Luncheon: Microgrid Innovations - ASU's LEAPS

Date: Tuesday, December 16th

Time: 11:30am-1:00pm

Location: 2020 North Central Avenue, Suite 900, Phoenix, AZ 85004

(Parking garage located on the west side of the building)

This presentation highlights LEAPS’ decade of leadership in microgrid innovation, showcasing how our lab translates research into scalable, real-world energy solutions. We begin with a brief overview of LEAPS’ mission—delivering clean, resilient, and equitable power systems globally—supported by impacts across more than 200 locations and $332M mobilized for clean-energy deployment. We then provide a quick timeline of microgrid development as an industry, from early distributed-systems research to current microgrid as a service.

The talk concludes with practical lessons from our microgrid projects: operating our 1-acre Testbed with amazing product tests we've done & deployed from, designing mini-grids for Fiji’s remote islands, partnering with Tribal Nations and communities in Africa for energy access, training DoD staff on microgrid operations, and, finally, advancing software that automates Phase 1 engineering—now evolving into Agentic AI to accelerate Phase 2 design and optimization.

Dr. Nathan Johnson

Dr. Nathan Johnson is a professor and Center Director at Arizona State University, leading major initiatives to advance global energy systems through innovation in technology, policy, and public-private partnerships. His work focuses on expanding energy access, enhancing energy security, accelerating decarbonization, and supporting economic development in both U.S. and international markets. He oversees a portfolio of more than $400 million in research and implementation projects covering microgrids, distributed energy resources, digital-twin technologies, EV fleet resilience, and utility modernization.

With over 60 publications and project experience across 15 countries, Dr. Johnson collaborates with the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy, USAID, and industry partners to deploy scalable energy solutions. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the United States Energy Association and advises several utilities and energy-tech companies.

Vladimir Abdelnour

Vladimir Abdelnour is an energy researcher and entrepreneur pursuing a PhD in Systems Engineering at Arizona State University, specializing in AI agents for energy systems, EV adoption modeling, and Grid-Edge innovation. His work focuses on coupling tract-level EV adoption forecasts with empirical charging behavior to evaluate substation loading, grid impacts, and long-term electrification pathways. Vladimir also develops agentic AI tools for power-systems planning, financial planning, and microgrid techno-economic optimization.

Previously, as the ex-founder of Takatcom, he designed advanced energy-management systems for minigrids and led engineering and business development efforts across multiple C&I and community energy projects. He now integrates his industry experience with academic research to accelerate practical, scalable solutions for modern electric-power networks.

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