Saturday, March 20, 2010

Revamping the NY Power Grid

"Smart Grid" Is Focus of First Workshop in UB's "Business of Energy" Series
New York State Smart Grid Chair is keynote speaker of workshop, co-hosted by Hodgson Russ LLP

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo's clean energy business incubator program, Directed Energy, will host "Smart Grid Opportunities," a half-day workshop designed to help businesses and researchers better comprehend technical advancements and business opportunities related to efforts to revamp the electrical grid.

It will take place on April 21 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Buffalo/Niagara Marriott, 1340 Millersport Hwy., Amherst, N.Y. The program will be co-hosted by Hodgson Russ LLP.

The keynote speaker will be Robert B. Catell, chair of the New York State Smart Grid Consortium, the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) and the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University. He also chairs Alberta Northeast Gas Ltd., and is a member of the board of directors of KEYERA Energy Management Ltd.

Catell will discuss "The New York State Smart Grid Consortium: Mission, Roadmap, Challenges and Opportunities."

The workshop is the first in a series of four to be held in 2010, part of Directed Energy's effort to support a clean-energy technical and business cluster in Western New York. The series is supported and sponsored by several organizations led by UB and Hodgson Russ LLP.

"The Business of Energy series has several objectives," says Martin Casstevens, Directed Energy's director, and business-formation and commercialization manager for UB's Office of Science, Technology and Economic Outreach (STOR). "Technical businesses will have an opportunity to learn about and explore new business opportunities. Academics will hear prominent speakers identify ongoing technical challenges requiring additional research. The series also provides businesspeople and academics with a valuable networking session. We've included subject matter that will also be of interest to Canadian businesses."

Read more about the
"Smart Grid Opportunities" Workshop here, and about the "Business of Energy" Series here.

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