran.
Stéphane Franiatte obtained a B. Ing. degree (2013) in electrical engineering and an M. Sc. A. degree (2017) in software engineering from the École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal, Canada. His area of specialization was in mathematical optimization and algorithmics. From 2003 to 2008, he served as an officer on a nuclear submarine, where he was responsible for the electrical propulsion systems as well as the acoustic discretion of the vessel through vibrational frequency analyses.
He joined SES in 2014. His research interests lie in applied mathematics, specifically in digital signal processing, transient analysis, numerical electromagnetism, and computer science.
Mohammad Shafieipour holds M.Eng.Sc. and PhD degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Multimedia University in Malaysia (2010) and the University of Manitoba (2016). After completing his doctorate, he worked for several years as a Simulation Development & Research Engineer at Manitoba Hydro International.
Dr. Shafieipour joined SES in 2020, and currently provides technical support for the CDEGS software package, while also contributing to the development of the software.
He joined SES’s team of instructors in 2022, bringing not only his vast knowledge in Computational Electromagnetics and Electromagnetic Transient Analysis (subjects of over 40 scientific papers authored by Dr. Shafieipour) but also ample experience in multiple power systems simulation tools.
Course Fee
The course fee is CAD 3,850. For residents of Canada, applicable sales tax applies.
The course fee includes an extensive Reference Manual titled "Power System Interaction with Earth and Industrial Utility Installations", annotated copies of course display materials, and several copies of pertinent technical papers published by the instructors.
Certification
Those who elect to complete the optional Level 1 Certification exam and who receive a passing score will, upon completing a Level 2 Certification course, be eligible to take the Level 2 Certification exam, which if passed successfully can lead to pursuit of the highest certification level, Level 3 (Expert) Certification.
Also, their names will be posted on the Certified Users List of the SES website (unless the participant or their organization requests otherwise).
Education Credit
Participants will be issued a certificate of completion and awarded the equivalent of 3.0 CEU (Continuing Education Unit) or 30 PDH (Professional Development Hour). The CEU and PDH are recognized units for recording participation in non-credit educational programs.
Cancellation Policy
SES reserves the right to cancel or change the date of the webinar at any time. If this occurs, participants will be notified immediately and any fee received will be refunded in full.
Participants may cancel their registration by notifying SES in writing prior to the webinar start date. Cancellation requests received more than 2 weeks prior to the webinar start date will be refunded in full. There are no refunds for cancellation requests received less than 2 weeks prior to the webinar start date, or for failure to attend the webinar.