By staying in tune I mean keeping all our staff up to speed with the most advanced and most effective technologies in their specialty areas, providing opportunities for supplemental skills development, and investing in our own research and development initiatives in areas where we feel a better way is needed.

But the two categories are not mutually exclusive. Strong customer relationships create opportunities to use and develop new tools. Expertly harnessed technologies fuel our own growth and that of our clients. It is our firm belief that our professional relationships and the overall energy industry’s technological capabilities can be best strengthened by openly sharing information.

One way we’ve stayed in touch and in tune – for 37 years now – is by hosting the Annual H. G. Acres Seminar to provide our clients with a forum to discuss and learn more about important, timely themes. From its roots as a discussion of geotechnical engineering issues in 1970, the Seminar’s themes have evolved to keep pace with changing times. Some examples of the ground we’ve covered: Execution and Performance of Projects in 1984,  Advanced Methods in Engineering Practice in 1994, Risk-based Asset Management for Dams, Reservoirs and Hydro Plants in 1997 and The Future of Green Power in 2001.

The theme of the 2006 seminar was Dam Engineering – Design, Construction And Rehabilitation. In addition to 10 technical presentations by our own staff, the seminar included addresses by representatives of BC Hydro, Manitoba Hydro and the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, as well as a presentation on behalf of Alcan. This year’s keynote speaker, Ray Stewart, Director of Dam Safety at BC Hydro, is also our guest author in this edition of Innovations.

Our Dam Safety seminar in March 2005 was also extremely well received. Since the median age of North American dams is now 45-50 years, dam safety is a timely issue, to say the least. Hatch Acres is a leader in this field – helping develop Canada’s national Dam Safety Guidelines and, within the last few years in Ontario alone, performing over 250 dam safety assessments for various clients. We also have extensive international experience in dam rehabilitation and assessment. A recent example is our transfer of dam safety knowledge and procedures to Costa Rica and El Salvador for the Canadian International Development Agency – for which we received the 2005 Canadian Consulting Engineering Award of Excellence. All this experience combined to be a valuable resource for attendees who included staff from the federal Department of Public Works, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and several conservation authorities.

Our Annual Vista User Group Meetings have been held at various locations in Canada and the United States. Vista is a software system that maximizes the net benefits of water resource and power generation systems. Our subsidiary Synexus Global hosts these sessions to provide clients with the latest Vista updates and an opportunity to exchange their experiences with the system. These are highly informative events from both sides of the table. So much so that, in response to participant requests, we added a second day this year for hands-on demonstrations and training sessions.

Besides these and our other initiatives, Hatch Acres engineers and management consultants are well published and regularly chair sessions and present technical papers at key industry events such as Waterpower, HydroVision, Canadian Dam Association conferences, and the International Conference on Large Dams, to name just a few.

We enjoy the work we do, we’re proud of it, and we remain committed to finding new and better solutions. So we will continue working in tandem with our clients – staying in touch and in tune – to share information and find new solutions that will help keep us all on the rising crest of technology.

Tony Hylton
President, Hatch Acres

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