Energy Professionals Convene for Power & Energy 2015; Abstracts Being Accepted for 2016 Event

Joseph Desmond, senior vice president of marketing and government affairs at Brightsource (far right, at podium) addresses the audience during "Meeting Energy Needs — Comparing the Electricity Options," one of four keynote sessions at ASME Power & Energy 2015 in San Diego. Joining Desmond at the panel discussion were (from left) moderator David Walsh from ASME.org, and panelists Asim Hussain of Bloom Energy and Bruce Rising of Siemens Energy Inc.

Nearly 800 energy professionals gathered in San Diego recently to take part in the ASME Power & Energy Conference and Exposition — a unique event that brought together four conferences addressing the latest developments in the fossil and nuclear power generation, solar, wind and fuel cell industries. Abstracts are now being accepted for Power & Energy 2016, which will be co-located with the 24th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 24) in Charlotte, N.C., next June.

ASME Power & Energy 2015, which took place from June 28 to July 2 at the San Diego Convention Center, encompassed four concurrent conferences: the Power Conference, the 9th International Conference on Energy Sustainability, the 13th Fuel Cell Science, Engineering, and Technology Conference, and the inaugural Nuclear Forum.

In addition to more than 40 technical tracks consisting of more than 800 paper presentations exploring topics related to the energy field, Power & Energy 2015 included four special keynote sessions addressing various aspects of the overall conference theme “Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future,” and specifically the topic “Meeting Energy Needs.” Experts taking part in the sessions included Mark McCullough, executive vice president, Generation, American Electric Power; Greg Ashley, senior vice president of Bechtel’s Nuclear, Security and Environmental services; Bruce Rising, strategic business manager for power system sales at Siemens Energy; Asim Hussain, vice president for marketing and customer experience at Bloom Energy; Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA); and Joseph Desmond, senior vice president of marketing and government affairs at Brightsource.

Cynthia LaRose (left), chair of Mintz Levin's Privacy & Security Practice, and Michael Assante, director of ICS for the SANS Institute, were among the panel members at the Cybersecurity Industry Forum session at Power & Energy 2015.

The keynote panelists also included Caren Anders, vice president, emerging technology and transmission affairs at Duke Energy; Commissioner David Hochschild of the California Energy Commission; David L. Pogue, global director of corporate responsibility for CBRE; Mark Rothleder, vice president, Market Quality and Renewable Integration, California Independent System Operator (ISO); Dan Baerman, director of origination and portfolio design for San Diego Gas & Electric; and Lloyd MacNeil, a partner at the international law firm Dechert LLP.

Two new industry forums were introduced at Power & Energy 2015. The first, which focused on the topic of cyber security, featured presentations by Massoud Amin from the University of Minnesota; Michael Assante, the SANS Institute lead for Industrial Control System (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) security; and Cynthia Larose, chair of the Privacy and Security Practice at Mintz Levin. Speakers at the second industry forum, which addressed the EPA Clean Air Act (111d) and its impacts, included Tom Weirich, chief operating officer for the American Council on Renewable Energy; Frank L. Michell, manager of applications engineering and balance of plant for American Electric Power; Shannon Broome, partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP; and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at Paul Hastings’ Environmental and Energy Practice.

The panel session "Meeting Energy Needs — How Sustainable Can We Get?" on June 30 featured (from left) David L. Pogue from CBRE, David Hochschild of the California Energy Commission, moderator John Kosowatz from ASME.org, and Caren Anders of Duke Energy.

Industry supporters for the event included Gold Sponsor Lifting Gear Hire, Silver Sponsor Calnetix, Bronze Sponsor Ontario Power Generation, and Lanyards Sponsor Siemens.

Two new Forums — a Gas Turbine Forum and an Energy Storage Forum — will be introduced at Power & Energy 2016, to be held from June 26-30 at the Charlotte Convention Center in conjunction with ICONE 24. Abstracts for both Power & Energy 2016 and ICONE 24 are being accepted through Oct. 19.

Visitors to the Power & Energy exhibition could take a look under the hood of the Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell, a hydrogen-powered, compact crossover utility vehicle based on the gasoline-powered platform of the Tucson CUV currently available in the U.S. market.

For more information on ASME Power & Energy 2016, or to submit an abstract, visit www.asme.org/events/power-energy. To learn more about ICONE 24, visit www.asme.org/events/icone.