SENS
High-frequency switchmode power conversion technology has been in use in nearly every segment of the economy, including demanding aerospace and military power systems that must function despite the harshest physical and electromagnetic environments any technology must endure.
Yet many power utilities and industrial applications have been slow to switch from 1950s-era SCR technology to the only slightly newer switchmode technology. This is despite the overwhelming advantages of switchmode technology in size, weight, performance cost, efficiency, and even standards compliance (energy efficiency regulations mean that SCR chargers have been illegal for sale in California and Oregon since 2017).
Bill Kaewert, CEO of SENS, explored switchmode vs SCR, including:
- Reasons that power utilities might have viewed switchmode technology with skepticism
- How switchmode power conversion technology can be hardened for utility/industrial application
- Trends of factory costs for both SCR and switchmode platforms from 2019 through 2023
- A rare comparison of SCR versus switchmode field failure results by a company manufacturing both technologies in similar volume
Watch the recording:
Meet our speaker for this episode
Bill Kaewert
CEO of SENS
Bill Kaewert is CEO of Colorado-based Stored Energy Systems LLC (SENS), an industry leading supplier of non-stop DC power systems essential to electric power generation and other critical infrastructures.
Bill received his AB in history from Dartmouth College and MBA from Boston University. He has served on boards of directors of economic development and industry organizations including EGSA. He is an active member of InfraGard, a public/private partnership between industry and the FBI to protect United States critical infrastructures.
Bill co-founded Resilient Utilities Now, a non-profit working to improve US resilience against long-duration electric system failures. Bill has in the past served in other roles related to power system resilience, including director and Chairman of the Board for the Foundation for Resilient Societies a NH-based non-profit.