Plenary 1: ABB

Speaker: Matti Latinen
Topic: The vital role of high-efficiency motors and drives in reducing energy consumption

As the global population and economy continue to grow, urbanization, automation, and the rise of living standards will continue to increase the demand for energy globally. The technology that the world needs to dramatically improve energy efficiency is in hand. Much of it, such as high-efficiency motors and drives, is well established and time-tested. Accelerating the adoption of these existing technologies – in industry, cities, and transport – would achieve significant energy savings around the world. The benefits of greater energy efficiency contribute broadly to environmental conservation, cleaner air and water, better public health, energy independence, and stronger economic growth and development.

Matti Latinen
Matti Laitinen, ABB Motion Business Research Manager, has nearly 30 years of experience in product, technology, and R&D processes development for ABB’s variable speed drives. ABB in Finland is one of the pioneering innovators in the field of variable speed drives, one of today’s most important and successful technologies for energy savings by avoiding mechanical throttling of the electric motor driven systems accounting for roughly 1/3 of the worlds global electricity consumption. ABB’s installed base of millions of variable speed drives saves more than 500TWh and 400 million tons of CO2 each year. Since 2019, Matti has held the position of Research Manager for Motion, one of four ABB business areas. In this role he coordinates global research for low and medium voltage converters, low and medium voltage rotating machines and related services, enabling ABB’s next generation of more efficient, optimized, and environmentally friendly products. He has a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering focusing on Power Electronics from Tampere University of Technology and holds more than 18 granted and pending patents.

Plenary 2: Black & Veatch

Speaker: Joe Zhou
Topic: Carbon-Free Grid Architecture – The Missing Pieces

Serving as the global leader for Black & Veatch’s Digital Advisory group, Mr. Zhou focuses on Infrastructure Modernization and Digital Transformation initiatives for electric, gas, water/wastewater utilities, and distributed energy infrastructure owners. He provides executive-level strategic advisory and thought leadership services for Grid Transformation, Electrification & Decarbonization, Resiliency and Security, and Sustainability initiatives. As a past co-chair of the OpenFMB group, Mr. Zhou was very active in leading several smart grid interoperability standards. Today, he continues to work collaboratively across technology vendors, service providers, and energy and utility companies as we embark on the journey to the “clean energy infrastructure of the future“.

Plenary 3: Entrust

Speaker: Jo Ellen Scott, Technical Lead – Safety Management Systems & Management of Change
Topic: Safety Management Systems & Management of Change

As the world embraces the green revolution, the energy sector is beginning to integrate new and emerging green energy options more broadly. From traditional energy to the newest options presented at this conference, no matter the type, energy delivery is an extraordinarily complex and interconnected process. A change to any given input of one of many linked activities yields increased risk of environmental impacts, reliability issues, and/or broad ranging safety consequences. While codes and regulations may be available, they may not be directly applicable to any given technology. Further, mere compliance with any single regulation may not provide a wholistic understanding of all changes, their interaction, and overall impact. Accordingly, integrated multi-system management of change and safety management must be implemented to ensure long term success of green technology adoption. Such integral evaluations and strategic coordination will be examined during this session.

Jo Ellen Scott, Technical Lead – Safety Management Systems & Management of Change
Mrs. Jo Scott is a process development and management of change expert who advocates for safety, quality, reliability, and sustainability of modern business. She has a deep understanding of the practical challenges facing the energy industry and is committed to finding pragmatic, sustainable solutions that are economically viable and reduce operational risks. Her most recent work includes building safety management systems with integrated wholistic management of change processes, as well as creating hands-on green energy field experiences for utility personnel.

Plenary 4: Engineered Fluids

Speaker: David W. Sundin, Ph.D.
Topic: Environmentally Sustainable Thermal Management

The need for more efficient cooling limits technology development in a variety of key industries. In the case of data centers and stationary battery arrays, higher cooling capacity has come at an environmental cost. This paper discusses how Single-phase Liquid Immersion Cooling (SLIC) technology can provide efficient and data center safe cooling without any water use. In addition, Immersion Cooling promotes energy re-use, the ultimate goal of sustainability.

David W. Sundin, Ph.D.
Dr. David Sundin is Founder and Chief Scientist of Engineered Fluids, Inc. Having worked with immersion cooling for 40 years, David has made many of the key discoveries that are used in thermal management of electrical devices. Engineered Fluids focuses on cooling in a variety of industries through direct immersion in dielectric heat transfer fluids. Dr. Sundin is an IEEE Life Member.