Category: An Engineer Abroad

An Engineer Abroad

The E3 Visa: Your Pathway to Working in the USA

Introduction:

Dreaming of working in the United States? The E3 visa could be your ticket to pursuing professional opportunities in the land of endless possibilities. Designed exclusively for citizens of Australia, the E3 visa offers a streamlined pathway to work legally in the United States. In this blog post, we will explore the key features of the E3 visa, the application process, and its benefits for Australian professionals looking to advance their careers in the USA.

1. Understanding the E3 Visa:The E3 visa was established in 2005 as a result of the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement. It is a non-immigrant visa category reserved solely for Australian citizens seeking employment in a specialty occupation in the United States. The specialty occupation requirement means that the job should require a specialized body of knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.

2. Key Features and Benefits:

a) Job Opportunities: The E3 visa opens up a wide range of employment prospects in the United States. Australian citizens can secure jobs in various industries, including IT, engineering, finance, healthcare, architecture, and many others. This visa offers flexibility and allows for multiple employers during its validity period.

b) Spouse Work Authorization: The E3 visa stands out from other non-immigrant visas as it grants work authorization to the spouse of the primary visa holder. This feature enables dual-career couples to pursue their professional aspirations in the United States simultaneously.

c) Visa Duration and Renewal: The initial validity period of an E3 visa is up to two years, but it can be extended indefinitely in two-year increments. The E3 visa provides an excellent opportunity for Australian professionals to gain valuable work experience and potentially explore permanent residency options in the future.

3. Application Process:

a) Labor Condition Application (LCA): Before applying for the E3 visa, the employer must file a certified Labor Condition Application (LCA) with the U.S. Department of Labor. This process ensures that the employer will provide fair wages and working conditions that do not adversely affect U.S. workers.b) Petition Submission: Once the LCA is certified, the employer can submit a completed Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The petition must include supporting documents such as the certified LCA, a job offer letter, and proof of the applicant’s qualifications.

c) Visa Interview: After approval of the petition, the applicant must schedule a visa interview at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. During the interview, the applicant will be required to provide necessary documentation, including a valid passport, visa application forms, photographs, and supporting evidence of their qualifications.

4. Tips for a Successful Application:

a) Thoroughly Prepare Documentation: Compile all necessary documents meticulously, ensuring they are accurate, up-to-date, and well-organized. This includes educational degrees, professional certifications, employment letters, and other supporting evidence of your qualifications.

b) Show Strong Ties to Australia: Demonstrate that you have significant ties to Australia, such as family, property ownership, or long-term career prospects, to establish your intention to return after the visa expires. This will strengthen your case and alleviate concerns about potential immigration intent.

c) Seek Professional Guidance: Consider consulting with an immigration attorney or an experienced visa consultant to ensure you navigate the application process smoothly and maximize your chances of success.

Conclusion:

The E3 visa serves as a remarkable opportunity for Australian professionals to advance their careers in the United States. With its unique features, job flexibility, and extended duration, this visa category provides an excellent pathway to explore new horizons and gain invaluable international experience. By understanding the key aspects of the E3 visa and diligently preparing your application, you can embark on an exciting journey toward working in the USA. So, why not take the first step today and pursue your American dream through the E3 visa?For more information and resources on the E3 visa and the application process, visit the following websites:- United States Department of State: [https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employment/temporary-worker-visas.html](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employment/temporary-worker-visas.html)- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): [https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/e-3-certain-specialty-occupation-professionals-from-australia](https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/e-3-certain-specialty-occupation-professionals-from-australia)- Australian Embassy, Washington DC: [https://usa.embassy.gov.au/](https://usa.embassy.gov.au/)- Fragomen: [https://www.fragomen.com/insights/alerts/e-3-visa-guidance-uscis-new-petition-filing-procedures](https://www.fragomen.com/insights/alerts/e-3-visa-guidance-uscis-new-petition-filing-procedures)Remember to always refer to official government sources and consult with professionals for the most up-to-date and accurate information.

Good luck on your E3 visa journey!

An Engineer Abroad, Energy & Infrastructure, Perspectives

Community Energy Storage IS HERE IN WA!

I recently visited the “PowerBank” community battery energy storage trial in the sprawling residential suburbs of Meadow Springs and Port Kennedy in Perth, Western Australia. Both of these suburbs are ranked in the top 30 suburbs in Western Australia for rooftop solar uptake [1].

WA has embraced Distributed Energy Resources (DER) with one in three households in the South West Integrated System now generating their own renewable power with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and growing at around 2,000 households a month.

These suburbs have experienced continued growth and is peak demand is encroaching on network capacity limits. To date, capacity constraints have been mitigated through load transfers between distribution substations [2]. Despite the high penetration of PV, the distributed generation contributes minimal demand reduction at time of substation peak load in the early evening (i.e. the “duck curve” 🦆). The 2021 forecast distribution network capacity of the region is shown below [3].

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Technological developments in energy storage provide a new utility-grade solution to manage the power distribution and flatten the load profile (i.e. 🦆🔨):

  1. Peak Shaving: Discharge at times of peak demand to avoid or reduce demand.
  2. Load Shifting: Shift energy consumption from one point in time to another.
  3. Demand Response: Discharge instantly in response to signals from a demand response aggregator to alleviate peaks in system load.
  4. Emergency Backup: Provide intermediate backup power in the event of a supply interruption.

Community energy storage deployment has been green-lighted in WA with the Electricity Industry Amendment Bill 2019 [4] and the release of the Distributed Energy Resources Roadmap [5] in April 2020. The DER Roadmap recommends to install community batteries in locations that are most in need of power balancing.

The PowerBank community battery is an Australian-first trial to integrate bulk solar battery storage into the existing grid that also provides customers with a retail storage option [6].

The local customers don’t have to purchase a behind-the-meter battery, as the local Distribution utility, owns and operates a Tesla branded PowerPack standing proudly in the local park and is featured on their recent advertising campaigns.

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Tesla’s PowerPack is commercially available modular battery bank for utility and business energy storage. Each 232 kWh Powerpack is a DC energy storage device containing 16 individual battery pods, a thermal control system and sensors to monitor and report on cell level performance [7].

The PowerBank trial has installed two modules (@ 232 kWh each) and is able to virtually store up to 8 kWh a day of excess generation for 50 trial subscribers (approx 464 / 8).

Although I anticipate this trial will not be operated islanded from the power network, assuming each customers consumption is 2 kWh, these 50 subscribers could potentially ride through an outage up to 5 hours (approx. 464 / 50 / 2).

Standing next to the install there was limited buzzing noise, but as a large white box within a community park, one flagship site has already been a target for vandals 😕.

I’ve been unable to source budgets or project costs for the trial. The Telsla PowerPack costs in the region of USD $172k for a 232 kWh unit [8]. The installation also requires foundations, trenching, low voltage cabling, terminations, protection or fusing, and… reconfiguration of the park’s irrigation system plus graffiti cleanup. I’d anticipate a commissioned site to manage the load profile of 50 customers may cost up to AUD 500k.

Tesla provide a 15-year “no defect” and “energy retention” warranty for the Powerpack. Tesla guarantee that the energy capacity will be at least a percentage (within a range up to 80%) of its nameplate capacity during specified time periods, depending on the product, battery pack size and/or region of installation, subject to use restrictions or kWh throughput caps. Tesla also offer extended warranties, such as 10 or 20 year performance guarantees [9].

The PowerPack utilizes the Tesla’s Microgrid Control System application available across their product range. The application provides a range of alarms and system status parameters required to operate the energy storage system with a shiny user interface [10].

Although it appears limited in Real-Time information for asset management of the battery cells such as cell degradation and capacity. IT/OT convergence is coming for power electronics! In that, rather than the use of an infrastructure asset management framework (such as ISO 55000) and internal operations, the mindset shifts to managing service and performance through warranty and support agreements.

Once (“partnered”) within the Tesla ecosystem, the Microgrid application can be scaled to other energy use cases such as distributed generation and electric vehicles.

The PowerPack provides an Ethernet port for access to Modbus TCP/IP and DNP3 protocols and Rest API [12]. This would provide interface to Tesla’s application or the Distribution utilities Distribution Management System or Distribution Energy Resource Management System (DERMS).

There was no visible antenna mounting to provide strong connectivity. I presume there is a 4G modem providing remote SCADA (and configuration access, firmware updates etc) within the kiosk. The connectivity will be valuable as it also appears there was no SCADA connectivity on the upstream transformer, distribution frame or ring main unit. At both sites there was 2 bars (-113 dBm) of 4G signal using the commercial Telstra mobile network.

If and when the community storage is deployed at scale, and under all operating conditions (incl. black start), combined with electric vehicle charging stations and distribution market operator (or virtual power plant) use cases, the control systems and telecommunications requirements are required to also scale.

Energy storage provides a new solution to manage the load profile where customers are both consuming (demand) and generating (supply). The application of energy storage technology such as a community storage on the low voltage distribution network is helpful to evaluate the solution to reduce energy costs and carbon footprint. This trial will inform technical and economical evaluations, and also facilitate regulatory, governance and operational integration.

References:

[1] https://westernpower.com.au/community/news-opinion/who-really-is-number-1-for-pv-in-perth/

[2] https://westernpower.com.au/media/1995/non-network-options-report-mandurah-load-area-2016-pdf-version-of-dm13874165-13868073.pdf

[3] https://westernpower.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=21af5edc59034456b59c35be31365cdf

[4] https://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/Bills.nsf/BillProgressPopup?openForm&ParentUNID=553B64DCFCE397DE482584BF000BBDB2#:~:text=Electricity%20Industry%20Amendment%20Bill%202019,Bill%20No.&text=The%20purpose%20of%20this%20bill,electricity%20networks%20in%20the%20Pilbara.

[5] https://www.wa.gov.au/government/distributed-energy-resources-roadmap

[6] https://westernpower.com.au/our-energy-evolution/projects-and-trials/powerbank-community-battery-storage/

[7] https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/powerpack

[8] https://electrek.co/2020/03/31/tesla-powerpack-price-commercial-solar/

[9] https://ir.tesla.com/node/20456/html

[10] https://www.gemenergy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Powerpack_Microgrid-System-Brochure.pdf

An Engineer Abroad, Perspectives

“How Utilities Can Better Manage Grid Modernization” Webinar

Today I attended the Utilitydive webinar “How Utilities Can Better Manage Grid Modernization” hosted by West Monroe Partners; generally informative and underpinned by a great survey and case for change report “Managing Grid Modernization: Integrating IT and Operations at U.S. Utilities”.

A copy of the report is available here (in exchange for your marketing details).

And really, it’s presentations and information like this that have inspired A2A – utility operations are typically risk adverse, silo’d, disengaged, archaic and continually distracted with emergency response and regulatory requests; yet there is a human desire for modernization and associated buzzwords, but thought to be achieved by propagating the existing process, skillsets, cultures and technologies.

In today’s utilities, Information Technology and HR has likely been mostly outsourced; Operational Technology (OT) is held tightly by engineering and operations – as it is seen as ‘black magic’ by much of the business and the source of cautious advancement for the technical workforce; where much of the innovation is obtained by purchasing a vendors proprietary technology, islanded and ‘air-gapped’ from other systems, for security of course.

As shown in the West Monroe report, there really is a gap in industry for OT professionals, let alone IT/OT experts, and a lack of practical information, advice and OT leadership to make it happen properly:

  • Process (ie workflow, re-org, roles and responsibilities)
  • Systems (ie architecture, partnerships, deliberate investment)
  • People (ie redeploy, purge, upskill, recruit).

For more information and perspectives, have a browse through A2A, reach out and connect.

An Engineer Abroad, Perspectives

Nor’easter March 2018

High winds and rain across New England sees hundreds of thousands of premises without power, flooding and trees across roads. This is the second Nor’easter this winter, following the #bombcyclone in January 2018.

Power utilities and their contractors have working admirably in tough conditions to restore power and support the community.

But really, in today’s day and age, in one of the most populous and modern corners of a western nation – is this acceptable?

Many social media posts from the community would suggest not, so either the power systems are not engineered or operated to meet expectations of users or the environment has changed.

  • Poles are seemingly overloaded, snapped halfway up
  • Overhead lines through populous and tree lined areas
  • Ageing underground cables and joints
  • Americas infrastructure rated as C- by IEEE

But hey – the mass media was kind and the shareholder will profit, so all good?! /cynic

An Engineer Abroad, Perspectives

Next Practices Forum 2018

I’ll be presenting “Considerations in Developing an Operations Telecommunications Strategy” at the Burns & McDonnell Next Practices Forum in April 2018 in Denver ,CO.

I’ve been refreshing the private telecommunications network strategy for New England’s largest Investor Owned Utility, and is developing a holistic approach to guide telecommunications investment through to 2027.

The private telecommunications infrastructure consists of Wide Area Network (WAN) and Field Area Network (FAN) systems used to safely, reliably, and efficiently execute complex business operations.

My approach to telecommunications strategy development is pragmatic and provides consideration of possible business models, technology, and operating frameworks, including collaboration with Burns & McDonnell to evaluate investments including fiber optic and wireless network deployments.

In this presentation, I’ll discuss considerations and methodology to develop a compelling strategy including evaluating the current environment, developing a vision, and analyzing options to direct future investment and operations.

Register for the Burns & McDonnell Next Practices Forum here.