September 12, 2018

By Jahangir Khan, Alex Nassif and Branislav Djokic, IEEE PES Chapters Region 7

Canadian PES chapters are in IEEE Region 7 (R7). There are about 1800 IEEE PES members in this Region. The Chapter Representatives for Canada-East is Branislav Djokic and for Canada-West is Alex Nassif. Jahangir Khan is the Region Representative for R7.

The following is the list of existing PES Chapters in Canada and their chapter chairs:

• Canadian Atlantic Section Joint Chapter, chapter chair Aminul Islam
• London Section Chapter, chapter chair Jin Jiang,
• Montreal Section Chapter, chapter chair Ambrish Chandra,
• Ottawa Section Chapter, chapter chair Branislav Djokic,
• Toronto Section Chapter, chapter chair Bala Venkatesh,
• Kitchener-Waterloo Section Chapter, chapter chair Kankar Bhattacharya,
• Hamilton Section Chapter, chapter chair Mehdi Narimani,
• Northern Canada Section Joint Chapter, chapter chair Colten Thurrott,
• Winnipeg Section Chapter, chapter chair SamehKodsi,
• North Saskatchewan Section Joint Chapter, chapter chair Eli Pajuelo,
• Southern Alberta Section Chapter, chapter chair David Hines,
• Vancouver Section Joint Chapter, chapter chair Kenny Poon.

In addition to the PES Chapters, Region 7 has five PES student branch chapters, located in Dalhousie University, McMaster University, University of British Columbia, British Columbia Institute of Technology and University of Calgary.

Canadian Atlantic Chapter activities

For the Atlantic Canada PES Chapter, 2018 has been a very active year. This chapter hosted a technical seminar on ‘Hybrid Vehicle’ by Dr. M Azizur Rahman, Professor, at Memorial University. An application for the PES Member Driver Initiative Program has been successful qualifying for a grant of $2500 USD for further chapter activities in 2018. This chapter will host a visit by IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) officials and hold an Industry Forum and Workshop. A Chapter Executives’ Meeting is planned for September to discuss various plans for the upcoming months/years.

London Chapter activities

To date, the IEEE PES London Chapter has held three events in 2018. The first, a double-bill seminar held in March 2018, had two presentations: one by Raymond Chokelal of PRI Consulting (topic: ‘Case Studies and Forensic Investigations of Various Solar Photovoltaic Installations’), and the other one by Dr. Yishui Wu from IESO (topic: ‘Ontario Electricity System and Market’). The second event, in April, was a presentation by Dr. Ambrish Chandra of ÉTS Montreal (topic: ‘Hybrid Renewable Energy Standalone Systems’). The third event was a technical tour at London Hydro – the regional utility that serves the London area. This tour included a visit to the London Hydro Innovation Lab and a discussion of solar generation and electric vehicle projects. This event was co-hosted with the Life Members affinity group.

Montreal Chapter activities

The Montreal PES Chapter hosted a promotional visit by the Radio-Canada TV to the Laboratory of Renewable Energy (GREPCI) at the École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal, Quebec. In addition, this Chapter hosted a technical visit of 40 Mexican students to this lab. Dr. Vinod Khadkikar from Masdar Institute, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE presented a talk on ‘Current Harmonic Sharing in Autonomous Microgrids.. In November, this Chapter is planning to host a Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Kalyan Sen on the topic of ‘Smart Power Flow Controller: a Necessity for Future Grid.’

Ottawa Chapter activities

The IEEE PES Ottawa Chapter has held three seminars in 2018, a few more events being planned. The first talk was on ‘Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Smart Green Communities – A Game Theory Approach in Transactional Demand’ by Dr. Javad Fattahi of University of Ottawa SAGE Lab. The subsequent talk was delivered by Sébastien Cense and François Berthelot from OPAL-RT Technologies (topic: ‘FPGA-based Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing for Smart Grid and Electric Motor Drive Applications’). The last technical event was a talk by Edward Keyes of Solantro Semiconductor Corporation, and the topic was ‘A Microinverter Based, Self-Forming Nanogrid for ON and OFF Grid Applications’. The Ottawa Chapter is  currently organizing, in conjunction with Hydro Ottawa and National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, the Second Canadian Grid Modernization Workshop in October 2018. For more details, please check: http://site.ieee.org/pes-r7-utilitiesworkshop/.

Winnipeg Chapter activities

The Winnipeg Chapter has arranged one technical meeting in January with attendance of around 25 people. A business meeting was held in March. More activities are planned for the remainder of the year.

North Saskatchewan Chapter activities

The North Saskatchewan Chapter arranged a technical Seminar on the Saskatoon Light & Power Solar Demonstration site, presentation by Jose Cheruvallath. It held a Children’s Museum Outreach Event in July, aiming to develop a long-term partnership with the new Children’s Museum for K-12 outreach activities. This chapter completed its first pilot event using Circuit Scribe kits, introducing young kids to electricity. The event was well received and has set the stage for a long-term partnership.A ‘Welcome to Industry Mixer’ was held in April. This was a Young Professionals’ event connecting new grads to industry. This was a remarkable success with about 45 people in attendance. There was another technical seminar on ‘Real-Time Thermal Ratings of Transmission and Distributions Systems’ held in April.