Carl H. Imhoff
ManagerElectric Infrastructure Market SectorEnergy and Environment Directorate
Mr. Imhoff manages Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL’s) Electric Infrastructure Market Sector, which includes advanced electric infrastructure research and development with USDOE, state governments, vendors and utilities. . Mr. Imhoff is responsible for PNNL’s R&D programs in advanced power transmission reliability, demand response, renewable energy integration , policy and strategy for smart grid concepts, and cross-cutting grid analytic tools in visualization and high-performance computing. PNNL’s grid activities and thought leadership are widely recognized for substantial impact in the current “smart grid” agenda –as it relates to innovation and policy.Mr. Imhoff has spent 29 years at PNNL conducting and managing a broad range of energy research. His technical work emphasizes systems engineering and operations research in power system reliability, smart grid, energy efficiency, energy storage and clean generation. Mr. Imhoff earned his B.S. at the University of Arkansas in Industrial and Systems Engineering and his M.S.I.E. from Purdue University.
Capturing New Smart Grid Value Streams
In the early 1990s, the information technology revolution began transforming our power system as early time-synchronous monitoring systems (e.g. phasor measurement units, digital fault recorders etc.) were put into operation in a few select areas in the U.S. and overseas. Inexorable growth in digital systems and communications in the transmission and distribution system have accelerated over the last decade, with dramatic increases in performance and decreases in cost. The codification of smart grids in Title XIII of the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2007 formally launched the "smart grid" movement and defined a path for accelerated research, demonstration and regulatory innovation to substantially modernize our power system. Around the world, significant value is being identified in the application of digital sensing, communications and control as applied to current operations in the distribution and transmission system. However, much of the potential value of the smart grid lies in extending the application of those tools and concepts beyond current operational constructs and across the traditional boundaries of transmission, distribution and consumer processes. In addition, entirely new operational paradigms are enabled with smart grid concepts that go well beyond the current design assumptions for the grid that has served the nation so well for the last 50 years. This talk will highlight innovative examples of emerging new values that smart grid tools can deliver—beyond simply enhancing current operational concepts.