Meeting Theme: “Designing Resiliency Into the Grid”
Adedasola “Dasola” A. Ademola – Dominion Energy
Dr. Ademola received a bachelor’s in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; a master’s in Sustainable Energy Systems from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; and a Ph.D. in Energy Science and Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. During his Ph.D., he worked closely with Dominion Energy on various projects including sub-synchronous resonance and geomagnetic disturbances studies. He is currently a domain expert in the Electric Transmission Strategic Initiatives team at Dominion Energy, where he provides answers to operational challenges through steady-state, electromagnetic transient, and hardware-in-loop simulations as well as data analysis.
Andrew Clarke – Duke Energy / CAPER Chair & Facilitator
Drew Clarke works as a Lead Integrated Planning Coordinator in the Integrated System and Operations Planning (ISOP) organization for Duke Energy, based in Charlotte, NC. His primary responsibilities include supporting the development of Duke Energy’s integrated planning processes and coordination between the ISOP and transmission organizations. Prior to joining the ISOP organization, Drew worked as a Technology Development Manager in the Emerging Technology Organization, aligning Duke Energy’s internal R&D priorities and managing external R&D partnerships, and as a System Operations Engineer, providing real time operations support, system operator training simulator support, blackstart restoration studies, and leading Duke Energy’s internal Distributed Energy Resources Operational Working Group. Drew received his PhD and Bachelor of Science, both in Electrical Engineering, from Clemson in 2014 and 2010, respectively. Drew is a Professional Engineer in the state of North Carolina and a NERC certified Reliability Coordinator.
Dr. Badrul Chowdhury – UNC Charlotte / CAPER Co-Director
Dr. Badrul Chowdhury is currently serving as Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering with a joint appointment in Systems Engineering & Engineering Management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. Dr. Chowdhury’s research interests are in power system modeling, analysis, control and economics; system vulnerability and resiliency assessment; integration of renewable and distributed energy resources in the power grid. He currently serves as the site co-director of CAPER at UNC Charlotte.
Brant Werts – Duke Energy
Brant Werts has worked at Duke Energy for 15 years in a variety of roles across transmission, DER, and resource planning. He is a professional engineer with a BSEE from Clemson University and MSEE from UNCC.
Chris Clippinger – POWER Engineers
Chris K Clippinger, PE received his BSEE from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1988 and is a registered professional engineer. He started work at Duke Power and served in several departments during the next 16yrs including Nuclear Engineering, Fossil/Hydro, and Electric Transmission. Chris’s responsibilities while at Duke included the development of protective relay standards, scoping of new installations and he served as the solution development leader on the integration team charged with the revitalization of the protection and control of Duke’s transmission substations. Chris joined Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in 2004 and worked in the Engineering Services division for the next 16yrs. Chris helped grow the organization from two offices to fifteen with a staff over 300 engineers and technicians working on protection and control projects both national and international. Chris joined POWER Engineers in 2020 and is currently serving as a Senior Project Manager supporting customer projects across the Southeast. Chris is a senior member of the IEEE.
Jeff Thomas – North Carolina Utilities Commission / Public Staff
Jeff started with the North Carolina Public Staff in 2017 to work on the implementation of HB 589 programs, such as the Competitive Procurement of Renewable Energy. He has since expanded his role into other areas, including Integrated Resource Plans, general rate cases, avoided cost determinations, CPCN applications, rate design, and grid modernization. As a public advocate, he represents the ratepayer’s interests in matters before the NC Utilities Commission, ensuring that the investments and planning processes of electric utilities are reasonable, prudent, and in the public interest.
Before joining the Public Staff, Jeff obtained his bachelor’s in general engineering from the University of Illinois. He worked in manufacturing operations for six years before transitioning to a new career in the energy sector, with an interest in energy economics, modeling, and emerging technologies. He obtained a master’s degree in environmental engineering at NCSU, where his studies focused on power systems and capacity expansion modeling of North Carolina’s energy sector.
Jeremy Lawrence – EPRI
Jeremy leads the Generation Cyber Security research program at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). This group focuses on foundational and applied research for securing renewable and conventional power generation Operational Technology (OT) systems against cyber-attacks. The research program identifies and addresses research needs through collaboration with companies worldwide from industry, government, academia, and technology developers. The focus areas address challenges with cyber security protection, detection, response, recovery, emerging technologies, threat landscape, and process and integration.
Jeremy’s research focus areas include risk-informed program management and governance, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, secure remote access architectures, network visibility, incident response, and intrusion detection technologies.
Jeremy has over 15 years of experience in the commercial power generation industry. Before joining EPRI, Jeremy worked at an engineering and construction company as an Engineering Project Manager and Product Manager. Jeremy has successfully led extensive engineering and construction projects focusing on developing and implementing cyber security programs, NERC CIP, cyber intrusion detection, cyber security hardening, emergency response, maintenance and testing, fire protection, and nuclear accident analysis.
Jeremy also served in the United States Navy as a Chief Petty Officer. He led maintenance and operations activities aboard a nuclear-powered submarine and was a lead staff instructor. This background in instrumentation and controls and facility operations informs practical domain expertise and use case-driven research and development.
Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.
Jesse Bukenberger – EPRI
Dr. Jesse P. Bukenberger is an Engineering Scientist and Software Developer in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis group. He joined EPRI in 2022.
His work focuses on developing new methods and algorithms to improve energy system models, and on using the structure of mathematical models to gain simple insights about the nature of complex problems in the energy industry. His research areas include climate resilient capacity planning, coordinated transmission and generation planning, extreme event characterization, and developing statistical and machine learning methods for scenario reduction and uncertainty representation. He is the capacity planning lead for EPRI’s Climate Resilience and Adaptation Initiative (READi).
Dr. Bukenberger holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in industrial engineering from The California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering and operations research from The Pennsylvania State University.
Jim McClay – Duke Energy
Jim McClay is the Managing Director of Natural Gas Trading and has worked for Duke Energy and Progress Energy for 24 years. Jim manages the organization responsible for the natural gas trading, optimization, transportation management, origination and strategy for the regulated gas-fired generation assets in the Carolinas (Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress), Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Indiana, and Duke Energy Kentucky as well as the organization responsible for power trading for Duke Energy Indiana and Duke Energy Kentucky. Jim also oversees the execution of the Utilities’ financial hedging programs, fuel oil procurement, and emissions trading. Jim’s background includes various leadership roles managing physical and financial power and gas trading for regulated and unregulated Duke businesses. Prior to tenure with Duke Energy, he worked in New York for 13 years in Capital Markets as a U.S. Government fixed income securities trader with various banks and financial institutions.
John Larson – Dominion Energy, Virginia
John Larson joined Dominion Energy in 1996 and is currently the Director of Public Policy and Economic Development. During John’s career at the company, he has held various leadership positions in generation business development, alternative energy technologies as well as transmission construction and operations. He is well versed in offshore wind through his experience in the development and early permitting activities for Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Pilot Project.
Currently, a large part of his time is spent on Dominion Energy’s Business to Business, Workforce Development and Community Outreach activity for as the Company moves forward implementing the requirements of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, including the 16,100 MW of solar, 5,200 MW of offshore wind and 2,700 MW of storage, with the objective of maximizing opportunities for Virginia’s vendors, subcontractors and suppliers.
John resides in Henrico County, Virginia with his wife and has three adult children. He graduated with a B.S in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Kevin Quigley – Dominion Energy Virginia
Kevin Quigley is the Lead Reliability Engineer at the System Operations Center in Richmond, VA. There he is responsible for guiding study practices for short-term system configuration studies to ensure BES reliability. He is also responsible for training new engineers and tool development to aid in study practices. He joined Dominion Energy in 2020 in the Distribution Coordination group designing protection schemes. Before working at Dominion Energy, Kevin earned his Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Clemson University under the direction of Johan Enslin and his Bachelor’s degree from Penn State.
Dr. Mesut Baran – NC State University
Mesut E. Baran received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988. He is currently a Professor with NC State University, Raleigh. His research interests include distribution and transmission system analysis and control, integration of renewable energy resources, and utility applications of power electronics based devices. Currently, he is a member of the FREEDM Systems Center at NC State focusing on both research and education aspects of renewable electric energy systems and their integration into the electric power distribution systems. He also serves as the NC State site Co-Director for CAPER.
Mike Caravaggio – EPRI
Mike Caravaggio is the Director of Thermal & Hydro Fleet at the Electric Power Research Institute. EPRI’s Thermal & Hydro Fleet R&D group research pressure parts, gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, emission controls, heat rate, hydropower, and flexibility for a global group of generating companies. Mike has 25 years in the industry with a Chemical Engineering Degree from the University of Waterloo (Canada) and an MBA from Nanyang Business School (Singapore), he started his career at Ontario Power Generation in Canada.”
Mike Sykes – Duke Energy
Mike Sykes is a Senior Project Manager in the Transmission organization for Duke Energy, based in Raleigh, NC. His primary responsibilities include implementing large projects supporting the resiliency and the expanding of Duke Energy’s electric transmission grid in the Eastern half of North/ South Carolina. Some of these projects have included the design and construction of flood protection systems (walls, levies & platforms) for electrical substations. Prior to joining the transmission organization, Mike worked in the Coal Combustion Products (CCP) Organization. Mike has a Bachelor of Science, in Civil Engineering, from Worchester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) 1989. Mike is a Professional Engineer in the state of North Carolina.
Nelson Peeler – Duke Energy
Nelson Peeler serves as Duke Energy’s senior vice president of grid strategy, planning and integration. He leads the organization responsible for long-term grid planning including energy storage; transmission and renewables planning and integration; transmission planning and operations strategy; grid solutions development; and strategic projects.
Before assuming his current position in March 2024, Peeler served four years as Duke Energy’s senior vice president of transmission and fuels strategy and policy, managing fuel supply, system optimization, long-term transmission planning, and developing strategies and investment proposals. And from 2016 to 2020, Peeler served as the company’s chief transmission officer, overseeing the safe, reliable and efficient operation of Duke Energy’s electric transmission system.
Peeler has more than 35 years of experience in the energy industry. He joined Duke Energy in 1988 and has held a variety of leadership positions in power delivery, system planning and operations, performance support, engineering, construction, business planning, contract management, process improvement and training.
Dr. Ning Lu – NC State University / CAPER Co-Director
Dr. Ning Lu is a Professor at the ECE Department of North Carolina State University and has over 20 years of experience in electric power engineering. She received bachelor’s degree from Harbin Institute of Technology in 1993 and Ph.D. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2002. From1993 to1998, she was a power system design engineer with Shenyang Electric Power Bureau. From 2003 to 2012, Dr. Ning Lu was a senior research engineer with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr Lu’s research interests include modeling and analysis of power system load behaviors, energy management systems development, renewable integration, microgrid modeling and control, and AMI data analysis. Dr. Lu is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications, including journal articles, conference proceedings, and technical reports.
Dr. Peter Schwarz – UNC Charlotte
Peter M. Schwarz is a Professor Emeritus of Economics and affiliated with the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC), University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research addresses energy and environment issues, most recently on innovative rates for electric vehicles, demand charges, demand response, compensation paid by electric utilities to households providing solar energy, and China’s environment and carbon emissions. He has received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and has lectured widely in the U.S. as well as in China, Germany, Israel, and Mexico. He has published a text entitled Energy Economics, which is now in its second edition.
Ramtin Hadidi – Clemson University / CAPER Co-Director
Ramtin Hadidi received the Ph.D. degree from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada, in 2012, in electrical engineering. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University. Prior to that, He was a research scientist at the Duke Energy eGRID Center at CURI in Charleston. His current research interests include modeling and simulation of power conversion systems, Power system stability studies, combined heat and power units, microgrid control, building energy management and building to grid studies and co-simulation environments. He is an active member of IEEE and IEEE Power & Energy Society.
Dr. Robert Cox – UNC Charlotte / EPIC Executive Director / CAPER Director
Professor Robert Cox is the Executive Director of EPIC and The Duke Energy Distinguished Scholar in Power Engineering Systems. Previously he served as an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UNC Charlotte, as the Assistant Director for the Energy Management Research Vertical, and Associate Director within the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC).
Dr. Cox focuses on advancing EPIC’s research in the areas of grid resiliency and energy utilization. His team is part of the National Science Foundation’s Industry / University Cooperative Research Center for Sustainably Integrated Buildings and Sites. This work focuses on the use of data to improve energy utilization in buildings. His team works closely with many industry partners, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Ingersoll Rand, Duke Energy and Atrium Health.
He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Valentina Cecchi – UNC Charlotte
Dr. Valentina Cecchi is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Program Director in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research focuses on electric power system modeling and analysis. She leads the Power Delivery Innovation research group. Originally from Rome, Italy, Valentina attended Drexel University and completed B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering in 2005, 2007, and 2010, respectively.
Weijia Liu – NREL
Weijia Liu received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2016. He joined National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as a researcher in 2019. He has served as PI and co-PI in multiple DOE funded projects in power system planning, distribution system resilience, and T&D co-simulation.
