The Line Life Podcast

Faces of the Future, Part 6: Featuring Lexie Bryant, OPPD Apprentice Lineworker

As we continue airing new Faces of the Future podcast episodes in 2025, we are kicking off the New Year with an episode highlighting Lexie Bryant, apprentice lineworker for Omaha Public Power District (OPPD). Five years ago, she won the International Lineman's Rodeo Association's Jim Hamilton Scholarship, which was sponsored by Pacific Gas & Electric.

Today, she works as an apprentice lineworker for OPPD, and she is learning the skills of the line trade. During the interview, she shares how her career plans changed from pursuing a career as a lawyer to a lineworker, and how being in the line trade was the best decision she's ever made. To learn more about Lexie, look for her profile in the February 2025 print  issue of T&D World magazine and on our website. 

If you have an apprentice lineworker you'd like to nominate for a future department and podcast episode, please email us at linelifepodcast@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. 

ICYMI: 2024 Lineman's Rodeo Roundup Featuring Musical Excerpts From Blane Howard

The International Lineman's Rodeo celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2024 with more than 1,000 competitors. Listen to the narrated version of the article, "2024 Lineman's Rodeo Roundup" from the December 2024 print issue of T&D World magazine to hear all about the winners of the events across the apprentice and journeyman divisions. Congratulations to all the competitors, especially those who crossed the awards stage at the annual banquet. 

In addition to providing an overview of the events at the 2024 competition, this episode includes a special shout-out to lineworkers with musical excerpts from Blane Howard, a Nashville independent recording artist, singer and songwriter. He  kicked off the International Lineman's Rodeo awards banquet by singing parodies of famous country songs with lyrics focused on the hard-working line trade. To see the video of his performance, visit our YouTube channel for the Line Life Podcast. 

Lineworkers and your families, we look forward to seeing you at the 2025 International Lineman's Rodeo Week from Oct. 15-18, 2025. Learn more by visiting the website. 

Spotlight on LUMA Energy's Apprenticeship Program: Training Tomorrow's Future Field Workforce in Puerto Rico

As LUMA Energy continues to improve resiliency and power reliability on the island of Puerto Rico, the utility is training new apprentices to work alongside its field workforce. In June 2021, Quanta Services Inc. and ATCO launched LUMA Energy through a joint venture.

To train tomorrow's workforce and meet the need for more lineworkers, they later brought in a Department of Labor-registered apprenticeship program to replace the existing in-house training by the previous administration. During this Line Life Podcast episode, Lindsey Petteplace, LUMA's workforce transition manager and Jorge Olivero, apprenticeship coordinator for operations for LUMA, share the story of how the program has continued to evolve to prepare the apprentices for long-term and financially rewarding careers in the line trade. 

These apprentices study and train at LUMA College, a chapter of Northwest Lineman College in Puerto Rico. At the training facility, they learn how to scale everything from wood to steel to concrete and fiberglass poles and train on the TransBanker mobile transformer training simulator. After they successfully finish the 13-week Utility Lineman Program, they then start working in the field on projects to power Puerto Rico. 

Giving Back Sharing Stories of How the Line Trade and Its Partners Offered Hope and Support to Communities Nationwide

The final episode of 2024 highlights those who have given back to their communities. It begins with an interview with John Andrews of Prysmian, which donated $25,000 to Hurricane Helene relief efforts and sent a truck full of necessary supplies to help those affected by the hurricane in South Carolina. It also features a narrated version of an online article about how Ameren Illinois lineworkers set up wire spools in a sensory garden at a local animal shelter.

This episode also features an interview with Paul Koehler and Jason Novak, lineworkers for Ameren Illinois, who talk about how the line trade came together in 2024 to support the Climbin4kids fundraising program and how they can continue to donate in 2025. Finally, we are featuring a brief overview of the Digging for a Cure campaign sponsored by Terex Utilities at the 2024 International Lineman's Expo and a recap of Salt River Project's holiday toy drive to brighten the holidays for children in the community. 

If you are a lineworker who is giving back to your community, we'd love to hear about it. Reach out to us at linelifepodcast@gmail.com.

Diving into Drone Research for the Utility Industry, Part 2: Featuring Peter Fuhr of ORNL

Part 2 of our series featuring guest Peter Fuhr of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory explores the drone research underway at ORNL. He shares the story about testing the technology at EPB in Tennessee and describes how the drones are not only capturing imagery but can also measure electromagnetic fields and the sounds of arcing.

Through an ORNL research project called Autonomous Information Measurement Systems and Systems (AIMS), drones can communicate with one another to identify a problem on the grid. For example, a scout drone can first fly out to take images, and then if necessary, call out a specialist drone to take more measurements to determine whether or not it's necessary for a line truck to roll out to the location to make repairs. As such, it helps save time for a utility's field workforce.

For more information, check out Part 1 of this interview series and stay tuned for an article about this research and technology in T&D World magazine in 2025. 

ICYMI: 2024 Lineworker Supplement: Problem Solvers, Part 2

For our 2024 T&D World Lineworker Supplement, we featured the article, "Problem Solvers." To bring a narrated version of this article to life so our readers can listen to this story on the go, we are featuring it as a two-part audio story series for our Line Life Podcast on Podbean. 

The first part highlighted Robert Seekell, who has seven patents; the lineworker who invented the Hook Holster and James Coleman of Meta Design Manufacturing and Gabe Dowdy of Pinnacle Power Services. To listen to Part 1, click here. 

The second part of this ICYMI series features two lineworkers-turned-inventors: Bruce Thompson of Effective Safety Products, who invented the StepUp to allow lineworkers to improve pole positioning and Tim Barat of Gridware, who worked with UC-Berkeley alums to invent the Gridscope to monitor the grid for faults and wildfires. To read the full story, visit the T&D World website. 

Discovering the Power of Drones in the Utility Industry, Part 1, Featuring Peter Fuhr of ORNL

For many years, electric utilities have used drones to inspect infrastructure and assess damage during storm response. Listen to this episode to hear Peter Fuhr, the technical director of the Unmanned Aerial Systems Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), discuss the latest research on drone technology and how it can help utilities to save time in the field, reduce truck rolls and take a proactive approach to maintenance. 

For Part 1, you'll first learn about Peter's first-hand experience with Hurricane Helene in Florida and his background as an apprentice lineworker in Minnesota. He'll also give an overview of the evolution of drone technology that inspired new research at ORNL. 

Tune in to Part 2 in the near future to hear Peter take a deeper dive into the research and learn how far drone technology has come in the world of electric utilities. 

ICYMI: 2024 Lineworker Supplement: Problem Solvers, Part 1

The narrated version of the final article of the 2024 T&D World Lineworker Supplement, "Problem Solvers," showcases former and current lineworkers and their inventions for the line trade. Part 1 highlights Robert Seekell, who holds seven U.S. patents for his products; James Coleman, owner of Pinnacle Power Services, who partners with his lineworkers on inventions through his design firm, Meta Design Manufacturing; and a journeyman lineworker and inventor of the Hook Holster.

In the near future, look for Part 2, which will feature Bruce Thompson, a retired SCE foreman and owner of Effective Safety Products, who created the StepUp to improve work positioning on poles; and Tim Barat, a lineworker turned inventor and CEO who is helping utilities to monitor their systems for faults and wildfires through his company, Gridware. You can also listen to interview-style episodes featuring Bruce and Tim at linelife.podbean.com or read the full article on the T&D World website.