CREST Conference influence grows
In just a few years, the California Renewable Energy and Storage Technology (CREST) Conference has become a tradition at CSUN. As evidence of its growing importance in the energy field, the 2015 conference, held Saturday, February 21 in the University Student Union’s Grand Salon, was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and attracted nearly 90 attendees, about half of whom were students. The local IEEE chapter provided additional support.
As it had in previous years, the conference featured a mix of perspectives, disciplines and industry sectors. The morning session, which focused on advances in renewable energy technology, began with a welcome from CECS dean S. K. Ramesh and Hamid Johari, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Peter Gevorkian, president of Vector Delta Design group, followed with a plenary address about the design of large-scale solar power generation systems. Then a panel was convened that included William Glassley of UC Davis, who spoke on combining geothermal resources with other renewable technologies and the strategic utilization of California’s renewable resource base; Rafael Alcalde-Navarro of GE Energy, who is responsible for implementing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of wind farms and who talked about power and water and the mechanics of wind project development; and Phil Father, CEO of Prairie Fire LLC, which converts biomass to energy and who spoke on conversion technologies and their future in California.
The lunchtime keynote speaker was Congressman Tony Cardenas of California’s 29th Congressional District, an electrical engineer by training who talked about the challenges of getting green energy legislation passed in Congress and stressed the importance of having scientists and engineers become active in public life. During a Q&A session, he also talked about the importance of the CSU in advancing and implementing renewable technologies.
The afternoon panel was devoted to challenges in the Smart Grid, energy storage and risk analysis. It featured Hasan Ali from the University of Memphis, who discussed solutions to power quality and stability issues of wind generator systems; Keith Malone from the California Fuel Cell Partnership, who talked about preparing for the market launch of hydrogen vehicles; and Akin Olufoweshe from Chevron, who made a case for the sustainability of fossil fuels. Following the panel, Kevin Randolph of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator spoke about LACI initiatives from an industry perspective.
A special highlight of the afternoon was a showcase of alternative fuel vehicles—electric and fuel cell cars—which attendees could test drive on campus.
Abhijit Mukherjee, associate professor of mechanical engineering, again served as conference chair and was pleased with the discussions that the panels prompted. “To promote debate was a key objective of this conference,” he says.
This year’s CREST Conference is tentatively planned for the fall.
