Greetings Region 4 and Chicago Section members!
On August 18, over 150 attendees gathered at IIT Chicago Illinois for the SmartGrid Workshop. The workshop provided a nimble learning environment that included some of the brightest and well respected smart grid experts in the country. The presenters came from a variety of institutions including academia, research laboratories and industry. The attendees, both expert and novice, were educated on the best industry practices and technologies, cutting edge research and future requirements and goals of smart grid installations. The topics of discussion included a quick overview and introduction to smart grids and microgrids for beginners with little knowledge on the smart grid. Attendees learned about microgrid operational techniques, complex control solutions and implementation of communication networks specifically designed for smart grids and sensor-based database management solutions presently used in the industry. Complex distributed energy resource models and their application to the New York Prize microgrids and the planning studies for IIT’s microgrid were also addressed. A training session for the attendees permitted them to apply their new found knowledge to examples and problems in the smart grid.
The workshop offered two panel discussions in regard to their presentations. Finally, the workshop concluded with a tour of IIT’s own microgrid which is a great achievement and wonderful experience for all visitors to the university. The IEEE and Region 4 would like to thank the workshop committee for putting together this technical conference. Their efforts were truly appreciated by the attendees based on feedback provided. We would like to extend gratitude to our staff volunteers for their role that contributed to the superior execution of the workshop: Amy Levine Team Lead & Marketing, Dan San Buenventura Team Co-Lead, Lasya Ramesh and Bhanumathi Ramaiah Registration Chairs, Shardul Padaki Moderator Chair, Hemang Dhamija Volunteer-at-Large.
Finally we extend a very special thanks to Dr. Mohammad Shahidehpour for coordinating a portion of the technical activities, the tour, the use of the IIT facility and all of the workshop presenters and the attendees who helped to make this event a success.
Vickie L. Peters – IEEE Region 4 Special Events, Workshop Coordinator
Dr. Jay Prigmore – IEEE SmartGrid Workshop Program Chair