John was elected to the Board of Governors of the IEEE-SA (Standards Association), focusing on long term IEEE Smart Grid standards strategy. John was the Chair of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP) Governing Board for 2010-2015 (end of 1Q) coordinating Smart Grid standards development in the US and global harmonization of the standards. John is a past member of the NIST Smart Grid Advisory Committee and Chair of its Technical Subcommittee.
John is Past President of the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES), Founding Board Member of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), the VP for Technical Activities for the US National Committee (USNC) of CIGRE, and the Past Chair of the IEEE PES Substations Committee. He was on the IEEE Board of Directors as the IEEE Division VII Director. John is a member of the Advisory Committee for the annual DistribuTECH Conference, on the IEEE Foundation Board of Directors and Vice President of Development, on the IEEE-HKN Board of Governors, Past Vice Chair of the Texas A&M University Smart Grid Center Advisory Board, past member of the Purdue University Strategic Research Advisory Council, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. John received the 2009 Purdue University Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer Award and the 2023 Purdue University Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award.
John teaches Smart Grid courses at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, and substation automation, distribution SCADA and communications courses for various IEEE PES local chapters as an IEEE PES Distinguished Lecturer (since 1999). John has published 150 papers and articles in the areas of SCADA, SCADA/EMS, SCADA/DMS and communications, and is a registered Professional Engineer (Electrical) in California, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
John received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. (Power Engineering) degrees from Purdue University, and an M.B.A. (Finance) degree from the University of California-Berkeley. John is a member of Eta Kappa Nu (Electrical Engineering Honorary) and Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honorary), a Life Fellow of IEEE (member for 54 years), and was awarded the IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000, the IEEE PES Excellence in Power Distribution Engineering Award in 2002, the IEEE PES Substations Committee Distinguished Service Award in 2003, the IEEE PES Meritorious Service Award in 2015, the CIGRE USNC Philip Sporn Award in 2024, the 2016 CIGRE Distinguished Member Award, the 2016 CIGRE USNC Attwood Associate Award, the 2021 CIGRE Honorary Member Award, the SECC Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2023 Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity Career Achievement Award.

John has co-authored five books and has one US Patent: Automating a Distribution Cooperative from A to Z: A Primer on Employing Technology (National Rural Electric Cooperative Association – 1999); Electric Power Substations Engineering (Third Edition) (CRC Press – 2012); Power System SCADA and Smart Grids (CRC Press – 2015); Big Data Application in Power Systems (Second Edition) (Elsevier - 2024); Smart Grids: Advanced Technologies and Solutions (Second Edition) (CRC Press – 2018); and US Patent (9,853,448) on Systems and Methods for Coordinating Electrical Network Optimization (December 26, 2017).

Speech title: Grid Modernization: Technological Advancements Beyond Smart Grid

Abstract: This talk will familiarize participants with a vision for Grid Modernization, focusing on technological advancements beyond Smart Grid. The technological advancements include discussions of key industry/societal trends, Smart Grid concepts, holistic solutions, integration of microgrids and distributed generation, and Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) software applications. The talk will also cover feeder automation business models, managing different types of data, big data, analytics, enterprise data management, Smart Grid standards and interoperability, and Smart Grid deployments and lessons learned.

Kurt W studied Economy, Psychology, modern Chinese language and modern Chinese History - at Univerities of Mannheim, Berlin, Bonn, Beijing-Beida. For his Dr. degree he wrote a thesis about The Energy System of PR China. For a period of 8 years he worked as researcher at the World Economy Institute of Hamburg City, publishing about China’s economic reforms and the energy systems of China and countries in SE Asia. In a leading position at ABB Germany the expansion of business relations with China and South Asia. From 1995 to 2005 he consulted in his own ltd liability company German companies to expand business with China. The Chinese wind energy company (Goldwind) was consulted to get World Bank support for an offshore wind project in UK.
He leaded one of the largest energy related EU financed projects in China, cooperating with and consulting the Economic and Planning Commission in China to foster the development of RE and EE in China (2007-2009). Based in Cairo, Egypt, (2011-2017) he leaded an international team to consult the Ministries of Energy in Arab Countries (Marocco, Algerie, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Palastine, Libanon, Syria) to foster the development of RE and EE, focusing on EE in buildings.
He leaded teams to develop concepts for a wind energy center in China (2001/02) together with the Chinese Energy Research Institute and Longyuan Co., and also for a wind energy center in South Africa (2010/11), both financed by the German GTZ/GIZ.
Financed by German, ADB, Swiss Development Aid Organisation, he implemented also projects in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnamn Inodonesia, Thailand.
In 2015 he was decorated by the League of Arab States with the"The Energy Efficiency Ambassador of the Arab World Award".

Speech title: Renewable Energy in Germany – Policy – Development -Targets

Abstract: The development of using renewable energy (RE) sources - in addition to water ressources - startet in the early 80s. Despite a nmber of bottlenecks – bureaucratic hurdles, impediments raised by the utilities – the development accelarated, starting in the 90 and speeding up the last few years. Within Europe Germany is rather advanced, as far as the use of wind and solar resources for power generation are concerned. Due to lack of water ressources usable for electricity generation water does not play an important role in the energy mix. Nowadays Germany is number three worldwide regarding installed power generation capacity in wind and PV – behind China and the US. Regarding per capita installed facilities, Germany ranks second (behind Netherland). The comparatively rapid expansion of capacities was fostered by the Federal Government as well as by provincial governments and local communities – through respective laws and regulations as well as by providing low interest loans. The RE share of RE electriity supply iin 2024 was about 60% A major problem to be solved worldwide is the storage of RE generated electricity. The German electricity grid is imbedded into the European transmission network.

Ying Huang is a professor at Zhejiang University, the deputy dean of the College of Electrical Engineering, a leading national talent in technological innovation, a doctoral advisor, and a government special allowance expert.

She serves as a member of the 10th Committee of the China Association for Science and Technology, a member of the Power System Professional Committee of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, and a member of the National Standardization Technical Committee on Power Capacitors and DC Transmission Equipment.Research Areas: Dynamic characteristics analysis of AC and DC systems, HVDC transmission technologies, and new energy grid integration and control technologies.