5月 2026

PowerClerk aids growing interconnection process

As a generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative, Hoosier Energy manages larger distributed generation interconnections for its member cooperatives.   Termed the Small Generator Interconnection Process (SGIP), these interconnections are for generating facilities larger than 50 kilowatts but no more than 20 megawatts and interconnected at less than or equal to 34.5kV. The member cooperatives handle interconnections under 50KW.   At one time, this interconnection process at Hoosier Energy was a slow, but small, manual process with only a handful of interconnection requests generated each year. That made handling those requests a one-person job. But when that one person left Hoosier, the duties transferred to Raina Lewis in the Member Solutions…

Donnie Eslinger celebrating 50 years at Hoosier Energy

Meticulous. Problem-solver. Easy going. Knowledgeable. Sharp. Generous.   These are all words used to describe Donnie Eslinger.   Add them all up, and after 50 years at Hoosier Energy, there’s just one word to describe Eslinger – golden.   The Dugger, Indiana, native is celebrating a pair of golden anniversaries in 2026. He started work at Hoosier Energy in March of 1976 and married his wife, Linda, in July of ’76.   “A lot happened in 1976, so that was a year of change for me,” Eslinger says with a chuckle.   The ability to handle change, facilitate change and welcome change has turned out to be his calling card.…

Hoosier Innovation: Donnie Eslinger and Digital Fault Recorders

While the new Merom Plant was still in the commissioning phase in the early 1980s, Donnie Eslinger and Darrell Goodson often found themselves with downtime between tasks.   It’s dangerous to give smart guys free time, but this duo was interested in improving the company. With Eslinger inspired in part by his father’s career as a lineman, he and Goodson began discussing how to better locate faults.   At the time, locating faults was done using a light-beam recorder. Using a light film, similar to Kodak rolling paper, a light would shine down on the film showing sine waves and amplitude. Location was done by reading the film and measuring…

Data centers, affordability in focus at Annual Meeting

The 2026 Hoosier Energy Annual Meeting convened on April 8 with the theme of Bold Moves, Cooperative Priorities.   It might also have been subtitled: Data Centers and Affordability.   That trend started right out of the gate with comments from Hoosier Energy President & CEO Donna Walker, who noted that while these are hot…