BPA engineer recognized for national role in promoting interregional transmission

A 21-month detail as a technical lead for the National Transmission Planning Study with the Department of Energy has led to international recognition for a BPA engineer.

Transmission Planning engineer Hamody Hindi received the Energy System Integration Group 2024 Excellence Award for his expertise and leadership on the study that is helping identify interregional transmission opportunities to further integrate clean energy and meet local and national energy needs.

The award recognizes the exceptional contributions of energy industry professionals toward the reliable, economic and sustainable planning and operation of multi-pathway energy systems. 

As the technical lead for the National Transmission Planning Study, Hindi worked in partnership with Pacific Northwest National Lab and the National Renewable Energy Lab who did much of the foot work for the study.  He led the effort through weekly staff meetings, project management, industry technical input, and increased public engagement. He held numerous in-person industry meetings, hosted one-on-one conversations with utilities, and presented findings and interim results to stakeholders including ESIG and the North American Transmission Forum. 

The study had two main priorities: Exploring pathways to meet the Biden Administration’s 2035 clean electricity goal; and reaching out to all the regions of industry to determine where the highest value opportunities are for interregional transmission to meet local and national needs.

“Interregional transmission is always a challenge. There are good reasons the challenges exist, but we have the purview to go after those challenges directly with a lot of energy put into stakeholder engagement,” Hindi explained. “We wanted to do a study and have a conversation with all the regions of industry – here’s what we think is a good idea and why, what do you think?  How can we decarbonize, and how does interregional transmission help get us there. We were building the plane as it was being flown.” 

With experience in transmission planning, Hindi was approached in 2021 by his manager, Ricky Bustamante, for a detail to DOE conducting an offshore wind study for the Office of Electricity.

BPA vice president of Transmission Marketing and Sales Michelle Manary, then acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Electricity Delivery at DOE, conducted Hindi’s detail interview.

“I knew he would be perfect on the National Transmission Planning Study because he brought with him experience working with customers on planning studies and helping navigate through conflict and opposing views,” said Manary, who offered Hindi the opportunity to take the NTPS detail. “He was brought over to DOE to design and implement a new approach to studying interregional transmission needs and do so with a process that was usable by the utilities. 

“Hamody worked closely with the National Labs, states, and utility reps to design a study that had never been done before and that could be useful to both states and utilities. The fact that the NTPS is a key part of the WestTEC regional transmission planning effort says a lot about the success of his leadership.”