Charles Gagnon
Hydro-Quebec Research Institute
Mr. Gagnon has more than 25 years of experience in the field of power systems and research and development.
His academic background is in electrical engineering and computer science (Sherbrooke University, Canada)
as well as management and business administration (McGill University, Canada).
As Director of Technology Business Development at Hydro-Quebec since 2000,
Mr. Gagnon has been leading a fundamental culture change in innovation management
by introducing the industry best practices and most recently,
open innovation and co-development practices into Hydro-Quebec innovation processes.
He is also responsible for managing all matters related to intellectual property,
commercial licensing, royalties, innovation partnerships, economic analysis of innovation portfolios and innovation management processes.
Prior to this, Mr. Gagnon was Head of research for transmission and distribution technologies at Hydro-Quebec Research Institute (IREQ),
managing 160 researchers and an annual budget of 25 M$.
Mr. Gagnon sits on the board of many innovation associations in Canada.
The Hydro-Quebec Smart Grid
Abstract: This presentation will outline the Hydro-Quebec smart grid innovation strategy.
The Hydro-Quebec Smart Grid Program is a company-wide project with an integrated vision being an adaptive grid managed in real time.
Moving towards a smarter grid at Hydro-Quebec will involve all the main business units: Generation, Transmission and Distribution.
The main objectives of the Program are:
- Increase grid reliability and availability
- Improve energy efficiency of facilities
- Increase capacity to integrate new sources of renewable energy and distributed generation
- Optimize investments (financial and other) in long-term operability, maintenance and security of supply
- Provide customers with the means to optimize consumption and reduce electricity bills, while meeting their electric transportation needs in a flexible manner