The worldwide incentives to evolve to a low-carbon economy are driving the development of smarter, ICT-enabled power grids. Realizing this next-generation power grid requires cooperation between previously separated industries (telecom, power technology, sensor technology, GIS technology, etc.). With many stakeholders involved, and many (legacy) systems that will get impacted, communication between these stakeholders and systems becomes a key aspect. Unlike many other systems, a massive amount of data will need to be transformed into real-time intelligence, which should drive one of the most critical grids of our society. Many questions and challenges arise with respect to resilience, compatibility, self-management, etc. A panel of experts from industry, university and government will share the issues that are currently addressed, and will give their view on the future challenges.
Moderator:
Wouter Haerick, Ghent University - IBBT, Belgium
Panelists:
Manual Sanchez, Policy Officer Smart Grid, European Commission
Ward Gommeren, Global Power Sales Benelux, Alstom
Sandrine Perino, Utilities & Smart Grid Manager, CISCO
Sanjay Goel, Associate Professor, University at Albany, SUNY
Lennart Soder, Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden