Intern Update: Mehran Mustafa

Electrical Engineering Intern, Mehran Mustafa, has spent his summer at Prairie State updating models, modifying relay settings, and planning preventive maintenance.

One of his projects involves working on the Electrical Transient Analyzer Program (ETAP) model to expand the lumped motor control center load into actual load. This is an ongoing project that may take more time to complete than remains of his internship. Mehran has also been working on a team of his department’s engineers to modify the settings on the Generator Step-Up (GSU) transformer’s high side protection relay for Unit 2 during the forced outage.

Mehran was involved in planning and assisting in preventive maintenance of a 5,000 kVA coal handling area transformer, has completed a few other projects related to relay settings and transformer maintenance, and completed part of an ongoing programmable logic controller project. He is working on another feeder protection relay upgrade project, which is planned for next year.

This internship has been enjoyable to Mehran. “I have enjoyed troubleshooting different issues and learning something new each day. There is so much work going on that every day is a learning experience. I like investigating and resolving issues related to power system protection. My favorite project was researching and calculating settings for the relay on high side of GSU transformer.”

While this internship has been fun, he has also learned a lot. “I have learned about the static excitation system of the generators and feeder, PSGC’c generator and transformer protection philosophy, transformer maintenance, and some knowledge of RS Logix 5000. I have also learned about generator rotor flux analysis, which was very new to me. I will always remember the minor design change of GSU transformer relay settings that I made with the senior engineer in my department.”

This internship has given Mehran clear understanding of what he would like to do in the future. He likes working in the field and would like to continue with this department, if given the chance.

Mehran completed his master’s degree at Southern Illinois University in electrical engineering, and he is currently working on a PhD. Following completion of his internship, he is looking forward to a full-time position, and would love to work at Prairie State. He hopes for this summer to be his final semester.