Argonne was well represented as the U.S. Department of Energy hosted its second InnovationXLab Showcase January 24-25 in Seattle, Wash., hosted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The purpose of the InnovationXLab Initiative is to convene key industry representatives to showcase the strong technical resources and capabilities resident in the 17 Department of Energy National Laboratories, and how they can be used by private companies, investors, universities and other organizations as a source of innovation.
Argonne representatives attending XLab, which focused on grid modernization, included:
- Paul Kearns, Laboratory Director
- Amanda Petford Long, Chief Research Officer, Council Chair and Argonne Distinguished
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Fellow - Leslie Krohn, Chief Communications Officer
- Mark Petri, Electric Power Grid Program Director
- Suresh Sunderrajan, Interim Associate Lab Director, Energy & Global Security
- Ushma Kriplani, Interim Associate Laboratory Director, Science & Technology Partnerships and Outreach
- Dongbo Zhao, Energy Systems Scientist
- Guenter Conzelmann, Manager of the Advanced Grid Modeling Group
- Kyle Pfeiffer, Manager of the National Preparedness Analytics Group
Kearns gave the opening remarks on day two that covered “Resiliency through Modeling and 
Testing.” He laid out the challenge for the audience by saying, “Collectively, the grid powers our economy, and is the bedrock of national security, manufacturing, food and agriculture, finance, transportation, communications and more. Our challenge is to understand the entirety of the grid and then apply game-changing technology to shape it into an economical grid that is also reliable, resilient and secure.”
“As a result of the investments Secretary Perry and the DOE have made,” Kearns added, “the laboratories are creating state-of-the-art tools, models and simulations to improve emergency response, training and the grid’s future. We know our collective success depends on collaborative teams across society. The national labs are proud to play a critical role bringing together these stakeholders, as we are today at this InnovationXLab event.”
Pedro J. Pizarro, President and CEO of Edison International and member of Argonne’s Board of Governors, gave a keynote address on “Utility Strategy and the Role of Government.”
Petri moderated a panel on “Groundbreaking Projects from the Grid Edge,” and Zhao’s poster on the Grid Modernization Lab Consortium (GMLC) was on display in the Laboratory Showcase.
The first XLab was held at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory on September 18-19, 2018 and focused on energy storage.
Image at top: Representing Argonne at the XLab conference were, from left to right, Chief Research Officer Amanda Petford Long; Laboratory Director Paul Kearns; Suresh Sunderrajan, Interim Associate Lab Director, Energy & Global Security; Dongbo Zhao, Energy Systems Scientist; Guenter Conzelmann, Manager of the Advanced Grid Modeling Group; Kyle Pfeiffer, Manager of the National Preparedness Analytics Group; Chief Communications Officer Leslie Krohn; and Mark Petri, Electric Power Grid Program Director. Not shown: Ushma Kriplani, Interim Associate Laboratory Director, Science and Technology Partnerships and Outreach.