Alain P. Steven
Executive Vice President and CTO, Viridity Energy
Alain Steven is an internationally recognized expert in the development of market and energy management systems, and brings forty-two years of experience in the development, management and implementation of large real-time mission-critical IT solutions for the electric utility industry. He is also Secretary General of the VLPGO, an association of the thirteen largest grid operators in the world.Mr. Steven is the former Vice President and CTO of PJM Interconnection, and President of PJM Technologies, Inc. Mr. Steven held for nineteen years executive level positions in several multinational corporations serving the electricity industry, including twelve years as President and CEO of ALSTOM ESCA Corporation, and seven years with ABB Combustion Engineering as World Wide Vice President of their Training Simulator business.Mr. Steven graduated from the University of Liege, Belgium as an engineer in physics and aerospace. He held numerous Board positions, in particular with the Gridwise Alliance.
Impact of Energy Markets on Transit Systems
Regenerative braking energy has been used for many years as a way to reduce energy consumption of track propulsion networks. Unfortunately, a portion of that energy is dissipated through resistors in order to maintain track voltage within desirable limits. Therefore, various Wayside Energy Storage solutions have been developed in order to capture the wasted energy in energy storage devices such as flywheels, super capacitors or batteries installed at a track power substation.In September 2010,Viridity Energy received a grant from the State of Pennsylvania to develop a pilot project which will demonstrate how co-optimization of Way Side Energy Storage with wholesale energy and ancillary services markets can help SEPTA achieve its energy reduction and sustainability objectives, while helping the PJM Interconnection control the power grid frequency and reduce its peak demand. As an added benefit, the market revenues will help accelerate the recovery of the costs associated with the acquisition and deployment of the storage solution.