Keynote Speech

Gil Bindewald currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Grid Controls and Communications for the Office of Electricity within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He leads activities to help transform the system that powers our homes and businesses, and increasingly, even fuels our cars. His responsibilities include oversight of the Department's long-term strategic and foundational R&D efforts related to the resilience and reliability of our Nation’s electricity delivery system. He is co-chair of the Grid Modernization Initiative, and has been involved in several broader Departmental efforts, including the Quadrennial Technology Review and the “Grid Tech Team,” working to improve coordination and communication on the grid topic across DOE's programs.  
Immediately prior to this assignment, Gil was the Director for Grid Communications and Controls. The research applied advancements in mathematics, computational science, and modeling to enhance operations and planning capabilities across the transmission and distribution system, including the development of sensors, data analytics, and software tools. He previously led activities in Power Electronics, Renewables Integration, and Workforce Development. In support of resilience, he initiated a multi-domain, model-based analytical platform to assess risks to the energy sector from climate change, extreme weather, and other emerging threats. He has supported the Department's response/recovery efforts for multiple reliability events, including Hurricane Katrina/Rita where he provided daily briefing materials to the White House and Departmental leadership on electricity restoration progress, field deployment, and coordination.
Gil has served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Permitting, Siting, and Analysis, providing on a national-level, unbiased technical assistance and analysis to facilitate electricity infrastructure investment needed to deliver clean, affordable, and reliable electricity to customers. He has also served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Electricity R&D, which included oversight of research on grid systems and components such as energy storage, transformers, and cables/conductors. Gil has worked for DOE for over 20 years. Before coming to DOE, he worked as an engineer at General Electric Company and Westinghouse Electric Corporation, was on the technical staff of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, and spent time in the Czech Republic and Bangladesh. He is a registered Professional Engineer (New York); he received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Union College (Schenectady, NY), and an M.P.A. in International Development (Economics) from Harvard University.