SPEAKER: Charles Murray, President and Co-Founder, Switched Source
TITLE: "Commercializing in Cleantech: Technical and Business Challenges Encountered in Bringing a New Hardware Technology out of the Lab and into the Field"
WHEN: Monday, March 22, 2021, 3:00 – 3:50 p.m.; Zoom Meeting (contact rsmth@illinois)
ABSTRACT: Switched Source is building the next generation of distribution automation equipment to help increase the resiliency, the efficiency, and the solar hosting capability of the distribution grid. Much of the intellectual property for these medium voltage power flow controllers was invented at Michigan State University. In this presentation, we will review the specific technical (R&D, Product Development) and business (regulatory, financing) challenges associated with bringing a hardware technology out of the lab and into the field.
BIO: Charles Murray is President and Co-Founder of Switched Source. Switched Source provides hardware solutions for distribution utilities to increase the resiliency, efficiency and solar hosting capability of the distribution grid. Charlie has built and lead a team of engineers in developing two new, commercial ready multi-Megawatt power converters, and raised over $5M in capital. Charlie comes from an independent power producer background and has developed utility-scale solar, wind, fuel cell, and natural gas electricity generation projects in the US as well as Central and South America. Charlie also has experience developing the largest fleet of energy storage projects in North America. Charlie earned his bachelor’s and Master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and is a Professional Engineer in the state of California.
