This week TVPPA launched a new Research & Development (R&D) resource portal on the TVPPA.com website. The site provides a central location for local power companies to locate relevant R&D information to support their businesses, including access to materials developed by TVPPA’s Research & Development Committee and links to TVPPA R&D-funded research through EPRI and other research partners.

Located behind the Member Log-in at TVPPA.com, the new R&D site puts the latest practical and applicable TVPPA-funded research at the fingertips of TVPPA members. To navigate to the site from TVPPA’s home page, members login, then choose the “Research & Development” link on the left side of the landing page.

“Historically local power companies were encouraged to visit the EPRI site which can be confusing and also has a lot of information that is not relevant to distribution. We wanted to simplify how our members access our research and provide the most applicable current research for their business in an easily accessible manner,” said Clint Wilson, TVPPA vice president of engineering and energy innovations.

Each year, TVPPA’s R & D team invests approximately $320,000 in research projects with partners like the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the National Electric Energy Testing Research & Applications Center (NEETRAC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and ESource, which provides customer-focused research for the utility industry. Most of TVPPA’s research projects run for multiple years. Currently, TVPPA has about $900,000 in projects underway, including a joint project with EPRI on Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Storm Response Assessment which will evaluate the efficacy of drone usage for surveilling storm damage.

Heading into the future, TVPPA plans to continue working with TVA and EPRI on new research proposals. However, the new TVPPA R&D resource site ensures members will have exclusive access to any and all TVPPA-funded research. TVPPA members who have signed agreements regarding EPRI research with TVA will still be able to access that information through TVPPA’s R & D site which will provide executive summaries of EPRI projects and links to the full research on the EPRI web site.