Speakers: MIT Prof. John Kassakian, MIT Sloan Prof. Dick Schmalensee

What key technologies will drive the evolution of the grid in the coming decades?

What state & federal policies are necessary for efficient development & deployment?

Our current electric grid is fairly robust and efficient, but will need to change significantly in the next 20 years to meet the emerging opportunities and challenges of distributed & large scale renewable energy generation, emergence of electric vehicles, dynamic retail pricing, interregional system planning and data communications privacy & security.  Profs. Kassakian & Schmalensee, co-leaders of the newly released MIT study, The Future of the Electric Grid, will present its findings on the challenges facing our grid and the recommended technologies and government policies required to meet them.

Biographies

Dr. John Kassakianis an MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and former Director of the MIT Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems.  He is the Founding President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, and is the recipient of the IEEE Centennial Medal, the IEEE William E. Newell Award, the IEEE Power Electronics Society’s Distinguished Service Award, and the IEEE Millennium Medal.  He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.   John has published extensively in the areas of power electronics and is a co-author of the textbook Principles of Power Electronics. He is a consultant to industry and government and serves on the boards of several public companies and ISO-NE, the operator of the New England power grid.

Dr. Richard Schmalensee is MIT’s Howard W. Johnson Professor of Economics & Management , a member of the MIT Energy Council, and Director of the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.  He served as the Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1998 through 2007 and was a Member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers with primary responsibility for energy and environmental policy from 1989 through 1991.  Professor Schmalensee has published 11 books and more than 120 articles; his work focuses on industrial organization economics and its policy applications.  Dick has served as a member of the National Commission on Energy Policy, the Executive Committee of the American Economic Association, and the EPA’s Environmental Economics Advisory Committee.