Chris Marnay
Principal, Microgrid Design of Mendocino LLC
Guest Scientist, China Energy Group
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
About the Symposium
The Symposium took place on Tuesday, April 10, 2018
9 a.m. - 4:35 p.m.
James L. Allen Center
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Thousands of microgrids are currently online around the world, suggesting their potential to become an economical, scalable, and reliable technology for improving energy access and resilience. When powered primarily by renewable energy sources, microgrids can also play a significant role providing sustainable energy access, particularly in developing economies, where human development needs are most critical and infrastructure investment is most difficult. However, due to actual and perceived economic and technical barriers, renewable energy microgrid installation in developing economies has so far been limited.
This symposium engaged technology, policy, economic, and development experts assessed these barriers and discussed opportunities for overcoming them. We also explored the roles of knowledge sharing, technological innovation, and innovative financing to accelerate the deployment of renewable microgrids as a key enabler of sustainable development.
Keynote Speakers
Hear from keynote speakers uniquely situated to provide insights into the proliferation of microgrids as an energy source for sustainable development.
Hannah Daly
Energy Analyst and Energy Access Lead,
International Energy Agency (IEA)
Other Speakers & Panelists
Ben Kroposki
Center Director,
Power Systems Engineering
National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Stephen Walls
Energy Transition Initiative Program Lead
U.S. Department of Energy
Amgad Elgowainy
Principal Energy Systems Analyst and
the Life-Cycle Analysis Team Lead
Argonne National Laboratory
Jorge Elizondo
Lead Engineer, Heila Technologies
Mark Hersam
Walter P. Murphy Professor of
Materials Science & Engineering,
Professor of Materials Science & Engineering,
Director, Materials Research Science & Engineering (MRSEC),
Northwestern University
Sossina Haile
Walter P. Murphy Professor of
Materials Science & Engineering,
Professor of Applied Physics,
Northwestern University
Jay Taneja
Assistant Professor of
Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Vijay Modi
Professor of Mechanical Engineering,
Columbia University
Kelly Carlin
Senior Associate,
Rocky Mountain Institute
Sera Young
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology,
Northwestern University
Fiona Burlig
Postdoctoral Scholar,
University of Chicago
Craig Wooster
General Contractor & Project Manager
The Stone Edge Farm MicroGrid Project
Learn more
Questions about the symposium can be directed to The Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) at:
nico@northwestern.eduSponsors
This event was sponsored by: