Keynote Speaker I

Prof. John D Graham

Paul H O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA

Bio: John D. Graham earned his Ph.D. in public affairs at Carnegie-Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) where his dissertation addressed risks and benefits of automobile airbag technology.  He became a tenured professor at the Harvard School of Public Health where he was the founding director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (1990-2000).  From 2001 to 2006 Professor Graham served as Administrator of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the US Office of Management and Budget during the George W. Bush administration.  In this capacity he oversaw all federal regulatory policies, including those covering the energy and automotive industries. More recently Professor Graham served as an administrator and professor at Indiana University where he teaches the tools of risk analysis, policy analysis and benefit-cost analysis.  He is the author of 15 books and over 200 scientific articles.  His most recent book is entitled The Global Rise of the Modern Plug-In Electric Vehicle: Public Policy, Innovation, and Strategy. Elgar Publishing, Cheltenhem, UK. 2021.

Speech Title: The Global Electric-Car Industry: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract: This contribution will compare development of the plug-in electric vehicle industry in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan.  The industry includes not only vehicle manufacturers and dealers but the long supply chains that supply raw materials, components, electric motors, and batteries.  The speech will emphasize the urgent need for innovation in the electric utility industry to accommodate the rapid expansion of the electrified transport sector. Priorities for the future include technological innovation, reduced industry reliance on government subsidies and regulations, and develop of a globalized market for electric vehicles and components unhampered by national and regional protectionism.

Keynote Speaker Ⅱ

Prof. David Infield

University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland

Bio: David Infield was born in Paris, France, in 1954 and raised and educated in England. He received a B.A. degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Lancaster, Lancaster, U.K., and the Ph.D. degree in applied mathematics from the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. He worked first for the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) at Bracknell, Berkshire, UK, on solar energy systems, and then for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK, from 1982 to 1993, researching into wind energy technology and renewable energy supplied electricity systems. From 1993 to 2007, he was with Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK., where he established, within the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, CREST, the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology, which is now one of the leading centers for such teaching and research in the UK. In 2007 he became Professor of Renewable Energy Technologies with the Institute of Energy and Environment within the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, one of the UK’s leading such departments. From 2018 he has been acting as a Research Professor at the University. Professor Infield is presently Editor-in-Chief of IET Renewable Power Generation and has contributed to various IEC, CENELEC, and IPPC activities related to renewables.  He has published over 100 journal papers on renewable energy, most of these in wind energy, and has supervised numerous PhD students.  He is presently External Examiner for an MSc course at the University of Malta and a regular collaborator with North China Electric Power University in Beijing.

Speech Title: How can Smart Grids Contribute to Sustainable Energy Supply?

Abstract: Before long, all energy supply (not just electricity) must be delivered on a sustainable basis if extreme climate change is to be avoided.  Renewable energy generation is central to this.  Fortunately, both wind and solar (PV) technology are now well developed and both can deliver cost effective clean energy. Meeting all energy needs including heating, cooling and transportation from electricity will mean substantial increases in electricity supply. The main challenge will be time matching supply and demand. It is well known that power from wind and solar is time variable across a wide range of timescales. Energy storage is often touted as the solution, but energy storage technologies remain expensive, and significant charge/discharge losses are involved.

A much more intelligent approach is to adapt loads to renewable supply availability. This is possible since large amounts of energy storage is commonly intrinsic to loads, whether this is through the batteries of electric vehicles, or the thermal storage of housing fabric, for example.  This talk will explore such demand side management as the key characteristic of the future smart grid.

Keynote Speaker Ⅲ

Dr. Rajit Gadh 

Professor, UCLA, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Bio: Dr. Rajit Gadh is Professor of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA, Founder and Director the Smart Grid Energy Research Center or SMERC (http://smartgrid.ucla.edu) and Founder and Director of the UCLA Connected Autonomous Electric Vehicle Program or CAEV. Dr. Gadh has a Doctorate degree from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), a Masters from Cornell University and a Bachelors degree from IIT Kanpur all in engineering. He has taught as a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley, has been an Assistant, Associate and Full Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was a visiting researcher at Stanford University. His experience in research and development spans over 30 years and includes leading technology teams to investigate and develop advanced technologies and products. He is the author of over 200 articles in journals and conference proceedings and 4 patents. His research interests include smart grid architectures, smart wireless communications, sense and control for demand response, microgrids, and electric vehicle and battery energy storage integration into the grid. 

Speech Title: Emerging eMobility Infrastructure - Challenges and Opportunities for the 21st Century

Abstract: Dr. Rajit Gadh is a world-expert in the modeling and control of Smart Grids, Electric Vehicle (EV) to Grid Integration, Vehicle to Grid (V2G), Autonomous Electric Vehicles, Demand Response, Microgrids, Energy Storage in the Grid, Renewable Integration, among other things.  He will discuss these topics in the context of the Emerging eMobility Infrastructure especially as transportation vehicles, ranging from cars and vans to trucks and buses, are rapidly transitioning to electric.  Electrification of transportation brings enormous opportunities, but is not without challenges, and these will be addressed in the presentation.