ISGT-Asia
Greetings from Convener and Co-Chair, 2013 IEEE Innovative Smart Grid Technologies – Asia (ISGT Asia) conference and IEEE PES Bangalore Chapter Chair.
The IEEE PES sponsored conference in Region 10 was held during 10-13 November, 2013 at Bangalore, India. As part of the conference, R-10 chapter chair meet was held on 9th November under the able leadership of Prof. Lalit Goel, director, IEEE PES R-10. IEEE PES Bangalore Chapter hosted the social event and evening dinner on 9th November. The meet also discussed the implementation of the IEEE PES student scholarship in R-10.
As part of the pre-conference, four tutorials were conducted on 10th Nov on vivid topics – “Wind Energy Management Systems – Dr. Jens Madsen, Vattenfall, Denmark”, “Wide Area Monitoring System – Dr. Vahid Madani, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.”, “Future Distribution Systems – John D. McDonald, GE Energy” and “Large Grid Disturbances and Mitigation – A.M. ‘Kulkarni, IIT, Bombay”. Each tutorial had over 50 participants attending. During the conference, on 10th November, “Women in Power Engineering” program was held and over 60 women professionals got benefited by the program.
The conference was inaugurated on 10th November at 6 PM. Mr. M.R. Sreenivasa Murthy, IAS, Chairman KERC, local State regulator was the Chief Guest and S. K. Soonee, CEO, POSOCO, Indian System Operator was the Guest of Honour. IEEE PES Bangalore chapter recognized the services of Prof. G.R. Nagabhushana in the power engineering field and Mr. V. Suresh, treasure, IEEE PES Bangalore chapter for his contribution to the chapter growth. Inaugural function was followed by the dinner and it enabled the conference delegates to networking.
There were 3 key note addresses and three plenary sessions on transmission, distribution and renewable theme one on each day. R P Sasmal, Director (Operations), Powergrid, the Central Transmission Utility (CTU) in India delivered the key note address on “Towards Smart Indian Power Grid – Road Map and Opportunities”. Key note address with the theme “Micro Grid, A New Hub on Energy Infrastructure” was delivered by Dr. Mohammad Shahidehpour, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA. Mr. G.V. Balaram, MD, KREDL- Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited delivered the key note address on “Renewable Energy Challenges and Road Ahead”.
On 11th November evening, the first day of the conference, the IEEE’s “Low Voltage DC (LVDC) Forum India”, an initiative from IEEE Standards Association, in which IEEE PES Bangalore Chapter is an active member was launched. Mr. S. Sumanth, Director (Technical), Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation
Limited (KPTCL) and Prof. Noel Schulz, President, IEEE PES addressed the gathering during this occasion. The program was concluded with a dinner.
On 12th evening, cultural program and gala dinner was arranged. The Drishti Art Centre, Bangalore performed the classical dance program showcasing the different forms of traditional Indian dance. The delegates enjoyed the memorial dance program and also the gala dinner.
In all there were sixteen industry panel sessions, each panel with a Chair/Moderator and 3-4 panellists. Smart grid road map, challenges in the transmission, distribution and renewable energy integration and the road ahead were discussed. Some of the unique panels were “Smart Grid Innovation Ecosystem”, an “All Women Panel”, “Smart Grid Investor Table” which discussed the venture company and bank funding mechanism to smart grid manufacturing companies and also smart grid projects.
The conference had over 95 papers registered and paper presentation was held in sixteen sessions. The conference was attended by 98 authors, 106 registered delegates, 42 speakers, 28 committee members and 12 Region-10 chapter chair delegates. IEEE PES financially supported about 14 IEEE PES student members.
It was a unique opportunity given to IEEE PES Bangalore Chapter by the IEEE PES ISGT Committee to conduct this program. I thank all the volunteers who have contributed directly or indirectly for the success of this conference.