Alaska Village Electric Cooperative

AVEC employees Norman Miller and newly hired Edgar Solomon traveled to Nulato to conduct hands-on plant operator refresher training. While they were there, they also had the two plant operators, Brian Ekada and Jordan Mitchell, do some cleaning in the power plant.

Among other tasks, Brian and Jordan tested the control panels, serviced the batteries, changed oil and filters and cleaned strainers. Edgar helped them conduct an inspection of the entire distribution system. The guys also built a small roof over the transformers to protect them from heavy chunks of ice that fall off the main roof every winter.

Norman said Jordan and Brian are competent, top-notch operators that take a lot of pride in their work. Nulato residents should be happy to have them working hard to keep the lights on. Take time to thank them for their dedication, especially during the winter when nobody likes to have their power go out.

This was Edgar's first trip to the field as an AVEC Maintenance Technician. After Edgar and his wife moved to Hughes, AVEC was pleased to put his considerable knowledge and talents to work full time. He previously worked as Kaltag's plant operator and won AVEC's Plant Operator of the Year sometime in the 90s and also won Top 10 Plant Operator of the Year award three years.

Edgar has an outstanding record of having no unscheduled power outages from September 2007 through September 2009. He went almost a whole year April 2006-07 with no outages until an AVEC mechanic caused one. Welcome aboard!