Utility group honors NorthWestern’s Sydow

Retired NorthWestern Energy general manager Mike Sydow has been awarded the 2024 Wayne E. Knabach Excellence in Power Award.

The award is given by the Center for Power Systems Studies, a group of utilities and electrical firms that work with the electrical engineering department at South Dakota State University to promote the industry through and to students and faculty. The Knabach Award is a lifetime achievement award named for a longtime electrical engineering professor.

Sydow, a 1978 electrical engineering graduate from SDSU who spent his entire career with NorthWestern Energy, received the award at the center’s annual banquet Sept. 30.

The culmination of his career with the Huron-based utility was general manager of operations for Nebraska and South Dakota, spending 12 years in the position before retiring in 2016.

Professor Steve Hietpas, director of the Center for Power Systems Studies, said, “Mike was a strong advocate for the CPSS and the students it impacted. He was fortunate to benefit from the tutelage and mentorship of Professor Knabach, and also had the honor of presenting Knabach in 2009 with the CPSS Lifetime Achievement Award, the predecessor to the Wayne E. Knabach Excellence in Power Award.”

As operations general manager, Sydow was responsible for labor relations, contract negotiations and grievance resolutions with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The position also involved creation and adherence to a $49 million budget (operations and management and capital in 2015), maintaining system reliability and a safe working environment as well as preparing for and negotiating large-scale outages.

As operations manager, Sydow also was responsible for making sure trucks were ready to go in the event of a natural disaster and is credited for launching the North Central Electric Mutual Assistance Agreement with investor-owned utilities.

Scholarships to Rock Rapids duo

Also at the banquet, the Center for Power System Studies scholarships were presented to two electrical engineering seniors from Rock Rapids, Iowa. Both Kalen Meyer and Luke Rasmussen are slated to graduate in May 2025.

Meyer is the son of Sid and Tana Meyer of Rock Rapids and a 2021 graduate of Central Lyon High School.

This summer he interned for the fourth time at DGR Engineering in Rock Rapids in its electrical department. His responsibilities included creating protection and control drawing packages and overseeing substation station service and transformer fan modifications. 

At SDSU, Meyer has been active in Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for electrical engineers, serving as president during his senior year. He is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, the honor society for all engineering disciplines, and the SDSU chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He was on the SDSU wrestling team for his first three years. 

Rasmussen is the son of Chad and Ginger Rasmussen of Rock Rapids and a 2021 graduate of Central Lyon High School. Rasmussen has interned in the electrical department at DGR Engineering the past three summers. This summer he primarily worked on protection and controls design for substations. 

At SDSU he has been an officer in Tau Beta Pi and the group’s representative to the Joint Engineering Council as well as being a member of Eta Kappa Nu, the Robotics Club and the student branch of IEEE. 

McComish delivers keynote talk

The banquet keynote address was delivered by Richard McComish, president of Electrical Consultants Inc., of Billings, Montana, and a 1975 SDSU electrical engineering graduate. He was the 2015 Knabach Award recipient, and in April 2024 the SDSU electrical engineering and computer science department was renamed in his and his wife, Karen’s, honor to recognize the endowment made to the department.

His Sept. 30 message was “Engineering and Construction Support of High Voltage Power System Reliability.”

The conference featured a series of six utility-related presentations during the morning and afternoon.