Chicago, October 20, 2011 — The Perfect Power Institute, announced yesterday during a meeting of industry leaders and grid professionals in Chicago, will drive energy system transformation by gathering and implementing best practices in policy and system design, educating industry stakeholders and setting the standard for evaluating system performance via the Perfect Power Seal of Approval program.
“Bob Galvin’s vision for perfect power includes innovation, job creation and global economic competitiveness,” said John Kelly, acting executive director of the Institute and executive director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative. “The Institute will serve Bob’s legacy and drive the transformation necessary to reinvent the U.S. electric power industry so that it meets the needs of consumers and communities perfectly.”
The Institute, an independent nonprofit based in Chicago, represents the next phase of the Galvin Electricity Initiative’s efforts to catalyze power system transformation. The Institute will transform the way power systems are designed and operated, and this transformation creates space for engaging consumers and communities in a safe, reliable, clean and affordable electricity system.
The Institute is guided by a board of directors led by Christopher and Michael Galvin and Kurt Yeager, former executive director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative. An executive advisory committee of thought leaders in the business and electricity sectors, including Paul O’Neill, former U.S. Treasury secretary; John Estey, president and CEO of S&C Electric Co.; John W. Rowe, chairman and CEO of Exelon Corp.; Anne Pramaggiore, president and CEO of ComEd; Clyde Kofman, senior vice president of Underwriters Laboratories Inc.; and Suedeen Kelly, partner and co-chairman of the public policy and regulatory department at Patton Boggs LLP, will provide additional leadership.
In its transformation efforts, the Institute will collaborate with electricity stakeholders including cities, regulators, utilities and suppliers. Institute partners include Underwriters Laboratories Inc., The Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation at the Illinois Institute of Technology, LEAN Energy U.S., S&C Electric Co., Pecan Street Project and the International District Energy Association.
Central to the Institute’s mission is the establishment of measurable standards for evaluating system performance and holding suppliers accountable to consumers. The Institute will administer its landmark rating system, the Perfect Power Seal of Approval program, which provides needed metrics and design criteria that help industry stakeholders eliminate interruptions and improve safety and power quality, be cost-competitive with greater transparency, increase system efficiency, significantly reduce environmental impacts and enable and encourage consumer and community participation.
“Bob Galvin believed that we could provide a critical public service by creating a better energy system in the U.S.,” Yeager said. “The Institute personifies everything that Bob strived for in the industry, and with this expert team of leaders in their fields, we have the intellect needed to accelerate the path to Perfect Power.”
