APIC Forum 2022

Glenn Buckmaster has been part of ATCO Electric’s Forestry Planning team for over 8 years. He is currently a Senior Planner and is responsible for developing the use of remote sensing technologies and data analysis techniques within ATCO’s vegetation management planning processes. Glenn enjoys his current role as it provides an opportunity to help ATCO by utilizing his background in Biostatistics, Optimization modelling, and his over 20 years of experience in the sustainable management of forested landscapes. His desire is to continue assisting colleagues to integrate reliable risk-based data sources into business practices.

Trevor Tkach has worked in a number of challenging and innovative roles over his nearly 35-year career at ATCO. He oversees ATCO’s Innovation portfolio, helped launch the company’s EV Centre of Excellence and supports decarbonization/microgrid initiatives. In his current role as a specialist engineer, Trevor oversees ATCO’s distribution technical support and standards team. Over the last three years, Trevor has worked closely with the Forestry Planning team focusing on a grid resiliency and wildfire mitigation program for Jasper National Park.

Harjinder Sidhu is Principal Engineer for Protection and Control at AltaLink in Calgary. His role is to develop and maintain philosophy for engineering and design of protection systems for safe, economic and reliable operation of the power system. He joined AltaLink in 2007 and has held diverse roles including Engineering Manager, Protection and Control Engineer, Project Engineer and Project Manager. Prior to AltaLink, he worked as Technical Specialist at General Electric. He received a Master of Science degree in Power System Protection from the University of Saskatchewan and is a Professional Engineer in Alberta, and an active member of WECC RWG and IEEE PES.

Michael Roles started his career with FortisAlberta after receiving a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary. Michael spent two years as an EIT with the Customer Planning group before moving to the SCADA group where he has worked for the past four years.

Chris Chapelsky is the Senior Manager of Grid Transformation at EPCOR Distribution and Transmission, Inc. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science degree specializing in power systems from the University of Alberta. In 11 years with EPCOR, Chris has held progressive technical and leadership positions within Distribution and System Operations focusing on automation, grid control, smart grid, geographic information systems, grid operations, and ADMS. He now leads a cross-functional team building the future grid-transformation portfolio, including grid modernization and adaptation to electric vehicle charging.

Shane Fraser is the Manager of Grid Transformation at EPCOR Distribution & Transmission Inc. (EDTI). In this role, he leads and coordinates teams and consultants supporting modernization of the electrical distribution grid to address changing customer needs. Holding a B.Sc. (Civil Engineering) from the University of Alberta, Shane is also personally interested in electrification of building heating and transportation. In his previous role as EDTI’s CES Manager, he led a team supporting customer service connections, providing field-level insight into challenges related to distributed generation, batteries, EV adoption, and electrification of home heating.

Pallavi Sehgal-Sidhu is a Senior Engineer in the Operations Planning and Protection group at ENMAX Power Corporation. She completed her master’s degree in Power System Protection from the University of Saskatchewan. She has over 16 years of transmission & distribution utility experience and has been with ENMAX for 10 years.

Juval Bothe, P.Eng., is a Senior Engineer for ENMAX Power Corporation’s Grid Innovation team, supporting delivery of ENMAX’s ESG targets, innovation investments, and ENMAX Power’s 2030 Vision. He completed his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta and has 15 years of utility industry experience with a focus on distribution systems and distributed energy resource integration.

Antonello Monti received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, in 1994. After working at Ansaldo Industria, he joined the Politecnico di Milano as an Assistant Professor (1995). In 2000, he joined the University of South Carolina as Associate Professor and then Full Professor. Since 2008, he has been Director of the Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems at the E.ON Energy Research Center, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Since 2019, he has a joint appointment at Fraunhofer FIT, Center for Digital Energy Aachen.

David Waenink is a Senior Engineer in the AESO’s Operation Engineering team. He started at the AESO in 2015 in the New Graduate Program and has since worked in Operations Engineering. His recent contributions focus on frequency and dispatching studies such as LSSi, regulation volumes and net-demand variability. He holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and is a Professional Engineer in Alberta.

Siavash Zoroofi is a Senior Engineer Specialist, Power System Transients & Dynamics in the AESO’s Operation Engineering team. He has 19+ years of experience focusing on HVDC and FACTS devices and joined AESO in 2015 from Transgrid Solutions Inc. His expertise includes HVDC/FACTS controls development and power system simulations, particularly time-domain electromagnetic transient modelling. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and is a Professional Engineer in Alberta.