KEMA Innovation Director to advise DOE on Smart Grid

Emerging smart grid technologies and applications hold great potential for modernizing the nationÂ’s power delivery infrastructure. Dr. Ralph Masiello, innovation manager for global utility consulting firm KEMA, will advise the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on integrating emerging grid technologies and crafting policy to build a more reliable, sustainable and secure energy future.

The DOE named Dr. Masiello as one of the 30 inaugural members of the newly formed Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC). The Committee will provide senior-level counsel to DOEÂ’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability in carrying out its mission and meeting requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

“We are pleased that Dr. Masiello has been invited to serve as a member of the Department of Energy's Electricity Advisory Committee,” said Hugo van Nispen, president and managing director of KEMA, Inc. “Getting to the future grid requires detangling complex, interrelated issues – issues that KEMA is actively working with clients to solve. With the collaborative thought leadership of government, industry, academics, and stakeholders, the EAC will address many critical issues regarding the future of the national electric transmission and distribution infrastructure.”

Governments and utilities worldwide are embracing the concept of a “Smart Grid” as a vision for transformational change. This vision includes full modernization and automation of the electric distribution grid, and includes major elements from advanced metering, power electronics, and information management to renewable and distributed energy resources, and home energy management.

This need for change is driven by a number of emerging and ever-present issues ranging from demands for greater reliability, productivity and environmental stewardship, to addressing rising fuel costs, energy supply, energy security, and the implications of an aging utility infrastructure workforce.

Dr. Masiello, KEMA innovation director, received his BS, MS, and PhD in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he worked on the very early applications of modern control and estimation theory to electric power systems. At KEMA, he currently is responsible for innovation management within the firm, including development of a practice assisting utilities and energy infrastructure suppliers in developing and managing R&D activities.

Previously, he was executive vice president of development at Caminus and global business unit manager for Energy Information Systems for ABB. Dr. Masiello is a Fellow of the IEEE.