April 13, 2016
At the invitation of the UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center (SMERC), future electricity grid thought leaders gathered in mid-April for an innovation forum held at the University of California Washington Center (UCDC).
As the forum coincided with the final year of UCLA SMERC participation in the U.S. Department of Energy funded Smart Grid Regional Demonstration Project (SGRDP) with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, SMERC's director, UCLA Professor Rajit Gadh, shared ideas for future research, as did keynote speaker Nancy Sutley, the LADWP's Chief Sustainability and Economic Development Officer, and one of the chief architects of President Obama's June 2013 Climate Action Plan to reduce carbon pollution.
Additionally, diverse leaders from industry and from the U.S. Department of Energy, including Assistant Secretary Patricia Hoffman, presented their experiences with smart grid demonstration projects and their thoughts about directions for future energy distribution research, demonstrations and deployments.
Rajit and Patricia Hoffman, Assistant Secretary, Department of Energy.
Rajit and Stephen Wemple, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Con Edison.
Rajit and Doug Kim, Director, Southern California Edison.
Emma Stewart, Deputy Group Leader and Research Scientist, Grid Integration, LBNL
Rajit and Lee Krevat, Director, Sempra US Gas and Power
And during the breaks, SMERC scholars demonstrated innovative smart grid hardware and software that they and the research center have developed.
From left to right: General Electric's Grid Solutions Smart Grid Business Development Leader John McDonald talks with Eaton Corporation's Technology Program Business Development Manager Tim Avampato and U.S. Department of Energy ASEAN rep Jamie Kern.
From left to right: SMERC's Operations Manager Dean Adams Curtis, SMERC Doctoral Candidate Bin Wang, SMERC EV Integration Project Lead Peter Chu, SMERC Doctoral Candidate Hamidreza Nazaripouya and SMERC's Industry Partner Program liaison Michael Boehm.
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