Keynote:
Carmine Marcello, Hydro One, Honorary Chair EPEC 2015 (Cancelled)
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 8:30-9:50
Room: Salon A/B
Biography:
Carmine Marcello was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Hydro One Inc. in January 2013. He joined Ontario Hydro in 1987 and has over 25 years’ experience in the electric utility industry and has held many senior management positions at Ontario Hydro and then Hydro One Inc. In 2007, he was appointed Vice-President, Corporate Projects and in 2009 he was appointed Senior Vice-President, Asset Management and was responsible for the life cycle management of Hydro One’s transmission and distribution assets including Hydro One’s Smart Grid Initiative.
In 2010, he was appointed Executive Vice-President, Strategy, where he oversaw capital and OM&A programs valued at approximately $2.5B annually in the areas of Transmission and Distribution Asset Management, T&D Development, Business and Power Systems, IT, Telecom, along with the operations of Hydro One subsidiaries — Hydro One Brampton Networks Inc. and Hydro One Telecom Inc.
Carmine is also active in a number of corporate and industry associations and currently serves as the Chair of the Hydro One Brampton Networks Inc. Board of Directors. He is a member of the Canadian Electricity Association’s (CEA) and Plug’n Drive’s Board of Directors. Carmine has served on the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Member Representatives Committee (MRC) and in 2011, was elected to the North American Transmission Forum Board of Directors for a two-year term. He has held previous positions on the Ontario Energy Network (OEN) Board of Directors and is the past Chair of the CEA Transmission Council. Carmine holds a Master of Business Administration from York University, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and holds an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. He has been a Director of Hydro One Inc. since January 1, 2013.
Keynote: Research and Development in Energy and Power Systems for a Better World
Jin Jiang, Ph.D., P.Eng., NSERC/UNENE Senior Industrial Research Chair Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 8:30-9:50
Room: Salon A/B
Abstract:
The landscape of energy and power systems is evolving rapidly to meet the residential and industrial consumers, while maintaining low greenhouse emission. In a modern society, like we have today, global warming, power generation, and energy consumption are completely intertwined. One cannot talk about one, while ignoring the other two. In this talk, we will examine the change in the energy and power systems on a world stage as well as Canada situation. Certainly, shifting from traditional fissile fuel based power generation to cleaner and renewable energy based power generation is a global trend. To meet the international commitment based on G7 meeting in June for greenhouse gas emission quota, non-traditional power generation technologies have to be explored through research and development. This presentation looks at some of promising technologies/techniques from power generation, transmission, and finally to consumption. The driving force behind these technologies is to increase efficiency, reduce emission and improve quality and reliability of power and energy systems. On the generation side, technology innovations in nuclear technologies, tidal and wave power generation, wind and photovoltaic technologies, and distributed generation will be described. On the transmission side, smart grids, microgrids, and energy storage devices will be examined. Finally, at consumer level, energy efficiency, smart building concepts, and net-zero homes, will also be examined. Throughout the talk, some of the promising technologies will be highlighted and analyzed.
Biography:
Prof. Jin Jiang is an NSERC/UNENE Senior Industrial Research Chair Professor, in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Western Ontario in Canada. His research interests are in the areas of fault-tolerant control of safety-critical systems, instrumentation and control of nuclear power plants, and control of electrical power systems involved renewable energy resources. He published extensively in the above areas with over 5000 citations for his work.
He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario, a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a Fellow of The International Society of Automation (ISA), and a senior member of the IEEE.
Lunch Keynote: New Community Development the Smart Way in London Ontario
Milfred Hammerbacher, M.S., CEO, S2E Technologies, Inc.
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 12:30-13:15
Room: Salon A/B
Abstract:
Sifton Properties Limited and S2E TECHNOLOGIES INC are constructing a New Multiuse Community in London Ontario. The 70 acre greenfield site will feature approximately 2000 living units from townhomes to high rise buildings as well as 300,000 sq. ft. of commercial/retail space. The community will feature Net Zero Energy design, Smart Grid, and many other sustainable features. Technology advances have now made this type of community design economically appealing as well as environmentally. The community will be discussed with opportunities and challenges reviewed.
Biography:
With over 27 years of photovoltaic and energy experience, Mr. Hammerbacher has managed businesses in four countries. He is the founder and CEO of S2E Technologies, Inc, and his personal resume includes projects worth many billions of dollars. He currently is a Board Director on two NRSERC University Networks, Smart Net-Zero Building Research Network and Photovoltaic Innovation Network.
He recently completed a three year assignment as President of Canadian Solar Solutions, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. where his responsibilities included manufacturing, sales, distribution and product development for the Canadian market as well as Global Project Development.
Dinner Keynote: Smart grid and green button – the new frontiers of the distribution grid
Dr. Vinay Sharma, CEO, London Hydro
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 19:30-21:30
Room: Salon A/B
Biography:
Vinay Sharma was appointed CEO of London Hydro effective August 1, 2009. Previously, he was Vice President of Strategic Planning & Customer Services at London Hydro, which he joined on August 24, 1998. London Hydro is an electrical utility with a turnover of $300M annually, serving approximately 145,000 customers.
Prior to joining London Hydro, Vinay worked with Saskatchewan Power Corporation for seven years in various capacities including Distribution Planning, Power Procurement, and Marketing. Previously, Vinay has worked as a consulting engineer with AMEC and as an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.
Vinay Sharma has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and is a Professional Engineer in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. He has also obtained an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan and an MBA from the University of Regina. Recently, he has completed the Chartered Director program from McMaster University.
Dinner Keynote: How Renewable Energy Can Power Star Trek Replicators
Dr. Julielynn Wong, Founder of 3D4MD
Date/Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 19:30-21:30
Room: Salon A/B
Biography:
Julielynn Wong, MD, MPH, is a Harvard-educated, award-winning physician, innovator, and journalist. She trained in space medicine at NASA Johnson Space Center and founded 3D4MD (www.3d4md.com) which creates 3D printable medical supplies to deliver healthcare in the most challenging places to those who need it the most. Dr. Wong was the first to 3D print medical supplies at the Mars Desert Research Station. She designed a solar-powered mobile 3D printer that can be transported in a carry-on suitcase to produce medical supplies in remote, off-grid communities. Miss Wong regularly lectures on 3D printing and innovation in healthcare and is a frequent contributor to various media outlets including ABC World News, Forbes, and the Huffington Post.
Plenary Panel on Asset Sustainment
Organized by IEEE Canada Women in Engineering (WIE)
Date/Time: Oct. 28th, 8:30 AM
Room: Salon A/B
Abstracts & Panelists:
Future Challenges for Securing Critical Infrastructures by Janet Light
Electrical grid is a man-made miracle, which is the largest machine ever made and managed by mutual co-operation. It is a critical infrastructure for a country. A smart grid is the latest significant upgrade to power grid in the last two or three decades. It is poised to transform a centralized, producer-controlled network to a decentralized, consumer interactive network that is supported by fine-grained monitoring. It allows flexibility and transparency by the use of ICT, which optimizes asset allocation and operational efficiency. Traditional power grids have one-way communication only and few sensors to conduct monitoring and restoration processes. But with the smart grid systems, two-way communication takes place with a large number of sensors, allowing self-monitoring and self-healing processes. In today’s world, securing smart grid is complex since the security focus has now expanded to include not only disturbances due to overloading, but also physical attacks and cyber-attacks. Smart meters can be hacked. Two-way communication allows hackers in residential homes to gain unauthorized access to the core network. So smart grid security has become an evolutionary concept and hence, it should be approached as a journey and not as a target to achieve. Some of these security challenges will be discussed in this talk.
Janet Light is a Professor and Chair, in the Department of Computer Science & Applied Statistics at UNB (Saint John). Dr. Light joined UNB in 2002 as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Full Professor in 2012. Her research is focused on wireless networks & mobile computing, ubiquitous computing, sensor networks, network traffic study and security. In her applied research work, she is studying the effective use of wireless sensor networks for health monitoring and emergency response. She has successfully developed a wireless communication system for the 911 pre-hospital paramedics in New Brunswick, to collect vital patient data from an incident site and send them to a hospital in real-time as HL7 clinical messages. Dr. Light has published more than 40 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. She is active in organizing international workshops and serves on many editorial boards and conference program committees. She is a Senior IEEE member, the Vice Chair of the IEEE-NB Section and currently the IEEE-R7 WIE Chair.
Asset Management / Asset Sustainment by Cristina I. Terek
Over the past several years there has been increasing discussion at all industry levels regarding investments that address aging infrastructure. To date, no particular methodology has emerged that provides all of the answers. The question of how much is the right amount to spend to keep the performance of the system at par with the original installation is one that depends on many factors. Not all these factors can be captured in an economic model – sound engineering is still required.
Every year London Hydro develops and follows an Asset Management Plan, which permits us to address capital investments and the maintenance needs of our existing distribution assets, expand our system, respond to city developments, and meet our corporate objectives of making use of all assets through their entire life cycle, whenever possible. The plan works in conjunction with our long-term Electric Distribution System Asset Sustainment Plan which ensures a long-term sustainment strategy for the electric distribution system. Such an asset management approach is known to result in the most cost-effective way of asset renewal, while ensuring power is delivered in a very reliable way and via a robust distribution system.
Outage statistics have been kept and analyzed by London Hydro engineers for almost 20 years. The resulting conclusions continuously feed into this combined plan, by anticipating potential performance problems and delivering solutions in an optimal way (by means of a targeted approach to system renewal). The strategies followed manage risks and service reliability.
Cristina I. Terek obtained a Master in Engineering Science degree from Western University (UWO) in 1999. She subsequently began her employment with London Hydro and has continued as Distribution Engineer in various capacities since. Over the course of 15 years at London Hydro Cristina has been involved in System Planning, Reliability, Equipment Standards, Renewables, and lately in Asset Sustainment / Asset Management. Cristina is currently overseeing the reliability of power supply for customers in the city of London, in the context of continuous renewal of the distribution system. She has been a PEO member since 2001 and is also a current member of the IEEE society. Cristina has participated in numerous conferences and seminars, and has attended presentations by exceptional industry leaders that motivate her enthusiasm for solving engineering problems day by day.
Risk management and its applications by Samira Abbasgholizadeh Rahimi
All types of organizations have different objectives in strategic, tactical and operational levels; anything that makes achieving these objectives uncertain is a risk. Risks are unavoidable in all systems and organizations. Therefore, managers and professionals must cope with these risks appropriately. Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and impact of unfortunate events. Risk management had been theorized and applied in a systematic fashion since the 1950s. However, in many contexts such as IT, risk assessment and risk management capabilities are less understood and sometimes not well incorporated into the professionals’ decisions. The main aim of this presentation is providing knowledge about risk management to support those who aim to apply risk management in their academic projects or in their organizations. The risk management applications, which stem mainly from the theories of Total Quality Management and tools such as FMEA, FMECA, Fault Tree, will be explained briefly. Besides, some of recent projects regarding risk management applications in different contexts will be discussed.
Samira Abbasgholizadeh Rahimi obtained her BEng. in Industrial engineering field in 2011, and she was granted direct admission to Ph.D. from Bachelor’s degree in the same field in 2012. Her current research is focused on medical decision making, scheduling and risk management. She formed the Canadian Operational Research society (CORS) Quebec chapter, the Women in Engineering (WIE) Affinity Group and the WIE Quebec student branch and currently serves as a Chair of these groups.
Lunch Keynote: The New Green Button Standards
Syed Mir, Vice President Corporate Services & CIO, London Hydro
Date/Time: Wednesday, October 28, 2015, 12:30-13:15
Room: Salon A/B
Abstract:
“Tomorrow Needs You Today” – this is the rallying cry of London Hydro’s exciting Green Button Program. One of the first utilities to implement Green Button Connect My Data to help residential and commercial customers manage their energy consumption, London Hydro is now working with utilities across North America to increase Green Button adoption. London Hydro is a founding member of the Green Button Alliance – a non-profit corporation formed in 2015 to foster the development, compliance, and wide-spread adoption of the Green Button Standard.
Biography:
Syed Mir is the Vice-President Corporate Services & CIO at London Hydro. He is responsible for Customer Services, Meter Services,Corporate Communications and Information Technology. As an Executive Committee member he is responsible for “meter to cash” strategy and innovation to deliver customer value.
Syed Mir started his career at Ontario Hydro after graduating from the University of Western Ontario with a BSc (Honours) in Computer Science. He joined London Hydro in 2010 from Ontario Power Generation where he held various Vice-President positions. He served on the Sheridan College Board of Governors from 2010-2015. He is the current Board of Directors Chair for Green Button Alliance.