The Basics
How long have you been at City Light? Over five years, and a little over three months with my current team, Grid Modernization. I started as an intern in Substation Engineering and worked in Distribution Engineering and Generation Engineering.
Division: Electrification and Strategic Technology
Tell us about your role. What does your job entail? I’m a grid modernization engineer. At a high level, my job is to identify technology trends, regulations, and changing market conditions to develop City Light’s Grid Modernization roadmap; create and implement business cases for new technology; and develop process deployments to enhance our operational efficiency and reliability.
My responsibilities evolve with the industry. Grid Modernization objectives vary by utility and are driven by factors such as an organization’s current grid performance state, its decarbonization policy, electrification strategy and emphasis on equity, etc.
Background
Hometown: Guangdong, China
Alma Mater: Seattle University (undergrad), University of Washington (grad)
Area of study: Power engineering
Tell us about your family: My boys Koby and Kaiden are 9 and 6 years old.
Just for Fun
What are your favorite hobbies? I play tennis regularly, and I like basketball and Ping-Pong.
When you were younger, what was your dream job? A leadership role in a multi-national technology company bridging expert teams between the U.S. and China to tackle problems that originated from the way we harvest energy. I ended up working as the head of engineering for a startup that combatted air pollution by removing harmful gases from thermal power plants in the U.S. and China.
What’s the best piece of advice you have received? “Move in the direction of your goal with all the force and verve you can muster and then let go, releasing your plan to the Power that’s bigger than yourself and allowing your dream to unfold as its own masterpiece.”
What’s your favorite book and why? “Altitude.” It’s a collection of wisdoms for adapting to the rapidly changing world in the face of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
Where is your favorite place that you have traveled? Istanbul, Turkey
What do you like most about your role? It creates the blueprint for the future of City Light, and is always at the forefront of technological innovation.