Power Electronics and SMART Wind Joint Virtual Meeting: Leveraging Two NIST Consortia to Drive Down US Distributed Wind Costs

Wednesday June 24, 2015
1-2:30 PM EDT, 10-11:30 AM PDT

Join us for a strategic dialogue on opportunities for collaborating and leveraging two NIST-funded Advanced Manufacturing (AMTech) projects to improve and strengthen US manufacturing focused on lowering costs of distributed wind technology.

The Power Electronics Industry Collaborative (PEIC) is a national, industry driven membership-based consortium comprised of OEMs, suppliers, researchers, and other stakeholders working to advance the U.S. power electronics industry. The PEIC’s vision is to position the United States as a global center of power electronics research, design, and manufacturing.

DWEA’s SMART Wind Consortium brings together U.S. distributed wind turbine and component manufacturers with academic researchers, national labs and other stakeholders to help secure U.S. distributed wind manufacturing global competitiveness and leadership. Each of these projects are working to produce industry Roadmaps identifying action steps for recommended future implementation funding. This 90-minute virtual meeting will explore potential areas of partnerships between the US power electronic and distributed wind industries.

If you would like to be included in the SMART Wind Consortium map and directory, please upload your company logo, 100-word bio and headshot HERE. 

For more background on SMART Wind, see: https://distributedwind.org/smart-wind-consortium/

For more background on PEIC, see: http://peic-us.org/

The meeting is free for PEIC and DWEA members, government, and non-profit employees. There is a $25 registration charge for others.

A GoToMeeting weblink and dial-in instructions will be provided in your confirmation email.

Speakers:

Keith Evans, President PEIC

Keith began his career as a research scientist studying advanced crystal growth technology at the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). He has held executive positions at Semiconductor Laser International, QED/IQE, Veeco, and Crystal IS, before taking the CEO role at Kyma in 2005. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the NSF Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST), and was recently elected to be the President of the US Power Electronics Industry Collaborative (PEIC). He received a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Purdue University.

Trudy Forsyth, SMART Wind Technical Lead 

Managing Director of Wind Advisors Team, Trudy has more than 20 years of experience in wind technology. She led the DOE/NREL small and distributed wind program for 18 years where she helped design new US small wind turbines, test prototypes and commercial turbines to standards, develop international and national standards, and develop distributed wind marketing and education materials. She worked closely with DOE program managers to develop multi-year strategies and implement program objectives. She is currently the president of the SWCC Board, past present for Women of Wind Energy and a DWEA board member. She holds a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado-Denver.

Heather Rhoads-Weaver, SMART Wind Project Manager

Founder and Principal Consultant of eFormative Options, Heather specializes in distributed energy policy and market analysis, funding development, and stakeholder communications focused on forming and advancing sustainable endeavors. She recently served as a subcontractor for the Clean Energy States Alliance compiling the NARUC Energy Zones policy inventory, drawing on experience developing other policy analysis dashboard tools and managing complex datasets. Other recent clients include the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Minnesota Renewable Energy Society under the state’s Department of Commerce, and the Small Wind Certification Council. She also served as AWEA’s first Small Wind Advocate, was founder of Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development, and worked for Global Energy Concepts, the National Wind Coordinating Committee, and Iowa Citizen Action Network. She holds an M.S. from the University of Northern Iowa and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Brent Summerville, SMART Wind Technical Co-Lead

Brent is a licensed Professional Engineer in North Carolina. After working as a manufacturing engineer for a decade, he started his career in renewable energy at Appalachian State University by designing, installing, troubleshooting and providing training on renewable energy projects. He gained extensive experience testing small wind turbines while serving as the manager of the ASU Small Wind Research & Demonstration Site on Beech Mountain. Brent is currently contracted as the Technical Director of the Small Wind Certification Council. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Masters in Appropriate Technology from Appalachian State University.

SMART Wind Electrical Subgroup Leads: 

Ruth Douglas-Miller, Kansas State University

Ruth Douglas Miller is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Kansas State University.  Since 2007 she has directed K-State’s Wind Application Center, which runs the state’s Wind for Schools program. In the program, K-12 schools receive small wind turbines to educate students about wind energy and interest them in careers in the field. By the end of 2014, the program is expected to have 23 turbines in place. The Wind Application Center also runs the High Plains Small Wind Test Center in partnership with Colby Community College; under a grant from DOE/NREL the center is testing two small turbines for certification under the AWEA Small Wind Standard.  Ruth is a member of IEEE, Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu, and has more than 25 academic publications.  Douglas Miller earned her doctorate and master’s at the University of Rochester and her bachelor’s degree at Lafayette College.

Rob Wills, Integrid

Dr. Robert Wills has been involved in the U.S. solar pv industry for 32 years and wind for 15 years. He has designed inverters ranging in power from 250 W to 250 kW, and was co-designer of the inverter for the Skystream wind turbine. Rob currently represents the wind community on the U.S. National Electrical Code (Article 694), and also sits on a number of related UL and IEEE standards committees. He is chair of the NEC task group that is writing a new article on microgrids. Dr Wills is a consulting engineer whose current clients include wind turbine, energy storage, and utility companies. He lives in southern New Hampshire.

Eduard Muljadi, NREL

Eduard Muljadi received his Ph. D. (in Electrical Engineering) from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. From 1988 to 1992, he taught at CSU, Fresno. In June 1992, he joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. His current research interests are in the fields of electric machines, power electronics, and power systems in general with emphasis on renewable energy applications. He is member of Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi and a Fellow of the IEEE. He is involved in the activities of the IEEE Industry Application Society (IAS), Power Electronics Society (PELS), and Power and Energy Society (PES). He is currently a member of various committees of the IAS, PES, and an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion. He holds two patents in power conversion for renewable energy.

Greg Mowry, St. Thomas University

Dr. Mowry received his BS and MS in Metallurgical Engineering from Iowa State University and completed a non-thesis MSEE degree program at Stanford University in analog electronics and micro-magnetics. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Physics from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Mowry spent 25 years in corporate America as an inventor, team builder, R&D scientist, and engineer. His work focused on Nano-technology (both design and processing), materials engineering, micromagnetics, laser optics, and biomedical engineering. Dr. Mowry is also an entrepreneur with experience in several technical startups. He is named on 40 patents along with multiple publications in four different technical fields. In 2003 Dr. Mowry joined the School of Engineering at the University of St. Thomas where he teaches ME, EE, and Physics courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is the Director of the MSEE program, which has a power emphasis, and the Director of REAL – the Renewable Energy and Alternatives Laboratory. His current research is focused on reliable, robust, and economic microgrids, alternative energy systems, power electronics, graphene, and biofuels.