Plenary sessions
- PL01 | Challenges and opportunities in universal electricity access
PL01 | Challenges and opportunities in universal electricity access
DAY 2 JUN 29 AULA MAGNA | 13:30 - 15:00Chairs: J. Ignacio Pérez Arriaga IIT, Comillas University, Madrid; MIT, Boston; Florence School of Regulation (FSR), EUI, Florence
Add to calendar2021-06-29 13:30 2021-06-29 15:00 Europe/Madrid PL01 | Challenges and opportunities in universal electricity access J. Ignacio Pérez Arriaga IIT, Comillas University, Madrid; MIT, Boston; Florence School of Regulation (FSR), EUI, FlorencePOWERTECH 2021ABSTRACT
For many of the world’s poor, the key impediment to their entry into a modern economy is a lack of access to electricity. Yet, today more than 800 million people still lack access, including half the population of sub-Saharan Africa. Another 2.8 billion suffer from some form of energy poverty, meaning that their access is so limited or unstable that their income and livelihoods are seriously constrained. The major bottleneck that prevents progress of electrification in many countries is the distribution segment. This special session will address innovative approaches in regulation, business models and the use of advanced technologies in distribution –both on- and off-grid – which, with adequate public support, can attract the private investment that is needed to supply reliable, sustainable, and affordable electricity to millions of people and to achieve SDG7.
CHAIR Ignacio Pérez Arriaga - IIT Comillas, University, Madrid; MIT, Boston; Florence School of Regulation (FSR), EUI, Florence
SPEAKERS- New business model approaches in the deployment of off-grid solutions for rural electrification.
Daniel Willette – ENGIE Energy Access - An integrated on-and off-grid approach to electrification.
Pradeep Pursnani – Konexa - Business models for electrification of the difficult last five percent.
Julio Eisman – ICAI Engineers Foundation - Public private collaboration in overcoming the lack of electricity access
Simon Hodson – Gridworks - New perspectives on electricity distribution in low-income countries.
Marcelo Ramón Castillo – ENEL
SHORT BIO
Ignacio J. Pérez-Arriaga. MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and Electrical Engineer from Comillas University in Madrid, Spain. Visiting professor at MIT (2008-present). Professor at Comillas University; founder and director (1984-1994) of its Institute for Research in Technology (IIT). Professor at the Florence School of Regulation. Life member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering. Fellow and Life Member of IEEE. Commissioner at the Spanish Electricity Regulatory Commission (1995-2000). Independent Member of the Irish Single Electricity Market Committee (2007-2012). Member of the Board of Appeal of the EU Agency for the Coordination of Energy Regulators (2011-2016). Current member of the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty (Rockefeller Foundation), the Africa Europe Strategy Group on Energy and the UN High Level Dialogue on Energy Access. Consultant and lecturer in more than 40 countries. Currently researching on future trends in power systems, electrification planning in developing countries, and strategic issues in universal energy access. 
Daniel Willette is the Country Director at ENGIE Energy Access Uganda and based in Kampala. ENGIE Energy Access’ mission is to deliver life-changing, affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy solutions with exceptional customer experience. ENGIE Energy Access offers innovative off-grid solutions for rural electrification via mini-grid models and expandable, lease-to-own solar home systems which provide lighting, phone charging, TV, and radio, financed through affordable installments over mobile money. Prior to stepping into the role of Country Director in 2018, Daniel was the Operations Director for three years. Prior to joining ENGIE Energy Access, Daniel was a Manager in Accenture’s Sustainability Services consulting practice focused on smart grid implementation and the scale of off-grid energy solutions and business models. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Villanova University. 
Pradeep Pursnani. In 2019 Pradeep joined Konexa, a business – borne from his experience working at Shell Foundation (a social investment charity) for nine years and over 10 years in Strategy and M&A in large energy companies – that aims to accelerate the path to SDG 7 and inclusive growth by transforming energy provision in emerging markets. Konexa is an independent, integrated power distribution company that operates a smart grid, driven by data and latest technology, to provide tailored energy services to both urban and rural customers. A customer centric service also means providing appliances, productive use assets, financing and data services to end users. The business works in partnership with national utilities and invests to improve the efficiency, reliability and affordability of electricity supply through smart generation, grid extension, mini-grids and solar home systems – and seeks to catalyse job creation and income growth for its customers.
As the former Deputy Director of Shell Foundation, Pradeep focused on energy access, sustainable mobility and SME finance across Africa and SE Asia. From 2010 to 2019 he supported a period of growth, with Shell Foundation’s portfolio growing from 8 companies to over 75, based on investments of over $45m per year. In doing so, he created the largest energy access programme in the world with DFID and USAID. Pradeep was responsible for key strategy, investment and operational decisions and held several board roles across the portfolio. He has developed and scaled a number of partnerships with governments, written publications and regularly leads sector wide thought pieces.
Julio Eisman. Electromechanical engineer University Comillas-ICAI and General Management program, IESE business school (Navarra University).
Working for Iberdrola during 31 years (1973-2004).Most of them as protection&control engineer and the last years as general manager of Iberdrola Engineering and Consultancy and member of the Iberdrola Steering Committee.
Member of the Steering Committe of Energía sin Fronteras (Energy without borders) Foundation (2004-2008)
In 2008, he develops the ACCIONA Microenergy Foundation (now acciona.org) focused in providing electricity access to communities without conventional solutions with sustainable and affordable delivering model called “Luz en casa” (Light at home). This business model implemented since 2010 n the Andean and Amazon regions in Peru, in more than 250 dispersed communities in the Oaxaca State (MX), in the indigenous regions of Panama, and now under development at the refugee camps and host communities in Tigray (Ethiopia). Worldwide, more than 60.000 users of the Luz en Casa model.
Since 2020, he is board member of the ICAI Engineers Foundation with full time dedication to electricity access and energy poverty assistance.
Simon Hodson is the Chief Executive Officer of Gridworks, the UK Government-backed development and investment platform dedicated to improving Africa’s electricity networks. Simon has over 30 years of infrastructure investment experience in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Gridworks mandate is based on the need to tackle the decades-long underinvestment in Africa’s electricity networks. This underinvestment is largely a result of unsustainable and loss-making business models which are unattractive to public or private capital and create ever increasing financial burdens on governments. Gridworks aims to work with governments and private sector partners to create well-run, financially sustainable companies providing quality customer service. Gridworks supports both distributed renewable energy and existing state-owned utilities. Simon believes well run, well-structured businesses will attract the long-term capital essential to overcome Africa’s energy challenge. Simon previously held leadership roles at a London-based family office and was Investment Director for IPS (part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) with responsibility for infrastructure and industrial investments in Africa, Asia and Canada. Simon also spent his early career with CDC Group. He is a Natural Sciences graduate of King's College, London and a qualified Chartered Accountant. 
Marcelo Ramón Castillo Agurto. Since 2014, I was in charge of origination, scouting and screening of distribution and transmission business opportunities worldwide, both for new market entry and growth, as well as of M&A deal execution and management.
In almost 30 years within Enel Group, working in Latin America, Spain and Italy, I have built a strong and multi-functional background, being responsible for coordinating strong and multi- functional teams within areas reaching from regulatory and antitrust affairs, or energy management, up to analysis and business development.
My expertise covers all the energy value chain: from generation to transmission, power interconnectors, distribution and retail markets. I'm a Civil, Industrial and Electric Engineer (Universidad Pontificia Catolica de Chile), and I hold a Master in Business Management (Universidad Navarra, Spain).
Alongside my management career, I have taught Regulation and Energy Management as professor in many Universities and Business schools for almost 15 years. - New business model approaches in the deployment of off-grid solutions for rural electrification.
- PL02 | Power System Models for Real Life Problems
PL02 | Power System Models for Real Life Problems
DAY 3 JUN 30 AULA MAGNA | 13:30 - 15:00Chairs: Javier García-González and Sonja Wogrin - IIT, Comillas University
Add to calendar2021-06-30 13:30 2021-06-30 15:00 Europe/Madrid PL02 | Power System Models for Real Life Problems/span> Chairs: Javier García-González and Sonja Wogrin - IIT, Comillas UniversityPOWERTECH 2021ABSTRACT
Decision makers of power systems must benefit from the latest advances in research areas such as optimization/simulation techniques, computer science, etc. To bridge the gap between industry and academia it is necessary to engage researchers in collaboration projects where real-life problems are addressed. This session will present some examples of such collaborative relationships and the main numerical and modeling challenges of future power systems will be identified. In particular, the mathematical and computational challenges related to large system planning under uncertainty will be discussed. Hot topics such as the flexibility provided by the demand side or the role of data analytics in the current digitalization and energy transition process and will also be presented. The pragmatic approaches required by the electric power industry will be discussed, and the active role that IIT has played during the last decades in developing tailor-based models for utilities, regulators, etc. will be shared with the audience.SPEAKERS
CHAIRSJavier García-González and Sonja Wogrin - IIT, Comillas University- Mathematical and computational challenges for the continental-wide planning of the European energy transition
Arnaud Renaud - Artelys - Stochastic optimization, data analytics and high-performance computing applied to energy problems
Luiz Augusto Barroso - PSR - Managing demand side flexibility in the long-term and short-term
Asgeir Tomasgard - Norwegian University of Science and technology (NTNU); Norwegian Centre for Energy Transition Strategies (FME NTRANS) - IIT developing models in its late thirties
Andrés Ramos - IIT, Comillas University - Pragmatic approaches in the long-term modelling
Alejandro López Aguayo - Iberdrola
SHORT BIOS
Javier García González was born in Salamanca in 1972. He obtained the Industrial Engineer degree, specializing in Electricity, from ETSEIB, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, in 1996. That year he joined the Institute for Technological Research (IIT) of Comillas Pontifical University, Madrid where he obtained his PhD in 2001. His PhD thesis was awarded by the Royal Academy of Doctors as the best doctoral thesis in the scientific and technological area in that year. Currently he is Senior Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the ICAI School of Engineering, U. Pontificia Comillas, and Deputy Director of Economic Affairs at the IIT. From 2007 to 2014 he was the Director of the Master in the Electric Power Industry (MEPI), and Coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Master in Economics and Management of Network Industries (EMIN). In 2010 he was Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Since that year, he has been MIT affiliate as lecturer of the course "Electric power system modeling for a low carbon economy". In 2012 he was Visiting Researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). His areas of interest include operations, planning and economy of power systems. 
Sonja Wogrin obtained a Dipl. Ing. (5-year degree) in Technical Mathematics at the Graz University of Technology (Jun. 2008) and a Master of Science in Computation for Design and Optimization at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Oct. 2008). She obtained her PhD (Jun. 2013) at the Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica (IIT) at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid, where she is also working as researcher (since May 2009) and Associate Professor in the Industrial Organization Department. Her research interests lie within the area of decision support systems in the energy sector, optimization and in particular the generation capacity expansion problem. 
Arnaud Renaud is the President and founder of Artelys, which was founded in 2000. He has more than 30 years of experience in the domain of energy modelling, optimization and forecasting. He has worked continuously with a large range of energy players (ministries, institutions, network operators, producers etc.) and has extensive experience in energy consulting. At Artelys, he has managed more than 100 consulting projects. He has supervised the R&D activities of Artelys and the design of algorithms and technologies such as Artelys Crystal. Prior to this, he managed several innovative optimization projects at EDF R&D (Electricité de France). He holds an engineering degree from ENSTA-Paris and a Master in Statistics from Paris 6 Jussieu University. In 1993, he received a PhD degree in Automatics and Mathematics from l’Ecole des Mines de Paris. From 2006 to 2015, he was an associate professor at Sorbonne University where he taught numerical optimization. 
Luiz Augusto Barroso is the CEO of PSR. From 2016 to 2018, he was the CEO of the Energy Research Office (EPE), a government company connected to the Ministry of Energy that runs all the energy planning studies in the country to support its energy policy decisions. In 2018 Luiz was also a visitor in the International Energy Agency (IEA) in France working in the IEA’s Clean Energy Transitions Program, a multi-year plan backed by 13 countries to support clean energy transitions around the world. Before joining EPE, he was a partner and managing director at PSR, where he worked for 17 years, coordinating studies on power-gas systems planning, economics, operation, risk management, and market design in about 30 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Luiz is a research affiliate of Comillas Pontifical University’s Institute for Research in Technology (IIT), and he lectures at the Florence School of Regulation (FSR), Italy. Luiz is or has been involved as Editor, Associated Editor or on the editorial board of many prestigious scientific journals and has authored over 200 technical papers. He is an IEEE Fellow appointed for his analytical contributions on power system economics and regulation. He was the Brazilian member of the C5 SC on electricity markets and regulations, where he was also part of its steering committee. 
Asgeir Tomasgard is a Professor at Norwegian University of Science and technology (NTNU) in Managerial Economics and Optimization doing research on energy transition strategies and energy policy, often using large-scale stochastic optimization models as a fundament. He obtained his PhD in operations research at NTNU in 1998. He was the director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Studies (CenSES) from 2009-2019 and is currently the director of FME NTRANS - Norwegian Centre for Energy Transition Strategies and the NTNU Energy Transition Initiative. He is the director of the Lab for computational economics and optimization at NTNU. Asgeir is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA). He was elected chair (2010-2013) for the Committee on Stochastic programming (COSP) a technical committee of the Mathematical Optimization Society. He is also part of the management board of the EURO working group on stochastic optimization. He is a member in INFORMS and IAEE. Asgeir is a member of the management board in the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Joint program in Economic, Environmental and Social Impacts of Energy Policies and Technologies. He is a member of the advisory board on climate for the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment and in the board of “Norsk klimastiftelse” and Smart Innovation Norway. 
Andrés Ramos received the degree of Electrical Engineer, from Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Spain in 1982 and the Ph.D. degree from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain in 1990. From 1982 to 1984 he was a research assistant at the Instituto Tecnológico para Postgraduados. Since 1984 he is at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas. Currently, he is a Full Professor at the Industrial Organization Department and at the Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica where he is the Director. From 2015 up to 2020 he has been Director of the MBA in the Global Energy Industry. From 1999 up to 2008 Andrés has been Director of the Industrial Organization Department. He was a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, California, USA in 1991-92 academic year and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the summer of 2009, January 2010 up to 2015, in March and May 2016, and in January 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. He was a Visiting Scholar at Aalborg University (Denmark) in February 2017, 2018, and 2019. Referee of international journals and conferences. Referee of the National Agency for Research Projects Evaluation. Member of several professional associations. His areas of interest include operations, planning and economy of electric energy systems, application of operations research to electric energy systems, and software development. 
Alejandro López Aguayo is responsible for Long Term Energy Planning in Iberdrola within the Global Energy Management Direction. He has been supporting most of the investment decisions in power generation since 2000, starting with new gas plants, then coal retrofits (FGD-SCR) and closures and, more recently, the accelerated growth of Iberdrola in renewables and storage globally. He provides power prices and insights in all the countries where Iberdrola has an interest in power generation. Long term models are a key piece in his job, and he has been leading the transformation of the models to meet the new and dynamic requirements of the energy transition scenario. He has been involved in several projects with IIT (Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica). - Mathematical and computational challenges for the continental-wide planning of the European energy transition
- PL03 | Successful publishing in Power Journals
PL03 | Successful publishing in Power Journals
DAY 4 JUL 01 AULA MAGNA | 13:30 - 15:00Chair: Luis Rouco - IIT, Comillas University, Madrid
Add to calendar2021-07-01 13:30 2021-07-01 15:00 Europe/Madrid PL03 | Successful publishing in Power Journals Chair: Luis Rouco IIT, Comillas University, MadridPOWERTECH 2021ABSTRACT
Publishing research results in JCR journals has always been a challenge, specially for young researchers. The editors in chief of five of the most respected journals on power engineering will provide an overview of their work and will give some advice on how to succeed in publishing in their journals.SPEAKERS
CHAIR Luis Rouco - IIT, Comillas University- Nikos Hatziargyriou - National Technical University of Athens; Editor in Chief of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
- Christian Rehtanz - TU Dortmund University; Editor in-Chief of IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution
- Carlo Alberto Nucci - University of Bologna; Editor in-Chief of the Electric Power Systems Research
- Vladimir Terzija - Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech); Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems
- Gianfranco Chicco - Politecnico di Torino; Editor-in-Chief of Sustainable Energy Grids and Networks
SHORT BIOS
Luis Rouco is Professor of the School of Engineering of Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Spain, Prof. Rouco develops his research activities at Instituto de Investigación Tecnológica (IIT). His areas of expertise are modelling, simulation, simulation, control and identification of electric power. Prof. Rouco is Senior Member of IEEE and Distinguished Member of Cigré. He is president of the Electric Energy Systems-University Enterprise Training Partnership (EES-UETP), Member of the Executive Committee of the Spanish National Committee of CIGRE, Convener of the Advisory Group A1.5 New Technologies of the Study Committee A1 Rotating Machines of CIGRE, past editor of IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution and IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, member of the Technical Program Committee of Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC) and Technical Program Chair of the IEEE PowerTech Madrid 2021. He has been visiting scientist at Ontario Hydro (Toronto, Canada), MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) y ABB Power Systems (Vasteras, Sweden). 
Nikos D. Hatziargyriou is professor in Power Systems at the National Technical University of Athens. He has over 10 year industrial experience as Chairman and CEO of the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator and as executive Vice-Chair of the Public Power Corporation. He was chair and vice-chair of the EU Technology and Innovation Platform on Smart Networks for Energy Transition (ETIP-SNET). He is honorary member of CIGRE and Life Fellow of IEEE, currently Editor in Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. He is the 2017 recipient of the IEEE/PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award. He is author and of more than 250 journal and 500 conference papers and he is included in the 2016, 2017 and 2019 Thomson Reuters lists of top 1% most cited researchers. He is Globe Energy Prize laureate 2020. 
Christian Rehtanz received his diploma degree in electrical engineering at the TU Dortmund University, Germany, in 1994 and his Ph.D. in 1997. In 2003 he received the venia legendi in electrical power systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ). From 2000 on he worked at ABB Corporate Research, Switzerland. He became head of technology for the global ABB business area of power systems in 2003 and director of ABB Corporate Research in China in 2005. Since 2007 Rehtanz has been head of the Institute of Energy Systems, Energy Efficiency and Energy Economics (ie3) at the TU Dortmund University. Additionally he is Adjunct Professor at the Hunan University in Changsha, China, Honorary Professor of the Univ. of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and Member of the Academy of Science Berlin-Brandenburg in Germany. Rehtanz’ research activities in the field of electrical power systems and power economics include technologies for network enhancement and congestion relief like stability assessment, wide-area monitoring, protection, and coordinated network-control as well as integration and control of distributed generation and storages. He holds the MIT World Top 100 Young Innovators Award 2003 and is author of more than 250 scientific publications, 4 books and 22 patents and patent applications. 
Carlo Alberto Nucci (M’91-SM’02-F’07) is a Full Professor of Electric Power Systems at the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi”, University of Bologna. He is GIGRE Fellow and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Electric Power Systems Research journal (Elsevier) since 2010. Prof. Nucci is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University Politehnica of Bucharest and a member of the Academy of Science of the Institute of Bologna. His research interests concern smart grids, energy communities, smart cities and power systems electromagnetic transients, with particular reference to the protection against lightning originated ones. 
Vladimir Terzija was born in Donji Baraci (former Yugoslavia). He received the Dipl-Ing., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, in 1988, 1993, and 1997, respectively. He is a Full Professor at Skoltech, Moscow, Russia. He is also a Distinguished Professor at the Shandong University, Jinan, China, where he has been since 2013.
From 1997 to 1999, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. From 2000 to 2006, he was a senior specialist for switchgear and distribution automation with ABB, Ratingen, Germany. From 2006 to 2020 he was the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Chair Professor in Power System Engineering with the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, U.K. His current research interests include smart grid applications; wide-area monitoring, protection, and control; multi-energy systems; switchgear and transient processes; ICT, data analytics and digital signal processing applications in power systems.
Prof. Terzija is Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems, Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, Fellow of IEEE, as well as a DAAD and Taishan Scholar. He is the recipient of the National Friendship Award, China (2019). Since 2018, he is the National Thousand Talents at the Shandong University, China. He is also PI of recently awarded Megagrant project funded by Russian Federation.
Gianfranco Chicco holds a Ph.D. in Electrotechnics Engineering and is a Full Professor of Electrical Energy Systems at Politecnico di Torino, Italy. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. He received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universities Politehnica of Bucharest and “Gheorghe Asachi” of Iasi (Romania) in 2017 and 2018. He is the Vice-Chair of the IEEE R8 Italy Section. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Sustainable Energy Grids and Networks, a Subject Editor of Energy, an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, the IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy, IET Renewable Power Generation, and Energies. He was the Conference Chair of WESC 2006, IEEE ISGT Europe 2017 and UPEC 2020.
His research activities include Power System Analysis, Distribution System Analysis and Optimization, Electrical Load Management, Energy Efficiency and Environmental Impact of Multi-Energy Systems, Data Analytics Applied to Power and Energy Systems, and Power Quality.
