The new Georgia Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) Technology Association held its first-ever statewide meeting recently at Coweta-Fayette EMC’s headquarters in Palmetto.
Some 40 attendees representing approximately 25 EMCs, Georgia EMC, Georgia System Operations Corporation (GSOC) and Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC) were present, as well as 30-35 vendors and speakers.
Presentations focused on the technical/hardware aspects of information technology for electric utilities, and topics included disaster recovery, telecommunications, virtualization, security, application development for mobile devices, mobile device security and the introduction of GSOC’s Member Portal, an online tool for EMCs to post documents and engage in discussion with other member cooperatives.
To address EMCs’ role in emergency response and public safety management, an impressive Howard Technology Solutions “Tacticomm” vehicle was also on site. In the aftermath of a major disaster, the high-tech mobile command and communications SUV allows first responders to act quickly in establishing command presence, resource control and communication interoperability.
According to Louise Blackman, Vice President of Business Technology at Snapping Shoals EMC in Covington, the inaugural tech event was a great success.
“We had a huge turnout for a first meeting,” said Blackman, who was instrumental in launching the technology association. “There are so many co-ops with great technology, and we needed a way to get together, network and share ideas.”
Coweta-Fayette EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to over 74,000 member accounts in Coweta, Fayette, Heard, South Fulton, Clayton, Spalding, Troup and Meriwether Counties.
