Programme Committee
Mike Kay
Electricity North West
Network Strategy Director
Mike Kay joined Norweb (Electricity North West’s forerunner) as a student apprentice in 1978. Since then he has worked in most aspects of electrical engineering within the company ranging from policy roles, the detailed design of 132kV systems and equipment, and managing a regional direct labour force and the regulatory interface. He is currently the Network Strategy Director of Electricity North West.
He chairs the Distribution Code Review Panel of Great Britain and sits on the Grid Code Review Panel. He served on the DTI/Ofgem Distributed Generation Technical Steering Group, and on its successor Distribution Working Group. He represents Electricity North West in several industry forums. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), and is a past-chairman of The IET Manchester Branch.
Ian Welch
National Grid
Strategy Manager
Ian Welch is R&D Strategy Manager and is responsible for driving the innovation programme for National Grids electricity and gas Transmission networks. A special focus is on enabling the connection of low carbon technologies through the use of HVDC and other high capacity solutions incorporating Smart systems.
In parallel, maintaining the very high reliability of existing assets, whilst achieving an affordable and environmentally sustainable outcome is a key objective. His career spans a number of engineering and management roles within the electricity supply industry and is currently R&D Strategy Manager with National Grid responsible for gas and electricity transmission innovation.
Steve Cox
Electricity North West
Head of Future Networks
A highly experienced director and senior manager with 29 years experience across the Electricity Supply Industry in program management, commercial management, asset management, regulation, service improvement, operational management, incident management and training & development, of which 8 years within a multi-utility.
Has managed teams of over 300 staff and led through several successful efficiency programs. A qualified 132kV SAP electrical engineer (I Eng, MIEEIE) with experience in all aspects of distribution engineering including network management systems, Scada and network automation. Steve currently leads the strategic planning, policy and future networks teams for Electricity North West.
Professor Graham Ault
University of Strathclyde
Professor
Graham Ault is a Professor in the Institute for Energy and Environment in the Electronics & Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Strathclyde. His technical and research interests are in the areas of renewable integration into power networks, power system planning, active networks, distributed energy resources and the smart grid.
He leads a team of researchers working in several EPSRC and privately funded projects across these topics. He has published over one hundred technical papers in journals and is Technical Committee member of the CIRED conference. He is Non-Executive Director of Smarter Grid Solutions, formed in 2008 and specialising in active network management technology, solutions and services for renewable and low carbon grid developments. He is also a Director of Community Energy Scotland the organisation that supports communities across Scotland develop low carbon energy projects.
John Scott - (Chairman)
Chiltern Power Ltd
Director
John Scott is an independent consultant operating from his own company, Chiltern Power Limited. He was formerly Director, Network Innovation at KEMA Consulting Ltd. John’s previous roles have included Technical Director for Ofgem, the British electricity and gas regulator, and Director of Engineering for National Grid Company in the UK.
He was vice chairman of the European Smart Grids Technology Platform, is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology, a member of their Board of Trustees, a member of the IET Energy Policy Panel, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Bath, UK. He is a member of the Advisory Board to the UK Energy Research Centre, and a founder member of the recently established DECC/Ofgem Smart Grid Forum.
Dr. Colin McIlroy
Kelvatek
R&D Director
Dr. Colin McIlroy is Director of Research & Development at Kelvatek Ltd, in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, specializing in instrumentation, automation, and switchgear for the electric power industry. He is responsible for the application of new technologies and techniques across the entire utility sector, from low voltage distribution to transmission and generation.
Dr McIlroy was a Director of Kelman Ltd from 1996 to its sale in 2008, and before that Vice President of Engineering for Hathaway in Denver. Prior to that position he was employed by CSD in the UK and USA, with particular expertise in the design and use of circuit breaker timing and condition monitoring systems.
Dr. McIlroy received B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the Queens’ University, Belfast in 1981 and 1984 respectively.
Joe O’Mahony
NIE
Managing Director
Joe O'Mahony was appointed Managing Director at NIE in 2011. Prior to this role he has held a number of positions at ESB and ESB International. These include leading ESB’s Wind Development business and managing the company’s €2.5billion network asset investment programme.
Duncan Botting
Parsons Brinkerhoff
Business Innovation & Growth Director
Duncan currently holds the posts of Business Innovation and Growth Director at Parsons Brinckerhoff (part of Balfour Beatty Group), Executive Chairman of the Scottish European Green Energy Centre and Managing Director Global Smart Transformation Limited. His previous roles included Managing Director, ITI Energy and with ABB as Head of Technology & Business Development. He is also a visiting professor at Imperial College London and the University of Strathclyde.
He is an active member of IET and is involved in many influential panels, advisory boards and committees at a National, European and International level. He is engaged across the energy domain from market design to primary fuels, generation (including CCS), transmission and distribution to end user issues. As an active member of the IET Energy Policy Panel, Vice-Chair of the European Technology Platform for “SmartGrids”, DECC/Ofgem Smart Grid Forum and other Smart Infrastructure groups he is helping to shape future thinking in the energy sector. He is also a founding member and served on the shadow board of the National Skills Academy for Power.
In the area of energy and climate security Duncan has been a thought leader for over 20 years and has been contributing to national critical infrastructure working groups (DoE, UK, Asia), global corporate R&D and scenario building to inform and challenge board level decisions.
Neil Stewart
Dimplex Renewables
Managing Director
Neil Stewart is Managing Director of Dimplex Renewables, a new business unit set up by the Glen Dimplex Group in 2010 to focus on developing a successful renewables business in the UK and Ireland. This includes an InvestNI backed investment in 2 new manufacturing facilities and 2 new R&D laboratories for renewables in Ireland.
The Newry factory manufactures heat pumps and the Portadown factory manufactures stainless steel water tanks for heat pump and solar thermal systems. Neil was previously responsible for the Seagoe Technologies electric heating business and latterly had responsibility for all manufacturing and logistical operations for the Glen Dimplex Heating Division in the UK. Neil Graduated as Master of Engineering, QUB 1988 and as Master of Business Administration UU 1992.
Mark Drye
Northern Powergrid
Director of Asset Management
Mark has worked on the electricity distribution sector for over 24 years.
Currently he is Director of Asset Management for the Northern Powergrid Company. He is responsible for a directorate encompassing all technical policy, investment strategy and planning, system design, investment delivery assurance and asset-related information management.
Professor Peter A Crossley
University of Manchester
Director, Electrical Energy Research
The research and design activities associated with Peter's industrial and academic career were/are related to the protection and control of electrical power systems, impact of distributed/intermittent generators on electrical networks and the design and use of renewable energy systems and smart-grids.
After graduating from UMIST and the University of Cambridge, Peter joined GEC Measurements in 1983 as a Senior Technical Engineer and later Research Manager. In 1991, he moved to the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology and progressed from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer to Reader. In 2002, he joined Queen’s University as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of Power & Energy Research. Finally, in 2006 he returned to the University of Manchester as Professor of Power Systems and later Director of the Joule Centre and Head of Electrical Energy Research.
He is also Convenor of CIGRE Working Group on Management of Protection Settings, a Member of the Greater Manchester Energy Advisory Group, Chair of the IET Manchester Division and vice-Chair of the IEEE ISGT Europe 2011 Conference.
Colin Henry
Siemens, Transmission and Distribution Ltd
Business Development Manager
Colin Henry is Business Development Manager for Siemens Transmission and Distribution Ltd.
Previously Colin worked within the Energy Automation field where he held various engineering roles including Principal Engineer, before moving in to management more than 10 years ago; he has held different roles within Services, Engineering and Operations Management, including overseas. Colin is a member of the IET and BEAMA’s Smart grid working group and Siemens global Smart grid strategy group.