Smart-Grid-Invite_Updated-venue (1)

Meet thought leaders from the utility, federal Smart Grid program, and telecommunications sectors at our Leaders in Energy educational and professional networking event, Tuesday, March 22nd, 6-8 pm, at the Edison Electric Institute in Washington, DC. We will explore issues related to the use of the unlicensed spectrum, advanced metering infrastructure communication platforms, and related Smart Meter applications in Smart Grid deployments to improve energy performance, benefit the environment, and services for utilities and customers.

Welcoming Remarks by:  Lawrence E. Jones, Vice President, International Programs, Edison Electric Institute

Co-Moderators: Janine Finnell, Leaders in Energy, and Bill Maguire, WifiForward

Panel speakers include:
Kerry Cheung, PhD, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Power Systems Engineering Research and Development, U.S. Department of Energy;
John Chowdhury, Director, Utility Industry Practice Leader, Fujitsu Network Communications (listed as one of the top twenty Smart Grid Experts in the World by Dallas Business Journal 2013-14 and 2014-15); and
Russ Ehrlich, Manager, Communications and Network Systems Engineering, Pepco Holdings, Inc.

ADDRESS: Edison Electric Institute, 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20004

REGISTER HERE

(Early bird prices thru March 16th; ticket prices includes program, pizza, and soft drinks and beer)

Sponsored by:  WifiForward

Additional PROGRAM AND SPEAKER Information

Missing from many discussions of smart grid is consideration of the central role that access to unlicensed spectrum plays in leading edge deployments of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).

Unlicensed spectrum—radio frequency bands that are open for shared use by all users that satisfy technical requirements—is administered by the FCC but not controlled by any particular user.

Since the early 1990s, utility commissions across the country have approved billions of dollars of rate-recoverable utility assets based on unlicensed spectrum (Silver Spring Networks White Paper).  Unlicensed spectrum has been used for automated meter reading and for SCADA systems that need to communicate with power control devices deployed across a utility’s distribution network.

AMI vendors including Datamatic, Elster, GE, Itron, Landis+Gyr, MasterMeter, Silver Spring Networks and Trilliant and many of the largest AMI deployments in the world, including: Pacific Gas and Electric, Florida Power & Light, Pepco Holdings, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric utilize the unlicensed 900 MHz spectrum band.

On March 22, Leaders in Energy and WifiForward will convene a panel of experts who possess a first-hand understanding of cutting-edge AMI deployments. The panel, held at the Edison Electric Institute in Washington DC (701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW; Fourth Floor) will provide an opportunity to discuss and explore interesting questions related to the how, the why and the positive impact of AMI deployments that utilize unlicensed spectrum.

Lawrence E. Jones

Lawrence E. Jones

Welcoming Remarks by Lawrence E. Jones, Vice President, International Programs, Edison Electric Institute

Prior to joining EEI, Mr. Jones was North America Vice President for Utility Innovation & Infrastructure Resilience at Alstom Grid Inc., where he assisted utilities worldwide with formulating strategies for deploying new technology solutions. While at Alstom, Mr. Jones also served as Vice President, Policy, Regulatory Affairs & Industry Relations for the international full-service electric generation and transmission firm.

Mr. Jones is a member of numerous U.S. and international industry advisory committees, and serves as Co-Chair of the 21st Century Power Partnership Leadership Forum, as a member on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee, and as a member of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Smart Grid Advisory Committee.

Born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia, Mr. Jones lived in Sweden for more than a decade, where he received his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and his Ph.D. in Power Systems Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Featured Speakers

Kerry Cheung

Kerry Cheung

Kerry Cheung, Ph.D., Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, Power Systems Engineering Research and Development, U.S. Department of Energy

Kerry joined the Power Systems Engineering Research and Development division within the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) in 2013. He currently serves as the Program Manager for the Transformer Resilience and Advanced Components Program, a new program focused on the development of next-generation grid hardware, and is the Portfolio Manager for OE’s SBIR/STTR activities. He is also heavily involved in various strategic initiatives across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) enterprise. Most recently, Kerry co-authored the Grid Modernization chapter of the 2015 Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR), led the development of the associated technology assessments, and produced portfolio recommendations that will inform Departmental priorities.

Prior to joining the DOE, he served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science Technology and Policy Fellow (2010-2012) and as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow (2012-2013) working with OE in the Office of the Assistant Secretary. In this capacity, he contributed to the development of the Department’s first QTR released in 2011, served as a key member of the Grid Tech Team tasked with developing strategies and coordinating activities for grid modernization, and detailed to the Office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) where he supported the Senator in Energy and Natural Resources Committee assignments and developed original legislation (S.1652 and S.2989) introduced in the 113th Congress. Kerry holds a B.S. in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John Chowdhury

John Chowdhury

John Chowdhury, Director, Utility Industry Practice Leader, Fujitsu Network Communications

John Chowdhury is the Founder of Utilityinnovation.com and Director of Utility Division at Fujitsu Network Communications. He is also a board of North Atlantic Investment Company, a Commercial Real Estate Company in USA and Chairman of Frisco Green Energy, an Energy Development Company based in Dallas, Texas.  John assists large US and International Energy Companies to develop long term business strategy, Smart Grid business case, Smart Meter Deployment plans and how to improve the process from Generation to Distribution of Power to the customer. He develops unique ICT and network integration solutions, modernization programs and network operations offerings tailored to support utilities as they adapt their ICT and communications networks to meet new demands for scalability, reliability, standards, and security.

John has dedicated his 25-year consulting career to improving electric utility business performance. John has provided strategic business and technology guidance to international energy entities in the areas of: Smart Grid/AMI/distribution automation; business case development; customer relationship management; billing; and telecommunications/wireless networks.  Prior to joining Fujitsu, John was VP of KEMA Quality (now called DEKRA) and director of Smart Grid solutions at KEMA Consulting (now called DNV GL), where he was instrumental in developing Smart Grid solutions for utilities in the USA, Australia, India and South America. He holds a BSc in Management Information System from Tulsa University and a MBA in Marketing from The University of Texas at Dallas.

He is listed as one of the top twenty Smart Grid Experts in the World by Dallas Business Journal 2013-14 and 2014-15 (consecutively two years) and one of the Top 100 Energy Experts in the World by Zypyrme Energy Research, 2015

Russ Ehrlich, Manager, Communications and Network Systems Engineering, Pepco Holdings, Inc.

Mr. Russ Ehrlich is currently the Manager of PepcoHolding, Incs (PHI) Communications and Network Systems Engineering groups. PHI supports three (3) regulated utility companies, Atlantic City Electric, Delmarva Power & Light and Pepco serving approximately 2 million customers in the Mid-Atlantic Region. His telecommunications group consists of engineering professionals charged with the development, upgrade, enhancement and on-going engineering support and documentation requirements of PHI’s Transmission and Distribution Fiber Optic and Wireless telecommunication and data networking systems.

His organization handles the engineering and support of wireless telecommunication voice and data networking systems, oversight of Network Management Applications and Integration of Telecom Equipment (hardware and software) with PHI’s Network Operating Center. Mr. Ehrlich has worked with all Federal, State and Local laws and regulations including but not limited to DOE, FERC, NERC, RFC, PJM, IEEE, FCC and FAA in support of PHI’s initiatives. He is also heavily involved with the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) an organization that supports matters that impact the utility business and/or operations. The group also Cyber Security and NERC CIP compliance for its telecommunication assets and networked infrastructure.

Mr. Ehrlich has worked in the utility industry for 23 years holding various positions in operations and engineering and has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware.

Sponsored by:

wifi forward