ICSGCE Keynote Speakers

ICSGCE 2024-Keynote Speakers

Prof. Claudio Cañizares, (Fellow, IEEE)
University of Waterloo, Canada

Tentative Title of Speech: The Energy Transition in Canada and Ontario

Bio - Claudio Cañizares is a University Professor and Hydro One Endowed Chair in the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department at the University of Waterloo, where he has held various academic and administrative positions since 1993. In 2021, he was appointed the Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE). He received an electrical engineering degree from the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN) in Quito, Ecuador in 1984, where he held different academic and administrative positions between 1983 and 1993, and his MSc (1988) and PhD (1991) degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the USA.

Professor Cañizares’ research activities focus on the study of stability, control, optimization, modeling, simulation, and computational issues in bulk power systems, microgrids, and energy systems in the context of competitive energy markets and smart grids. In these areas, he has either led or been an integral part of securing many grants and contracts from government agencies and private companies worth close to $118 million. Professor Cañizares has collaborated with multiple industry and university researchers in Canada and abroad and supervised/co-supervised nearly 180 research fellows and students. He has authored/co-authored more than 370 publications with over 29,000 citations and a 77 H index in Google Scholar, including journal and conference papers, several technical reports, book chapters, disclosures and patents, and has been invited to deliver over 225 keynote speeches, seminars, tutorials, and presentations at numerous institutions and conferences worldwide. He is the current Editor-In-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (IEEE), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Professor Cañizares is the recipient of the 2017 IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, the 2016 IEEE Canada Electric Power Medal, and multiple IEEE PES Technical Council and Committee awards and recognitions, holding leadership positions in several IEEE-PES Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces. In 2021 and 2022, he received the Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision from the University of Waterloo.

Abstract: This talk will provide an overview of Canadian provincial and remote community power grids, and a more detailed discussion of Ontario’s grid, market, and future expansion plans, considering that zero-emission power systems will be the backbone of the energy transition. A critical overview of the decarbonization status and policies for energy systems in Canada will be also presented, focusing on zero-emission power grid, EV, and Hydrogen plans and strategies to enable a Net-Zero 2050.