IEEE International Conference on Communications, Control, and Computing Technologies for Smart Grids
31 October – 3 November 2023 // Glasgow, Scotland

Confirmed Keynotes

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
  • Professor Tim Green - Imperial College, London, 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.


Prof Tim Green is a Professor of Electrical Power Engineering and has been at Imperial College since 1994. He holds Ph.D. from Heriot-Watt University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Tim’s research interest is in formulating the future form of energy systems to support zero carbon futures. He leads multi-disciplinary team at Imperial College London planning zero-carbon energy systems. A particular theme is how the flexibility of power electronics and new forms of control systems will be important steps to achieving very high penetrations of renewable energy in net-zero energy systems.

He and his team work on new methods of stability analysis for grids of inverter-based resources such as wind, solar and batteries. He has also worked on High Voltage DC technology and holds seven patents in this area jointly with GE Grid Solutions. He is a proponent of power electronics for the management of voltage and power flow in low-voltage networks such as partnering UK Power Networks for trials of ‘soft open points” in London and Brighton.

Tim leads the Workforce Develop Pilar of the Global Power System Transformation Consortium (globalpst.org). He has also led collaborative projects with universities in China on HVDC, in India on distribution network power electronics and in Korea on microgrids.


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.

Patrons