The IEEE SmartGridComm 2023 Conference, to be held in beautiful Glasgow, UK, will be featuring an exceptional lineup of distinguished keynote speakers (in alphabetic order)
- Professor Claudio Cañizares - University of Waterloo, Canada
- Mr Nigel Nawacki - Nokia UK Ltd, Reading, UK
- Dr Francesco Pititto -CTO, Energy - Dell Technologies
- Dr Jacqueline Redmond - Executive Director, PNDC, UK
Each speaker has made significant contributions to the field of smart grid and energy systems, and their talks are expected to provide valuable perspectives on the future of sustainable energy, grid resilience, and innovative technologies.
The IEEE SmartGridComm 2023 Conference will undoubtedly be a platform for fruitful discussions, collaborations, and networking within the smart grid community. Please save the dates (Oct. 31-Nov 3, 2023) and make sure to attend their keynote talks.
Prof Claudio Cañizares is a University Professor and the Hydro One Endowed Chair at the Electrical and Computer Engineering (E&CE) Department, and the Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) at the University of Waterloo, where he has held various academic and administrative positions since 1993 and has received multiple recognitions, especially the 2021-2022 Awards of Excellence in Graduate Supervision at both the University and Faculty of Engineering levels. He obtained the Electrical Engineer degree from the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN) in Quito-Ecuador in 1984, where he held different academic and administrative positions between 1983 and 1993, and his MSc (1988) and PhD (1991) degrees in Electrical Engineering are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research activities focus on the study of stability, control, optimization, modeling, simulation, and computational issues in bulk power systems, microgrids, and energy systems in the context of competitive energy markets, smart grids, and energy access. In these areas, he has led or been an integral part of many grants and contracts from government agencies and private companies worth millions of dollars, and has collaborated with multiple industry and university researchers in Canada and abroad, supervising/co-supervising close to 180 research fellows and graduate students. He has authored/co-authored over 370 publications that have exceeded 29,000 citations at a 77 H-index, including journal and conference papers, technical reports, book chapters, disclosures and patents, and has been invited to deliver keynote speeches, seminars, tutorials, and presentations at many prestigious venues worldwide. He is the Editor-In-Chief of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (IEEE) Transactions on Smart Grid; the 2022-2023 IEEE Division VII Director of the IEEE and Power & Energy Society (PES) Boards; and a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, where he was the Director of the Applied Science and Engineering Division of the Academy of Science from 2017 to 2020. He is also the recipient of the 2017 IEEE PES Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, the 2016 IEEE Canada Electric Power Medal, and of multiple IEEE PES Technical Council and Committee awards and recognitions, holding leadership positions in several IEEE-PES Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces.
Title:
“The Energy Transition in Canada and Ontario”
Abstract :
This talk will provide an overview of Canadian provincial and remote community power grids, and a more detailed discussion of Ontario’s grid, market, and future expansion plans, considering that zero-emission power systems will be the backbone of the energy transition. A critical overview of the decarbonization status and policies for energy systems in Canada will be also presented, focusing on zero-emission power grid, EV, and Hydrogen plans and strategies to enable a Next-Zero 2050.
Mr Nigel Nawacki started his career in HM Naval Base Devonport with a keen foundation for Electrical / Electronic Engineering across MV and HV systems. He has a career working across Nortel , Cisco , and Huawei covering the modernisation of OT Industrial and critical telecommunications. During the last 6 years Nigel is the Energy Utility Consulting CTO for Nokia Europe , bringing the best practices and advisories to differential grid protection systems with MPLS, Security, and in particular has focused efforts on impact of distributed energy and Private LTE/NR utility solutions for automation. Digital Substations and IEC 61850 are of keen interest in particular for the application of 3GPP connectivity with private wireless. He holds degrees from the University of Plymouth in Computing & Informatics and also an MBA from Henley Management College.
Title:
"Grid solutions for Sensing, Thinking , and Acting through Digitalisation"
Abstract :
Utility and energy communications networks from legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technologies to fully IP-based technologies continue to increase as more Distributed Energy Resources (DER) become critical components of restoring power and stabilisation. In line with these developments for energy and utility communications , particularly within the last few years where 5G and increased broadband (eg xPON) has become mainstream, we see an increased need to connect and service grid assets . The application of industrial mobile towards grid operations simplifies this scale of need, in particular with thoughts to national Private LTE and associated system operations.
Whilst today many services in a functional distribution grid are somewhat individually coupled such as Fault Location / Restoration , the advent of the 5G Private radio systems allow for an increase in edge compute and autonomy. In other words the era of the grid Sensing, Thinking and Acting is upon us. This keynote explores the underlying trends and applications that Nokia is seeing in smart energy solutions.
Dr Francesco Pittito is the Global Chief Technology Officer for the Energy Industry at Dell Technologies, where he is responsible for developing Dell Technologies' global Energy innovative solutions and product strategy. Francesco has a technology and business expertise developed over three decades of activity in various industries, primarily in Energy and Telco, providing global IT advisory for the conception of strategic technology transformation and innovation initiatives. Francesco represents Dell Technologies on relevant Energy Industry consortia in support of the industry's accelerating transition towards a low carbon economy and provides thought leadership on the application of technology to the Energy Industry. He has held technical management positions in various companies in the IT industry while teaching for more than a decade in the Information Technology Master at the University of L’Aquila in Italy. Francesco has always been interested in discovering and applying new methods and technologies to improve complex environments where people, processes, and systems cohabit. Francesco holds an MSc in Electronic Engineering with specializations in economics, organization and strategy of industrial systems, and econometrics. He is a TOGAF-certified Enterprise Architect and a member of several industry associations.
Title:
"Intelligent Power Grids: Unleashing the Potential of Virtualization and Advanced Technologies for Safer, Affordable, and Sustainable Energy"
Abstract:
This keynote presentation will examine the role of substation virtualization as a catalyst for transforming power grids into intelligent, resilient, and sustainable energy systems, supported by advanced technologies and AI-driven solutions to automate grid operations. It will highlight how this digital transformation will reshape the traditional grid into a more granular microgrid-based system, with increased reliability, resilience, and capacity to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources. Lastly, it will touch upon how this transformation will involve system operators, regulators, and citizens.
Dr. Jacqueline Redmond is the Executive Director of PNDC, Strathclyde University’s industrialisation centre focused on delivering whole energy and smart grid solutions supporting the net zero transition. She is also currently the Non-Executive Chair of CENSIS (the SME-focused Innovation Centre for Sensing, Imaging and Internet of Things technologies), as well as the Chair of the Scottish National Investment Bank Risk Committee and Board director appointed to oversee the implementation of TCFD at The Bank. Jacqueline has extensive energy and technology industry experience with her career focused on encouraging innovation into the energy sector through roles that include the Chief Risk Officer at the Green Investment Bank, VP Technology Strategy with Shell and Director Corporate Strategy with Scottish Power. She is a chartered engineer and holds degrees from the University of Strathclyde and Paisley College of Technology.