Grid Resilience
April 12, 2022
12PM to 1PM Pacific Time/3PM to 4PM Eastern Time
We’ll be exploring how energy storage increases resilience. First, we’ll tour the Bad River Band Reservation’s deployed microgrid, which hosts the largest lithium battery project in Wisconsin and boosts local site and tribal resilience. Then we’ll take a deep dive into how researchers are leveraging energy storage to mitigate uncertainty associated with extreme events and how it can reduce uncertainty and risk in the clean energy transition.
About the Speakers
Daniel Wiggins Jr., Field Trip Tour Guide
Mashkiiziibii Natural Resources Department
Daniel Wiggins Jr. is a Bad River Tribal Member and the Mashkiiziibii (Bad River) Natural Resource Department’s- Air Quality Technician (AQT) and Renewable Energy Project Coordinator. Wiggins has worked for the Tribe for nearly 10 years as the AQT and has had oversight of the Tribe’s Renewable Energy Activities since 2017. Wiggins was recently tasked as the Project Lead for the Ishkonige Nawadide Solar Microgrid Project, which installed over 500 kilowatts of solar and 1,000 kilowatt hours of batteries at three tribal facilities.
The Tribe’s energy projects are planned and executed on the Tribe’s ability to exercise energy sovereignty, and eventually reach the Tribe’s energy vision, “to empower and enable the community to move towards energy independence.”
Amy Simpkins, Field Trip Tour Guide
CEO, muGrid Analytics
As co-founder and CEO at muGrid Analytics, Amy Simpkins solves wicked problems at the intersection of energy technology and economics using math and modeling. muGrid provides bankable techno-economic analysis, optimized control, and project development of renewable energy, energy storage, and microgrids to maximize economic return, increase energy resilience, and promote energy equity in the US and around the world. Simpkins is also an internationally recognized speaker on innovation and iterative development for entrepreneurs. She is the author of Spiral: A Catalyst for Innovation and Expansion and host of the Power Flow Podcast, which amplifies diverse voices in the energy revolution.
Prior to muGrid, Simpkins designed and operated spacecraft as a Systems Engineer with Lockheed Martin. Her technical expertise includes system and software architecture, system-level performance modeling, and design tradespace analysis. Simpkins holds an MS in Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an SB in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a messy chef, a world traveler, a taekwondo green belt, a vocal music minor, a mom to three curious innovators, and a tough cookie in the Colorado backcountry.
Miguel Heleno, Field Trip Researcher
Research Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Miguel Heleno holds an MSc degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems. Heleno leads Berkeley Labs’ participation in the Microgrid R&D and the Advanced Grid Modeling Programs from the DOE Office of Electricity. He is also a Justice 40 Fellow at the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, working under the Secretarial Advisor on Equity and Deputy Director for Energy Justice, Shalanda Baker.