Alex Al-Homsi

Business Development Manager

Smart Wires/WATT Coalition

Alex Al-Homsi, P.Eng., is a Business Development Manager with SmartWires Inc. He has a range of professional utility experience in operations, planning, and transmission system analysis. He formerly held positions at the Alberta Independent System Operator (AESO), Altalink, and the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). As a result, Alex understands the challenges that system operators are facing with the environmental changes and the rapid adoption of new technologies.

Emily Banks

Technical Writer

Canadian Renewable Energy Association

Patrick Bateman

Consultant & Strategic Advisor

Patrick D. Bateman

Patrick D. Bateman, is the Principal Consultant & Strategic Advisor with PDBateman & Associates Inc. Patrick provides strategy, research and analysis at the convergence of electricity markets and climate policy to independent power producers and utilities in Canada. He is a recognized energy transition expert and advocate, with fifteen years of electricity sector experience and a large circle of influence. Patrick holds an: MSc Renewable Energy from the School of Construction Management & Engineering, Reading (UK); a BSc Environmental Biology from the School of Biology & Environmental Science, Dublin (Ireland); and an Indigenous Canada certificate from the Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta. He is currently working toward an Executive LLM in Energy & Infrastructure Law from York University.

Vittoria Bellissimo

President & CEO

Canadian Renewable Energy Association

Francis Bradley

President and CEO

Electricity Canada

Francis Bradley is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Electricity Canada. Electricity Canada is the National Voice of Electricity and serves its electricity industry members through the work of expert professionals led by Francis and directed by a Board of Directors made up of member CEOs.  Francis is the co-chair of the National Cross-Sector Forum, overseeing Canada’s Action Plan for Critical Infrastructure. He also sits on the Steering Committee for the Electricity Sub-Sector Coordinating Council (ESCC), the Board for the Energy Council of Canada (ECC), the Positive Energy Advisory Council, and is a founding Board member of the Canadian Transportation Alliance.  At the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) Member Representatives Committee and Board of Trustees’ meetings, Francis represents Electricity Canada and advocates strongly for its members in their activities related to the Electric Reliability Organization Enterprise, and its role in ensuring the reliability and security of the North American bulk power system. 

Prior to being named CEO in June 2019, Francis managed Electricity Canada’s day-to-day activities as Chief Operating Officer since 2014. During that time, he also acted as a member of the National Advisory Committee of Canada’s Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and was a co-chair with the Standards Council of Canada of the Smart Grid Standards Advisory Committee.   

In 2019 Francis created and continues to host “The Flux Capacitor” podcast, featuring discussions about the future of electricity with CEOs, regulators, political figures, and leaders from civil society. 

Joy Brake

Sr Specialist Engineer, Power Systems

Nova Scotia Power Inc.

Joy Brake, P. Eng., Sr. Specialist Engineer with Nova Scotia Power. Had a trade, raised kids but needed a better paying job when they started university.  Fastest way to get a good job? Engineering. Easiest discipline? Electrical. Thank you Dalhousie University. Closest electrical engineering job on the planet to my house? Nova Scotia Power. Transmission Planning, Construction Lead on substation projects and System Security roles lead to System Controls specialist role for a large HVDC project (Maritime Link) requiring integration onto weak grids. Now responsible for EMT simulation and analysis for the design of the NS grid to enable the large-scale integration of renewable energy.

C.J. Brown

Senior Director, System Operations

Southwest Power Pool

C.J. Brown received his bachelor of science in applied mathematics/economics from the University of Central Arkansas in 2000 and was NERC Reliability Coordinator certified in 2007. He has been with Southwest Power Pool (SPP) since 2006 and is currently the director of system operations at SPP. His responsibilities include oversight of the SPP real time operations for tariff administration, markets, balancing authority and reliability coordination functions in the Eastern and Western interconnections. He has over 23 years of experience in the electric utility industry with roles in generation, power marketing, market monitoring and system operations.

Gurvinder Chopra

Vice President-Standards, Regulation & GR Functions

Electro-Federation Canada

Gurvinder Chopra is currently working as a Vice President-Standards, Regulation & GR Functions for Electro-Federation Canada, a Not-for-profit Association of Canadian Electrical manufacturers, distributors and manufacturing agents. He is responsible for initiatives around development of Standards, Codes & Regulations, and focuses on requirements in support of innovations happening within the Electrical sector. He leads the advocacy efforts with Municipal, Provincial and Federal Governments on Codes & Regulations topics and actively pursues initiatives around clean energy, sustainability, modernization of grid, electrical vehicle systems, smart buildings and the ageing electrical infrastructure.

Gurvinder has a degree in Marine Engineering and has sailed for 10 years in early part of his career with more than a year as a Chief Engineer. Subsequently, he worked with companies like CSA Group (Canadian Standards Association), Lloyd’s Register & BSI (British Standards Institution) in their locations in India, UK, USA and Canada. He has also worked in Iraq as part of United Nations ‘Food for Oil’ program.

Gurvinder has also undertaken Advanced Diploma in Business Administration from McMaster University, Hamilton, Operations Management Certification program from Loyola University, Chicago and recently, completed a program on Sustainable Business Strategy from Harvard Business School.

Rob Davidson

Vice-President, Grid Reliability Projects and Planning

Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO)

Robert (Rob) Davidson was appointed Vice President, Grid Reliability – Projects and Planning for the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) in February 2022. Mr. Davidson started with the AESO in 2004, holding a range of progressively senior positions in operations and planning. Most recently he served as Director, Customer Grid Access, where he was responsible for providing transmission system access to market participants. 

Mr. Davidson has over 25 years of utility experience in the power industry, having previously worked with ENMAX Power Corporation, Primary Engineering and Construction, Dairyland Power Cooperative and the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool. Throughout his career, he has been involved in transmission and distribution planning, transmission and distribution customer connections, distribution design, system operations engineering, and regulatory and strategic business planning.

Mr. Davidson holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University, a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Jamestown College, and the designation of Professional Engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

Vanessa Edmonds

Co-founder & Executive Director

Utility 2030 Collaborative

Vanessa Edmonds, a dynamic utility industry strategist, is co-founder and executive director of the Utility 2030 Collaborative (U2030). Under Vanessa's leadership, U2030 is a vibrant, thriving, membership-based community comprised of investor-owned utilities, municipalities, and cooperatives that provide energy, gas, water, and wastewater services in the U.S. and Canada.

Focused on the intersection of customers and operational excellence, U2030 offers people-focused Events, Programs, Resources, and Advisory Services.

In addition to leading the organization's strategy, Vanessa oversees the advisory services practice and engagement strategies across all solutions.

Inviting the right people to the table to articulate challenges and identify the best-fit solutions are Vanessa’s key strengths; her network–which includes U2030 members—is leading the development of the new energy and water economy.

Vanessa is an alumna of Portland State University and holds a certificate in Digital Transformation from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Beyond her pivotal roles in the utility sector, she also serves on the board of PurpleBox, an internet security firm, and previously served as the Director of Communications on the board of the Atlanta Chapter of the Women’s Energy Network. 

Erik Ela

Technical Leader

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Erik Ela is a Technical Executive and Program Manager at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). In his role, he provides technical leadership in several areas including electricity market design and operations, renewable energy and emerging technology integration, bulk power system operations, frequency control and essential reliability services, and generation planning. At EPRI, Dr. Ela facilitates the R&D collaborative group of technical experts of North America’s Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and EPRI’s utility and ISO/RTO focused Market Operations and Market Design Advisory Group to discuss research needs in technical areas facing the industry. He leads innovative projects on how utilities and ISOs can operate the power system more efficiently and reliably. Prior to joining EPRI in 2014, Dr. Ela worked for several years with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as a senior research engineer and before that for the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO). He has been involved in several working groups as a senior member of the IEEE Power and Energy Society, CIGRE, NERC, and ESIG, including as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, chair of ESIG’s system operations and market design working group, part of NYISO’s Environmental Advisory Council, and vice-chair of the IEEE Power System Economics Subcommittee. Dr. Ela received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering.

Stuart Galloway

Executive Vice President

Société de financement et d’accompagnement en performance énergétique (SOFIAC)

Stuart has managed the successful investment and delivery of over $15 billion of infrastructure assets delivered through alternative project finance structures. Grown three national advisory practices in Canada, all within the infrastructure and energy sector, including offerings around energy sustainability and carbon reduction. He has developed and implemented new and innovative financing structures across Canada, to develop new infrastructure delivery models. Through effective decision making with execution abilities, he consistently produces exceptional positive results for businesses.

July 2022, Stuart transitioned from his role as the CEO for Energy Services Association of Canada to Executive Vice President of SOFIAC, prior to that he was the National lead for a Big 4 Capital and Infrastructure Project Solutions practice providing expertise for strategic capital planning, deal structuring and procurement advice derived from over 25 years in infrastructure and project finance. Stuart’s advisory roles include expertise of the UK, European and Canadian infrastructure markets, across both the public and private sectors.

Stuart is the Treasurer and Board member for the Clean Air Partnership and the Chair of the Audit Committee and Board Member for the Toronto Atmospheric Fund. Stuart has developed a number of white papers and presented at many conferences on subjects such as alternative financing, infrastructure investment and energy efficiency. He’s led annual strategic planning and budgeting exercises, including ongoing mentoring to business leaders across various business enterprises

Scott Harper

CEO

Wind Energy Institute of Canada

Scott Harper joined the Institute in the summer of 2007 and has overseen the development of the organization since that time. In his role as CEO, Scott works closely with the Board of Directors to develop the strategic direction for the organization which guides the development of the technical program at WEICan.

Prior to working with WEICan Scott spent most of his career working for the Government of Canada with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). As an Economic Development Officer, Scott worked in the renewable energy sector and was instrumental in the planning and establishment of WEICan. While employed by the Federal Government, Scott gained a great deal of experience in intergovernmental affairs and sector development planning. Scott also held a position as General Manager of a not-for-profit economic development corporation which was involved in tourism, information technology, business incubation and other initiatives. Scott holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from the University of Prince Edward Island where he sat on the Board of Governors for several years.

Brent Harris

Chief Operating Officer and Founder

Eguana Technologies Inc.

Brent Harris is Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Eguana, a leading global supplier of residential and commercial energy storage systems. Brent is an inventor of the Company’s technologies, has led the commercialization and early sales of its products, and is now responsible for Eguana’s global operations. He has a passion for decentralised energy in general and for solar+storage in particular. He is an active proponent of changes to the management and regulation of our electric system that will enable greater adoption of decentralized and renewable energy technologies and has been actively engaged in various industry organisations in Canada and the US. He is currently a director of Decentralised Energy Canada, an industry association supporting innovation and commercialization in Canada’s decentralised energy sector.

Brent is a graduate of Queens’ University in Applied Science, Electrical Engineering, and was selected as one of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue Magazine in 2009.

"Decentralised solar and storage must play a key role in our electricity supply system if we are to have any chance of succeeding in meeting our future electricity needs. Rising populations, rising expectations on quality of life, and the advent of the electric car are all going to put enormous pressure on our electricity infrastructure. Spiraling costs, emissions concerns, and the sheer time involved between planning and commissioning conventional power plants make them less and less attractive as time goes on. It won't happen overnight, but infrastructure assets have a long service life, and there is lots of work to do, so if we are going to meet the challenge, we need to change the decisions and investments we are making today".

Richard Hendriks

PhD Candidate, Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering

University of Toronto

Richard has undergraduate degrees in Civil Engineering and in Psychology from McMaster University and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto. For over two decades, he has been engaged as an independent consultant in the economic evaluation, environmental assessment, and Indigenous consultation related to hydroelectric, wind and transmission developments across Canada. Richard recently served as an appointed member of the Churchill River Management Expert Panel and is engaged with the IESO Small Hydro Program for renewing small hydro developments in Ontario.

Richard’s current research concerns the risks, opportunities and challenges associated with future hydroelectric development, redevelopment, and pumped storage hydroelectric development for contributing to Canada’s requirements for low-carbon electrical capacity and energy storage. He recently developed the Canadian Open-source Database for Energy Research and Systems-Modelling (CODERS), an integrated and standardized national electricity systems modelling database that leverages existing national and provincial databases. 

Markus Hübner

Regulatory Affairs Manager

Nordic Regional Coordination Centre

Markus Hübner is Regulatory Affairs Manager for the Nordic Regional Coordination Centre (Nordic RCC) in Copenhagen.

He has worked with European electricity marked design, regulation and implementation for 10+ years in different governmental roles. Since 2020 he works for the Nordic RCC – a company that supports the Nordic TSOs in maintaining the operational security of the power systems across Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Based on a common regional grid model Nordic RCC provides critical insights and analysis that enables TSOs to optimize beyond their individual capabilities.

Cross-border collaboration is a complex topic, where national, regional and pan-European interests and requirements compete. Markus works with compliance, transparency, and a good amount of networking to help Nordic RCC navigate in this field.

Leonard Kula

Vice President of Policy—Eastern Canada and Utility Affairs

Canadian Renewable Energy Association

Mark Lauby

Senior Vice President and Chief Engineer

North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)

Mark G. Lauby is the senior vice president and chief engineer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Mr. Lauby joined NERC in January 2007 and has held several positions. Prior to joining NERC, Mr. Lauby worked for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) for 20 years. Mr. Lauby began his electric industry career in 1979 at the Mid-Continent Area Power Pool in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His responsibilities included transmission planning, power system reliability assessment and probabilistic evaluation.

In 2012, Mr. Lauby was elected to the North American Energy Standards Board and was appointed to the Department of Energy’s Electric Advisory Committee by the Secretary of Energy in 2014. He has been recognized for his technical achievements including the 1992 IEEE Walter Fee Young Engineer of the Year Award. He was named a Fellow by IEEE in November 2011, and in 2014, Mr. Lauby was awarded the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Roy Billinton Power System Reliability Award. In 2020, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elected Mr. Lauby as a member, citing his development and application of techniques for electric grid reliability analysis.

Mr. Lauby is the author of more than 150 technical papers about power system reliability, expert systems, transmission system planning, and power system numerical analysis techniques. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota. In addition, Mr. Lauby attended the London Business School Accelerated Development Program as well as the Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.

Seth Leon

Manager of Programs and Projects

QUEST Canada

Seth Leon is the Manager of Programs and Projects at QUEST Canada. His work focuses on the delivery and scaling of a national Net-Zero Communities Accelerator to support communities in developing and implementing durable and just community energy and emissions plans to meet their net-zero goals. Seth is experienced in planning and initiating local economic development projects across Alberta, with expertise in renewable energy, local financing, and business succession. Since 2017 he has worked to advance community energy development by leading workshops and project incubators that have connected municipalities, industry, Indigenous communities, and co-operatives to advance local energy goals. Seth has been active in the not-for-profit sector in Calgary, as the former Board Chair of the CommunityWise Resource Centre. He holds a Masters of Development Economics from Dalhousie University (2008). 

Phil Mckay

Senior Director, Technical & Utility Affairs

Canadian Renewable Energy Association

Jacob Monroe

Research Analyst

Energy Modeling Hub

Jacob completed his B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at North Carolina State University in the United States in 2016 and 2020, respectively. His Ph.D. dissertation was on simulating evolution of low-voltage electric grids with distributed energy technology adoption using agent-based modeling techniques. His dissertation was funded by the United States National Science Foundation through the Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Dr. Monroe’s research is focused on the evolution of integrated energy systems as guided by decarbonization policy development, climate dynamics, technology shifts, and adaptation of social norms. Dr. Monroe has been responsible for managing the development of an energy modelling platform that integrates a database of Canadian energy system information (CODERS), a suite of energy modelling frameworks, and a collection of visualization software to create an effective medium for communicating model findings with policy makers. Dr. Monroe’s research interests include developing new tools to evaluate model uncertainty and assess the feasibility of decarbonization pathways and policy, communicating model insights with policy makers and their teams, and exploring the solution space of modelling frameworks while highlighting their respective uncertainties.

Angus Orford

Vice President, Corporate Planning & Energy Supply

Maritime Electric Company, Limited

Angus is a native of Prince Edward Island.  He received his Master of Business Administration from Dalhousie University, a Bachelor of Science (Physics) at UPEI, and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia.

Angus has contributed to both Maritime Electric’s and Fortis’ success in various capacities. Prior to his present position he was Maritime Electric’s Vice President, Customer Service and he was Vice President, Operations with FortisOntario Inc.

Angus is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of PEI.  He currently sits on the Board of The Charlottetown Airport Authority and the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

Nitin Padmanabhan

Technical Leader

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Dr. Nitin Padmanabhan is a senior project engineer in Transmission Operations and Planning at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) International. At EPRI, he focuses on emerging technology integration into operations and wholesale electricity market design and operations. He provides technical support for bulk power system operation and planning simulation, including production cost modeling, hybrid and standalone storage integration, and advanced software tool development for the power system industry. He collaborates with the ISOs and RTOs in the United States and Canada to facilitate and conduct the R&D that supports the evolution occurring across those regions.

Prior to joining EPRI, Dr. Nitin worked as Advisor, Market Development at the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) of Ontario, Canada and as Senior Consultant at NS Consulting, Canada. He has over 9 years of research experience and over 12 years of teaching university/college students in Canada and India at graduate and undergraduate levels. Dr. Nitin completed his PhD at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and his M.Tech and B.Tech from India.

Dr. Nitin is a recipient of various awards and fellowships including the 2018 Energy Council of Canada Energy Policy Research Fellowship, University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering Award 2017, Best Teaching Assistant Award etc. He is also an active volunteer of IEEE for last 18 years. He is the current Chair of IEEE Kitchener-Waterloo Section in Canada. Also, a recipient Appreciation Letter from IEEE President for his volunteer services in 2023.

Colton Pankhurst

Senior Technical Advisor, Energy Systems Sector, Renewable and Electrical Energy

NRCan

Colton Pankhurst (he/him) is a Senior Technical Advisor with Natural Resources Canada in the Renewable and Electrical Energy Division. In his role, he leads the Grid Modernization Stream of the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program and provides science and technology advice in the areas of electrification, power systems, and renewable integration. He has a range of experiences in the electric power industry including time spent in consulting, with a system operator, and with government. He obtained his BASc and MASc degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Waterloo where he carried out research in transactive energy and local energy market solutions.

Joaquin Peirano

General Manager, Americas

Smart Wires/WATT Coalition

Joaquin Peirano is the General Manager for the Americas at Smart Wires, leading the commercial and operational activities in North, Central, and South America, as well as building strategic partnerships with key stakeholders such as regulators, utilities, developers, and large loads. He has over 15 years of experience in the energy sector, working in various roles such as project management, business development, and consulting. Joaquin joined Smart Wires in 2017 as a Strategy and Business Development Lead in 2017, and later holding customer solutions and commercial managerial roles before becoming General Manager for the Americas in 2022. Prior to this, Joaquin worked as an Energy Consultant with Navigant Consulting Inc.He holds a Master of Engineering Management from Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Electromechanical Engineering from Universidad de Montevideo in Uruguay.

Alexandre Prieur

Director, Renewable Energy Integration, Energy Efficiency and Technology Sector

Natural Resources Canada / Government of Canada

Since 2018, Alexandre is Director of the Renewable Energy Integration group at CanmetENERGY, an energy and science research laboratory of the federal Department of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). His team of over 30 researchers and engineers focus on grid integration of renewable energy and Smart Grid. Between 2009 and 2018, he manage multiple smart grid research projects at NRCan.

Alexandre holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Ecole de Technologie Superieure and a Master of Applied Science from Ecole Polytechnique Montreal. Prior to joining NRCan in 2009, he worked for 10 years in the private sector, in the telecommunication industry.

Deepak Ramasubramanian

Senior Technical Leader

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Deepak Ramasubramanian is a Senior Technical Leader at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). He joined EPRI in 2017 where his work is in the area of modeling, control and stability analysis of the bulk power system with focus on the impacts of large-scale integration of inverter interfaced generation and load. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Arizona State University, Tempe, USA in 2017 and his M.Tech. degree in Power Systems from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India in 2013.

Deepak is recognized in the industry for his work on grid forming inverter modeling and control along with low short circuit strength analysis. Through his work at EPRI, he engages with various utilities and transmission system operators around the world to study the impact of increase in inverter-based resources in their system.

He is a recipient of the 2022 IEEE PES Chapter Outstanding Engineer Award, an Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG) Excellence Award, North American SynchroPhasor Initiative (NASPI) Outstanding Graduate Student Award, and the Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) Power System Award.

Greg Robart

Chief Executive Officer

Smart Grid Innovation Network (SGIN)

Greg is a new member of the Canada Electricity Advisory Council, an independent body of 19 experts who will provide the Government of Canada with advice on actions needed to achieve our 2035 and 2050 net-zero emissions goals as they pertain to electricity. Greg champions the organization in establishing its goals and supports the members as they drive to accomplish them. SGIN strives to evolve the Smart Energy sector to support the energy transition activities through education, advocacy and supporting system deployment of smart energy technology. Prior to SGIN, as Siemens’ Global Lead for electrical utility business transformation, Greg supported utilities in realizing their digitalization strategy. As a seasoned Professional Engineer, Greg has wide ranging expertise in engineering principles, both for the electrical grid and building systems. This includes critical customer building distribution and distributed control system design and power backup systems, as well as communication infrastructure solutions. Greg has additional experience in industrial power distribution design and commissioning along with power quality and protection co-ordination studies. Within Siemens’ Energy Management (EM) Division, Greg also lead the consultants and architects for the PTI consulting group across Canada. Greg was fully engaged with utility customers in their transformation and modernization programs, and supports customers in Canada, the United States and Jordan on concepts ranging from ‘Utility of the Future’, Operations Center of the future, and alternative distributed energy storage solutions.

Michael Ross

Industrial Research Chair

Northern Energy Innovation

Michael Ross is the Industrial Research Chair in Northern Energy Innovation at Yukon University. His applied research program is governed and directed by the CEOs and managers of the electric power utilities in the Canadian territories and works in partnership with northern communities and Indigenous governments to help address their energy needs. His research areas focus on the energy transition in the north: responsibly integrating a high penetration of renewable generation in remote communities, addressing challenges of electrification of heat and transportation, and grid modernization through smart grids, microgrids, demand-side management and distributed energy resources. Dr. Ross received his Master’s and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at McGill University, his Bachelor’s of Applied Science at the University of Toronto, and his Executive MBA from Queen’s University. He is a registered Professional Engineer with Engineers Yukon, a Registered Professional Electrical Engineer in the State of Alaska, a board member of the IEEE Northern Canada Section, the Canadian representative for CIGRÉ Study Committee C6 on Active Distribution Systems and Distributed Energy Resources, and is a Level 1 electrician apprentice.

Michael Simone

Manager Operations Engineering

FortisAlberta

Marcus Stewart

Head of Secretariat

UK Government Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s Green Grids Initiative (GGI)

Marcus is Head of Secretariat for the UK Government Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s Green Grids Initiative (GGI). He is seconded into the role from National Grid.

GGI was launched at COP 26 to accelerate grid deployment to enable the transition to renewable energy and increase energy access. Under his leadership it has developed an ecosystem of partners across governments, multilateral agencies, academia and business to work on the technical, financial and political challenges to cross border interconnection and high renewable grids.

Prior to joining DESNZ, he held senior roles in National Grid for over two decades working in roles covering electricity transmission, interconnectors, and gas networks. Most notably he led National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios and Capacity Market Analysis for many years, producing long term energy scenarios that underpin the GB energy industry’s market and network planning. Working closely with industry stakeholders and government, he has played a key role in predicting and shaping the GB energy landscape for many years.

Everett Stuckless

Manager of Operational Resilience & Incident Management

Enmax

Everett Stuckless is a resilience expert with 16 years of experience in the utility and manufacturing sectors. He has developed and managed preparedness plans for various incidents, including system outages, natural disasters, technological disruptions, supply-chain issues, and COVID-19. He has also led and participated in industry committees and initiatives, such as Electricity Canada’s Mutual Assistance Committee and the ICS Canada technical committee.

As ENMAX Power’s Manager of Operational Resilience, he works to strengthen and coordinate the business continuity, incident management, and operational risk management processes across ENMAX Power and with its shared service partners within the ENMAX Corporation, including ENMAX Energy and Versant Power.

Everett holds a B.Sc. degree, business continuity certification, and an advanced Incident Command System (ICS) certification.  

Karin Wadsack

Director

Global Power System Transformation Consortium (G-PST)

Karin Wadsack is a program manager for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where she directs the Global Power System Transformation Consortium and performs applied analysis for energy system decarbonization and resilience projects around the world. She has more than 15 years of experience in energy analysis, policy, and project development. Her background also includes business management, international development, and work with Native American tribes across the United States.  Karin holds a PhD in Engineering Sustainable Systems, a certificate in Applied Statistics, master’s degrees in Environmental Science & Policy and Journalism, and a bachelor’s degree in Government. 

Keaton Wheeler

Sr. Lead Engineer, Protection & Control

FortisAlberta

Keaton Wheeler is a professional electrical engineer with an earned Ph.D. and 10+ years of experience in industry with expertise in developing and communicating solutions to complex issues arising in existing and emerging power systems. He is currently the Senior Lead Engineer for the Protection and Control department at FortisAlberta where he has extensive experience in several fields that include microgrids, renewable energy and distributed energy resources.