2024 SAG Award Winners

Great River Energy

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Project Goal

To implement GIS solutions to support these strategic areas of operation at Great River Energy: reliability, resiliency, safety, situational awareness, project management, sustainability and planning for our future. To provide valuable insight into what's going on operationally today and what we need to develop for the future.
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Business Problem Solved

We have many challenges to overcome in the electric generation and transmission industry. From rebuilding aging infrastructure to planning for new carbon free generation resources. Great River Energy has developed several GIS solutions to assist with the day-to-day operation of the utility and planning for a new carbon constrained future. They are providing real value to our organization. Attached is a power point presentation that contains just a fraction of what has been developed.

Technology Implemented

We developed most of this in our high availability ArcGIS enterprise portal. For our contractors we have developed solutions that use pass though services from our portal which we host in ArcGIS Online to provide them access to GIS data. We are using Survey 123, Field Maps, and now recently Quick capture for field applications. And our uncrewed aircraft department is using Site Scan.

Development Team Biography

Jeffrey Grussing Manager of GIS Devlopment and Technology
35 years in utility GIS 31 at GRE. Most of the education has been self-taught or learned from esri staff and peers.

Andy Schmidt GIS Project manager Great River Energy. 25 years in a utility GIS at Great River Energy. Graduate of St Cloud State with BA in Geography and a Masters in GIS and Project Management from St. Mary’s University of MN.

Mike Siedschlag Senior GIS Analyst with 20 years in utility GIS at Great River Energy. Graduate of St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN with a BA in geography with a minor in GIS.

Maegan Caouette Senior GIS Analyst at Great River Energy. She has been with Great River Energy for 22 years at GRE 7 years in utility GIS. Graduate from the University of South Dakota (’99).

Robert Borchert Senior GIS Analyst at Great River Energy 27 years in GIS 23 in utility GIS. Graduate Saint Cloud State University BA Geography/Minor GIS