The MIT Energy Conference is excited to announce its inaugural Friday Workshop Series, a unique opportunity for a more in-depth discussion around select topics. The Nuclear Power and Smart Grid workshops are sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories and are FREE and OPEN to the public. Wind and Air Capture are currently closed.

Click HERE for a link to the MIT campus map.

Nuclear Power: New Markets and New Applications
A Workshop on the Opportunities for Different Size Reactors in the Global Nuclear Enterprise
Date and Time: Friday March 6, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM
Location: MIT campus, Building 34, Room 101

The MIT Energy Conference 2009 “Nuclear Power: New Markets and New Applications” workshop will feature a panel of experts spanning academia, industry and government, to discuss the challenges facing the commercial deployment of any innovative, sub-gigawatt reactor design concept. Several small-to-medium design concepts have been proposed as an economic nuclear system that can meet society’s 21st century energy needs in the U.S. and abroad. Developing countries in particular may be better served by smaller systems for electricity production and other uses such as mining and water desalination. Panelists will discuss various factors affecting commercial, public and political acceptance of development and deployment. Please contact Edoardo Cavalieri d'Oro at edo@MIT.EDU for more information

Confirmed participants are as follows:

  • Workshop Host, Andrew Orrell, Director Nuclear Energy Programs, Sandia National Laboratories
  • Dr. Thomas L. Sanders, Vice President/President-Elect of the American Nuclear Society
  • Scott Campbell, Managing Director, Advanced Reactor Concepts
  • Ambassador Dennis Hays, Vice President, Thorium Power, Ltd.
  • Steven A. Wright, Advanced Nuclear Concepts, Sandia National Laboratories
  • Andy Kadak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering
  • Arkal S. Shenoy, Director, Modular Helium Reactor Programs, General Atomics
  • Craig S. Hansen, Vice President, The Babcock & Wilcox Company
  • Ronald E. Ault, President, Metal Trades Department, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Operations
  • Tyler Ellis, Reactor Physicist, Intellectual Ventures
  • Edward D. Arthur, Chief Technology Officer, Advanced Reactor Concepts
  • John Grizz Deal, CEO, Hyperion Power Generation
  • Daniel P. Breig, Director of Project Development Di vision, Southern California Edison

The Smart Grid: Opportunities and Challenges
Date and Time: Friday March 6, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM
Location: MIT campus, Building 26, Room 100

Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 calls for the US Department of Energy to undertake a variety of activities to accelerate the development, demonstration and deployment of the next generation smart grid (including technologies, services and practices) in order to modernize the national power grid. Some of the capabilities that the Smart Grid is expected to include are:

  • Self-healing from power disturbance events
  • Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response
  • Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack
  • Providing power quality for 21st century needs
  • Accommodating all generation and storage options
  • Enabling new products, services, and markets
  • Optimizing assets and efficiency

These features must be designed into a grid that is dramatically evolving. The grid of yesterday was based on centralized generation and control. Today's grid already incorporates large-scale centralized renewables (wind & solar) and is beginning to include residential and commercial generation (primarily photovoltaics). Tomorrow's grid will be highly distributed with a high penetration of renewable sources that exhibit variable generation and non-dispatchability. How can we engineer a stable, resilient grid with large numbers of such unpredictable power sources? What roles will energy storage, advanced power electronics, novel control algorithms, cyber security, and other technologies play in the electric grid of the future? Please contact Daniel Livengood at dlivengo@MIT.EDU for more information.

Confirmed participants are as follows:

  • Dr. Massoud Amin, Director of the Center for the Development of Technological Leadership, University of Minnesota
  • Jack McGowan, CEO, Energy Control Inc., and Chairman Emeritus, DOE GridWise Architecture Council
  • David Cohen, CEO, Infotility Inc.
  • Dr. Howard Shrobe, Principal Research Scientist, MIT CSAIL, MIT Lincoln Lab Chief Technology Office
  • Shannon Spires, Principal Member of Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories (Workshop Host)

Wind Workshop: Comparative Energy Policy between Europe and the US and Their Impacts on the Wind Industry
Closed

As part of the conference in 2009, a dedicated panel to the topic of wind energy will explore issues related to finance, transmission and policy in conjunction with the general theme of accelerating change in global energy.  This workshop will take one of these three themes, policy, and dive much deeper into the material than the panel would allow with the time-allotted.  A diverse group of experts with a variety of perspectives will all be given the opportunity to share and discuss a number of topics under the specific subject of comparative national policies and wind energy.  A consensus may or may not be reached.  The goal will be to develop a short and representative list of conclusions on the topic (including both majority and minority viewpoints) that will be available on the conference website and will be included in the post-conference booklet.  If individuals are interested in participating, they may contact Katherine Dykes at dykesk@mit.edu; only qualified individuals with demonstrated experience in the area of electricity policy and in particular knowledge on the interaction of policy and wind energy will be permitted to attend.

Discussion will include several topics related to energy policy that impact wind energy and a comparison of the US and European approaches and results:

  • Comparison of promotion methods (i.e. subsidies)
  • Comparison of regulatory environment's impact on incorporation of extra costs of wind integration
  • Consideration of locational signals and socialization of network costs
  • Consideration of economic externalities such as local effects (i.e. job creation)
  • Comparison of approaches to innovation policy

Air Capture
Closed

As a companion program to the MIT Energy Conference, the Air Capture workshop offers the unique opportunity for an in-depth discussion among a group of experts representing academia, entrepreneurship/industry, and policy making. 

Air Capture stands for a direct capture of carbon dioxide from the air, as the name suggests, and is one of the most promising next generation Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technologies around. Air Capture aims at a cost effective way of mitigating the effects of distributed sources, like the automobiles, air traffic and humans, and coupled with the emission control technologies from the point sources, make a very powerful case for the future of CCS. 

The workshop will explore the topic from a variety of perspectives and evaluate current research, legislation, and technological hurdles. The group will use its diverse viewpoints to understand the current challenges associated with the research and deployment of this technology.
Please contact Manya Ranjan at manya@MIT.EDU for more information.
The 2009 MIT Energy Conference - Accelerating Change in Global Energy. March 6th & 7th, 2009 |