Welcome Message from the Conference Chair

On behalf of the entire organizing committee, it is my great honour to welcome you to Toronto for the 18th annual IEEE Canada Electrical Power and Energy Conference (EPEC).

The theme of this year's conference is "Clean Technologies for Smart Cities" and over the next two days you will hear from thought-leaders in the private sector, academia, and government from across Canada and around the world discussing this exciting - and extremely timely - topic.

The conference provides a platform to discuss the latest developments in electric power and energy systems, including research and development, industrial and business trends, as well as emerging regulatory and policy challenges. This includes debate and the exchange of ideas on the potential impact of these developments on society.

As one of IEEE's main Canadian conferences, it also provides an international forum for the presentation of peer-reviewed papers on the latest power and energy R&D initiatives, applications and implementations. A special thank you, therefore, must go to all our almost 100 esteemed authors who will be presenting their papers over the next two days.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank IEEE Canada for their support, especially president Maike Luiken. In addition, I'd like to thank our sponsors Leaders Circle and Toronto Hydro, as well as all of our exhibitors and our hosts Ryerson University. Finally, I'd like to express my gratitude to the rest of the organizing committee for their hard work in the months and weeks leading up to this conference.

This annual conference, which began in 2001 in Ottawa, has been hosted from Halifax, Nova Scotia in the east and Vancouver, British Columbia in the west, and visited all provinces in between. It aims to be a truly broad, open and inclusive event that helps inform and shape the energy systems of tomorrow. This 18th edition will be the first time that it has been hosted in Toronto. Toronto is Canada's largest city and the fourth largest in North America. It is home to a population of about 2.8 million people, with 5.5 million in the Greater Toronto Area. It is a global hub for business, technology, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. It is heralded as one of the most multicultural cities in the world with over 140 languages and dialects spoken in Toronto. On the post-secondary education front, the city is home to four universities and four colleges.

Given our downtown location and the fact last year's census showed that fully 82 per cent of Canadians now live in metropolitan areas, there will be a distinctly urban feel to EPEC 2018. In short, the city is the perfect location for a conference focused on solutions to urban challenges - and building smart cities.

Enjoy your stay, Bala Venkatesh Conference Chair, 18th IEEE Canada Electrical Power and Energy Conference Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ryerson University Academic Director, Centre for Urban Energy, Ryerson University