Vera Silva
Vera Silva | |
|---|---|
| Born | Vera Lucia Fernandes de Paiva da Silva |
| Alma mater | University of Porto (BSc and MSc) Imperial College London (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Variable generation Power systems economics Electric vehicles Demand side management Optimisation[1] |
| Institutions | General Electric EDF Polytechnic Institute of Porto |
| Thesis | Value of flexibility in systems with large wind penetration (2010) |
| Doctoral advisor | Goran Strbac |
Vera Silva is a Portuguese engineer and the chief strategy and technology officer (CSO/CTO) at the GE Vernova electrical grid Electrification Systems division. She is one of the few women to hold a chief technology officer position in the electricity transmission and distribution space. She works on electricity grids technology and renewable energy integration.[1]
Early life and education
As a child Silva visited a large hydro power plant which sparked her interest in electricity systems. Silva studied electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Porto.[2] She earned a bachelor's degree in 1999 and a master's degree in 2003 both in electrical engineering. She moved to the United Kingdom for her doctoral studies, earning a PhD in the electrical and electronics engineering in 2010.[2][3] Her PhD investigated the value of flexibility in systems that use wind power[4] and was supervised by Goran Strbac.
Research and career
She worked as a lecturer and data scientist at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto.[2] After completing her doctorate, Silva joined EDF R&D in France, where she directed their program on Energy Systems and Markets.[2][5] As of 2019 Silva was the chief technology officer (CTO) at General Electric grid solutions, where she led 3,400 engineers around the world and worked on new electricity grid technology.[6] She was one of the few women to be made CTO at General Electric.[7] She believes the future will involve more sustainable and flexible technologies, integrating microgrids and high voltage direct current (DC) transmission lines.[6] She is pushing for utilities operators to find it easier to integrate renewables into homes.
References
- ^ a b Vera Silva publications indexed by Google Scholar
- ^ a b c d "Grid solutions - Transforming electricity networks to enable the energy transition". imperial.ac.uk. Imperial College London. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ "Vera Silva". setplan2016.sk. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ da Silva, Vera Lucia Fernandes de paiva (2010). Value of flexibility in systems with large wind penetration. archives-ouvertes.fr (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. OCLC 930656826. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.526357.
- ^ "2011 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium". naefrontiers.org. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ a b "Agenda". powersummit.ie. Archived from the original on 2017-11-15. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ Gordon, Philip (2019-02-08). "Encouraging women to leadership roles in transmission and distribution". smart-energy.com. Smart Energy International. Retrieved 2019-03-13.