CIGRE UK Women in Energy is committed to advancing knowledge within the energy sector, fostering professional connections, and championing diversity within our community. We are thrilled to announce our next event, open to all, for the purpose of exploring the role of collaboration between academia and industry in achieving Net Zero targets. This event is kindly hosted by King’s College at its London Strand Campus on Tuesday October 29th, 2024. There is a small fee to secure your place (Non-Members: £20, Members: £15:00, Students: £10).
Agenda
09:30 | Arrival & Tea/Coffee Reception
10:00 | Welcome & Introduction – Biljana Stojkovska, Chair CIGRE UK Women in Energy
10:15 | Expert Panel Session 1. The day will commence with a panel discussion featuring representatives from the Net Zero Centre at King’s College London, PSC Consulting, and CIGRE. The panel will focus on the vision for Net Zero and how different organizations can work together to achieve it.
– Academic perspective: Barbara Shollock – King’s College London
– Industry perspective: Kah-Leong Koo – PSC Consulting
– CIGRE perspective: Dechao Kong – CIGRE B4 & SSE
Comfort Break
11:10 | Morning Presentations. The second session of the morning will include three presentations on current projects involving collaboration between academia and industry. This will be followed by a panel session.
– AI-based modelling, digital twin and control of wind farms: Prof. Xiaowei Zhao – University of Warwick
– Academia-industry collaboration for the decarbonisation of steelmaking in the net zero transition of the electricity sector: Dr. Yue Zhou – Cardiff University
– Net Zero Innovation at National Grid Electricity Transmission: Tinashe Edward Chikohora – National Grid Electricity Transmission
– Panel session
12:30 | Networking Lunch
13:30 | Afternoon Workshop. After lunch, attendees will participate in a workshop aimed at exploring pathways into the future of energy. The workshop will provide an opportunity for interactive discussions and brainstorming.
– Rob Nickerson : Head of Energy Insights and Analysis – National Energy Systems Operator
The energy system is critical to almost all aspects of our daily lives and fundamental to decarbonising the economy. The way we use, store and source energy is significantly changing. As an independent, impartial voice the National Energy System Operator (NESO) will take a whole system approach to planning and operating this increasing complex system. This means we need to consider the interactions across electricity, gas and other forms of energy. Our work starts with the development of energy pathways that explore the route to decarbonisation between now and 2050. In this session, we will introduce our work on the future of energy and examine how it is used to aid system planning. We will then get you thinking about the future of energy via an interactive approach. In this we will challenge you to think about the credible minimum, maximum and most likely future outcomes for some of the key changes that will affect the energy industry.
Comfort Break
14:30 | Expert Panel Session 2: The event will conclude with a panel of experienced leaders in the energy sector. They will share their personal experiences and insights on transitioning from academia to industry.
– Sabrina Mercer: Strategy Director at Siemens Energy UK
– Dr. Vandad Hamidi: Business Unit General Manager, VINCI Energies
15:15 | Wrap-up & Group Photo – Biljana Stojkovska
16:00 | End
CIGRE UK Women in Energy welcomes all individuals interested in collaboration within the energy sector and who value diversity. However, please note that space for this event is limited to 100 delegates. To secure your place, please book as soon as possible. We are excited about the event and believe it will provide valuable insights and networking opportunities for all participants and is a valuable Continuous Professional Learning opportunity.
We encourage you to spread the word among your colleagues and contacts who may be interested. For more information please contact: events@cigre.org.uk
We look forward to seeing you at the event!
Presenter Bios
Professor Xiaowei Zhao is Professor of Control Engineering at the University of Warwick, the director of the EPSRC Supergen Network Plus in Artificial Intelligence for Renewable Energy, and a co-director of the EPSRC Supergen Offshore Renewable Energy Hub. He is an inaugural Manchester Prize finalist in 2024, a prestigious challenge prize by UK government rewarding breakthroughs in artificial intelligence for public good. He obtained his PhD in Control Theory from Imperial College London in 2010 and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Control Engineering Group of the University of Oxford until 2013. After that he joined the University of Warwick where he was awarded a chair in 2018. His main research areas are control theory and machine learning with applications in offshore renewable energy systems, energy storage, smart grids, and autonomous systems.
Dr Yue Zhou is a Lecturer in Cyber Physical Systems in the Centre for Integrated Renewable Energy Generation and Supply (CIREGS), School of Engineering, Cardiff University. He has been working in the electric power engineering domain for over 12 years. His research interests include demand side response, energy trading and cyber physical systems. He was CIGRE UK NGN Chair in 2022.
Tinashe Chikohora is currently with National Grid Electricity Transmission (UK) as an innovation engineer in the Net Zero Innovation team under infrastructure development & delivery. The innovation team covers a wide range of portfolios such as substations, overhead lines, underground cables, protection and control, whole systems, net zero construction materials, resilience and everything in between across a spectrum on research, development and demonstration projects. The resilience portfolio is tasked with birthing, discovering and bringing on board innovative solutions that will ensure climate adaptation, strategy & governance, crisis management (asset, operational & climate resilience) across NGET. In the past, since 2013 he served in the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission & Distribution Company (ZETDC) both as a power system planning and compliance engineer. Tinashe is affiliated to IEEE, IET and CIGRE, and has BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering, with certifications in asset management & project management.
Rob Nickerson has over 13 years experience in the energy industry and has held roles in both gas and electricity network planning. It is however, long term energy forecasting that has been the dominate element of his career. He is currently acting Head of Energy Insights and Analysis leading on the production of the NESO’s Future Energy Scenarios 2025
EXPERT PANEL BIOS
Dr. Dechao Kong is currently the elected UK Regular Member/Technical Panel Chair of CIGRE B4 Study Committee since August 2020. He is currently a Subject-Matter Expert/Leader in DC Systems and Power Electronics in the UK’s Power and Energy Industry. Dechao has been getting heavily involved in the UK’s academia and industry for DC systems and Power Electronics since 2008, contributing his such subject-matter expertise in technical strategy & policy development, new technology & innovation, engineering and asset management. He is a Chartered Engineer and an elected IET Fellow in the UK. He is also an active member with multiple roles in several CIGRE SC B4 & B5 Working Groups as well as the Convenor of CIGRE B4/C4.93 Joint Working Group “Development of Grid Forming Converters for Secure and Reliable Operation of Future Electricity Systems”.
Barbara Shollock FIMMM, FREng joined King’s College London in January 2019 to head the relaunch of the Department of Engineering at King’s College London, where she set a strategy focusing on interdisciplinary approaches to meet industry and societal needs. In 2023, she established the Faculty Net Zero Centre with the ambition to deliver research and education underpinned by the discipline expertise of the five departments complemented by broader input to deliver impact and outcomes. She has worked with a range of industrial sectors.
Her research focuses on dynamic processes from materials degradation to large systems with an emphasis on impact-driven outcomes. She is also passionate about diversity, inclusion, and equity in engineering.