Kay Stefferud Email & Phone Number

Greater San Diego Area

Kay Stefferud currently serves as Director of Renewable Energy Projects. Kay is a collaborative, versatile and results-oriented system engineer, who has technical, program and team leadership experience in dynamic, rapidly-evolving environments. She uses her analytic problem solving skills in requirements specification, design, and test and system deployment. Kay has full project experience from concept development to system installation and training. Expertise: Smart Grid, demand response, microgrids, cyber security, systems engineering, software development, enterprise architecture, qualification testing, technology transfer and project engineering

Greater Los Angeles Area

Evaluated status of current smart grid projects relative to a maturity model, leading industry practices, technology trends, system architecture, regulatory considerations and overall strategic and business drivers. Kay prepared briefings for executive-level and senior management detailing assessment findings and recommendations. In addition, Kay helped develop a system-level Smart Grid enterprise architecture.

Southern California

Program Manager for the team which produced a functional specification defining vendor-neutral information for the SDG&E smart grid development team and customers on the evolving options for incorporating renewable energy. SDG&E’s smart grid deployment programs are targeted at integrating customer systems into smart distribution operations that will make the distribution system smarter by more fully automating operation.

San Diego

System Engineer for team that conducted system requirements analysis, evaluated and mapped interoperability requirements, developed transaction model, prepared field test and acceptance test plans and recommended suitable smart appliances for the UCSD campus microgrid controller.

Canada

Kay evaluated detailed costs and benefits for Demand Response and HAN program for use in the Smart Grid Business Plan for BC Hydro. The cost benefit analysis and business plan evaluated predicted costs and benefits for four different scenarios based on the degree of environmental commitment and implementation.

California

Program Manager and system engineer for team working with the California Energy Commission, CAISO, UCSD and SCE to improve the accuracy of solar forecasting for large solar rooftop installations totaling 500 MW. Project addresses both short- and long-term forecasting operational needs by combining satellite and ground-based sky imagery to track cloud formations and uses shading models to forecast solar plant output seconds, minutes and hours ahead. Long-term forecasting focuses on the effects on the distribution systems as photovoltaic (PV) systems penetrate more than 100% of the peak load. Program tasks include cost analysis of both utility and system owner costs to integrate high penetrations of solar, technology transfer of results to industry and analysis of the effects of solar on the distribution system.

California Wide

Co-Program Manager for CaLEAP project analyzing all aspects of community energy resiliency including preparing for, responding to, recovering from and mitigating against disasters. Lead team of 16 EnerNex experts conducting energy resiliency workshops throughout California, met directly and in video conferences with stakeholders including federal, state, regional and city emergency response leaders, energy engineers, coordinators, city facility managers and emergency service coordinators. Wrote the City of Oakland Energy Resiliency Final Report and oversaw preparation of energy resiliency reports for 3 other cities as well as the Common Guidelines Report which contained lessons learned from recent major disasters including Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene and the San Bruno pipeline explosion as well as energy resiliency recommendations applicable state-wide. Worked with stakeholders from several cities including San Francisco, Huntington Beach, Berkeley and Oakland to advance the state of their energy resiliency plans. For each city developed recommendations to improve community energy resiliency including potential for grid hardening techniques such as microgrids, sizing components including backup generators, solar, fuel cell, and energy storage. Defined and prioritized city-specify projects to address identified gaps and address immediate needs.

Wrote use cases, system specifications and RFPs for multiple microgrids for a utility in the northeast. Working with utility stakeholders, led a formal process defining requirements for multiple community microgrids servicing critical facilities including fire/police stations, schools, shelters, fuel stations and nursing homes. Microgrids, and other grid hardening technologies, were designed to prevent outages from severe weather events including hurricanes, flooding and snow storms. Performed cost benefit analyses of energy resiliency generation options including distributed gas-fired generators, CHP generators and fuel cells.

Kay defined procurement specifications, reviewed cost analyses and determined cost trade-offs for one of the largest campus microgrids in the country. The microgrid is designed as an energy resilient system which transitions to on-site power sources during grid failures including long term outages caused by natural disasters including earthquakes. The project features a community-sized Net Zero Energy (NZE) microgrid using 100% net renewable energy including 12 MWs of solar PV, 6 MWs of fuel cells, and over 4 MW hours of energy storage. EnerNex modeled the system to ensure the net zero power systems will operate within extremely sensitive requirements for power quality in terms of voltage, frequency and harmonics. Kay specified the requirements for microgrid components including interconnection, power quality and reliability.

Simultaneously led teams completing Smart Grid, Navy and cyber security projects on-schedule and under budget while increasing customer confidence and contract awards. Co-chair of the UCA AMI-ENT Use Case team leading a diverse industry group producing Demand Response use cases and requirements. Produced use cases, business process models and detailed requirements using Enterprise Architect for DOE and CEC MicroGrid projects. Performed market analysis of competitors’ strengths and weaknesses for new suite of energy products. Roles included: • MicroGrid Senior Staff System Engineer - Developed system and sub-system requirements and architecture for the first utility-scale MicroGrid in the US. Produced use cases, business process models and detailed requirements using Enterprise Architect for SDG&E’s $15M DOE and CEC MicroGrid projects. • Operations Center R&D Principal Investigator - Principal Investigator (PI) for an R&D project developing IA and sensor applications for commercial and military markets. Java/C/C++ applications include secure SOA web services, information search algorithms, and sensor data management programs which are undergoing customer evaluations at Operations Centers in the 2009-2010 timeframe. • FCS Systems Engineering Manager/SE CAM/IPT Lead/Safety Engineer • Principal investigator and program manager for R&D cyber security and hardware sensor data fusion projects using SOA web services, C/C++ and Java. Initiated two patent applications. • Introduced and implemented secure coding standards to eliminate security vulnerabilities before installation; and • Managed 35 engineers in four states working in company, customer and home-based environments. System Engineering CAM, and safety engineer for data fusion C/C++/Java system which completed all deliverables on time and under budget, including customer-driven system reviews.

Designed, developed and maintained network management and real-time monitoring software for embedded network devices including routers, frame-relay devices, and network monitoring equipment. Promoted to Project Leader for the Network Monitoring and Management group. Developed C/C++ software to implement IP standard TFTP protocol, data filtering applications, configuration and real-time monitoring programs. Added new features for configuration editors, SNMP monitoring software using standard MIBs, and system utility programs on PCs and Unix (HP, Solaris, AIX) platforms. Worked with marketing, QA, user documentation, and customer support for this ISO 9000 certified company.

Master Of Science (M.S.), Systems Engineering

Ba, Statistics