Bio
Mr. Markel has 50 years’ experience as an energy consultant to U.S. and foreign utilities, state and federal government agencies, equipment and energy services vendors, and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). In addition to his U.S. work, Mr. Markel has directed foreign assistance programs in Central Europe, Russia, and Asia, dealing with energy and environmental issues. His expertise includes power system planning and reliability assessment, distribution automation, distributed energy resources and renewable energy, district energy, responsive load, building energy efficiency, communications systems, load research, and metering. He has helped numerous utilities implement advanced distribution system technologies and has developed a “best practices” toolkit for power distribution systems to ensure adequate reliability and service quality. He has conducted program designs for EPRI, Department of Energy (DOE), States of Maryland, Missouri, California, and several foreign utilities and local governments. He has assisted the DOE Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) to evaluate energy efficiency projects, develop technology assessments for energy efficiency measures, and improve project measurement and verification (M&V) procedures. He has assessed the reliability and resilience of critical grid infrastructure for DOE’s Office of Electricity (OE) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL and Y12). He worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop and implement energy management and metering projects and with General Services Administration (GSA) to support their advanced metering system.
Professional Experience
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, April, 2019 – present. As a Technical Consultant to ORNL’s Power & Energy Systems Group, he is contributing to several of ORNL’s projects supporting DOE: Vulnerability of Power Generation Critical Systems Against Electromagnetic Threats (PI), North American Energy Resilience Model, Technical Support to State Public Utility Commissions, HydroWIRES Lab Call Topic C (Reliability & Resilience), HydroWIRES Technical Board for program support, Grid Valuation Methodology, Defense Critical Energy Infrastructure, Characterizing Utility Recovery from Large-Scale High Impact Low Frequency Events, and Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP)
GDIT, CSRA, SRA, Inc., and Sentech, Inc., Knoxville, TN, 2000 – April, 2019. Program Director, Energy & Power Systems. As Smart Grid Program Director for SRA’s Electricity and Distributed Energy Division, he managed numerous advanced power system technology, renewable energy interconnection, and energy efficiency projects in the U.S. and international (Europe, Russia, Asia)
Electrotek Concepts, Inc., 1984 – 2000, Vice President: and co-founder of this Inc 500 company, Mr. Markel directed energy efficiency, demand side management and power system modernization programs for federal, state and utility clients in the U.S. and Europe.
Systems Control, Inc., 1973 – 1984; Senior Engineer and Project Manager. Power system planning, energy efficiency and municipal water distribution projects.
Awards
ASHRAE: Fellow; Distinguished Service & Exceptional Service Awards
Association of Energy Engineers: Environmental Project of the Year Award 2000
Education
B.S., Electrical Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1972
M.S., Electrical Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1972
Professional Affiliations
- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers
- Fellow 2002
- Distinguished Service Award 2013
- Exceptional Service Award 2019
- Past Member, ASHRAE Research Advisory Panel
- Past Member and Chair, TC1.9, Electrical Systems
- Past Member and Chair, TC6.2, District Heating and Cooling
- ASHRAE Board of Directors, Director at Large 2016-2019
- Past Chair, ASHRAE Research Administration Committee
- Member, ASHRAE Standards Committee
- Past Member, ASHRAE Technology Council
- Past Member, ASHRAE Electronic Communications Committee
- Association of Energy Engineers; Environmental Project of the Year Award 2000
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Power Engineering Society; Life Member