Nouredine Hadjsaid
After being elected to the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Governing Board as treasurer for two terms (from 2018 to 2020 and from 2020 to 2021), I left PES as financially one of the healthiest of all the IEEE Societies. Since serving the membership in that role, I was appointed for 2022 and now 2023 to be vice president (VP) for new initiatives and outreach. It was a great honor to have served PES and its members as treasurer and a renewed honor and privilege to continue serving as the PES VP for new initiatives and outreach. It is one of the most exciting and enriching experiences, and I am very grateful for all Society members. I personally encourage all motivated Society members to get involved in volunteering with PES. Serving the Society and its members is a must!
As part of a “Leader’s Corner” contribution to IEEE Power & Energy Magazine, I am delighted to share with all PES members some of the strategic issues of PES’s future projections and the related role of the VP for new initiatives and outreach. The planned new initiatives will ensure the best benefits and services for all PES members.
The role of the VP for new initiatives and outreach has evolved over the years, but it deals with two main objectives: launch new initiatives as new projects for preparing PES’s future while dealing with the most up-to-date issues of energy and ensuring the Society is properly positioned to all relevant stakeholders, whether they are industry, institutional, general public, media, or academia. The foreseen global output is to further develop PES and attract new members and engage current ones to deal with the emerging topics and transform them into new opportunities for PES and its members and to prepare new and enhanced services for its members worldwide.
I took over the VP for new initiatives and outreach position from Shay Bahramirad, who has accomplished outstanding work during her five years in that role. She allowed me not only to start my VP role on an excellent basis but also to capitalize on all the remarkable actions she has launched and led successfully. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr. Bahramirad for letting me start my VP role with such positive conditions. Dr. Bahramirad has been elected to become our next PES president!
An example of Dr. Bahramirad’s accomplishments that I have the privilege of continuing is supporting the development of IEEE Smart Cities actions along with six other IEEE Societies. IEEE Smart Cities is presently moving toward a pilot experiment TC2.0 for further development with an objective to be transformed into an independent business unit. As such, PES has defined a cooperation strategy with IEEE Smart Cities TC2.0 and set up a memorandum of understanding for all common actions such as the Smart Cities Pavilion at PES’s major conferences (the IEEE PES T&D or Grid Edge conferences) or new cosponsored events such as a smart lighting conference.
Regarding new initiatives, the approved actions can be funded from the PES reserves or from its financial surplus of the year. Since the PES reserves are very comfortable (about US$35 million), PES has the means to invest for its future.
Another example is a new initiative under consideration for workforce development. The issue of the workforce has become a top priority from our industry members and particularly within the Executive Advisory Council (EAC), which is composed of key power and energy executives. The initiative was presented at the IEEE PES ExCom held in Singapore on 3 November 2022 and subsequently approved. The required budget was voted on by the Governing Board on 20 January 2023, and a steering committee, composed of interested and involved VPs, volunteers, and staff, has been set up to follow up on project development and provide all the relevant inputs to the project. A volunteer project manager, Kamal Garg from SEL, has also been appointed with support from PES staff, to ensure the proper structuring and planning of the project.
It has to be noted that all actions related to new initiatives are closely linked with the president and president-elect, all PES VPs, and PES staff, as well as volunteers. As a matter of fact, other initiatives are expected to emerge shortly in various areas such as climate change, education, membership, conferences, diversity, and decarbonization.
Regarding the outreach part, PES is keen to further develop our global industry and institutional relationships. Based on the success and relevance of the EAC action, led by PES Past President Damir Novosel, it has been decided to expand the EAC concept to set up a Global Industry Stakeholder Advisory Board (GISAB). The GISAB action has been approved by the PES Governing Board, and the concept of GISAB is based on regional groups of Industry Stakeholder Executives (North America, Europe, Asia and Pacific, Latin America, and Africa and the Middle East). GISAB is composed of the chairs and cochairs of all regional groups and will be interacting mainly with the PES Governing Board from a strategic perspective.
To finish this “Leader’s Corner,” I express special thanks to the PES president and president-elect, the PES executive director and remarkable dedicated staff, and all PES VPs and volunteers who not only are continuously inspiring me on this role but also do not spare any effort in providing me continuous and valuable support, new ideas, and relevant contributions and content for the success of this mission.
PES is moving forward and preparing its future in the context of a changing energy paradigm and landscape, net zero pathway and climate change mitigation, decarbonization, and electrification as a cornerstone of this transition for reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 or even earlier.
The PES Governing Board has approved the following candidates for the offices of 2024/2025 PES President Elect, PES Treasurer and PES Secretary. The ballot will be presented to the membership no later than 1 August. To be counted, the ballot must be received at the designated location by twelve o’clock noon in the Eastern Time zone on 2 October.
Individuals may submit a petition to be included in the annual election ballot provided the petition is submitted at least 28 days before the date of election. For more information reference PES Bylaw 15.4.
PES President-ElectD
• Claudio Cañizares—University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
• Farnoosh Rahmatian—NuGrid Power Corp, Vancouver, BC, Canada
PES Secretary
• Mazana Armstrong—British Columbia Hydro, BC, Canada
• Ramakrishna Kappagantu—Eficaa Ensmart Solutions Private Limited,
• Telangana, India
PES Treasurer
• Juan Carlos Montero Quirós—Costa Rican National Power Control Center, San Jose, Costa Rica
• Dean Sharafi—Australian Energy Market Operator, Perth Australia
Additional information on candidates will be available on the PES website by 1 May, 2023.
If you have questions on the election process, please email pes@ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2023.3256669
Date of current version: 19 April 2023
1540-7977/23©2023IEEE