Erich Gunther

Erich W. Gunther is the Chairman, Chief Technology Officer, and co-founder of EnerNex where he helps EnerNex clients define their strategic direction in basic R&D, technology, and product development.

Gunther has more than 25 years of experience in design and development of innovative solutions to a wide array of power system problems, most notably ways to take advantage of communications networks and technology to improve the efficiency, operating practices, and security of the electric power system.

Erich was appointed by the US Department of Energy in 2004 to serve on the GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC) – a focused team of experts assembled to articulate the guiding principles that constitute the architecture of a future, intelligent, transactive, energy system. Mr. Gunther serves on the board of directors of the Utility Communications Architecture International Users group as its chairman. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Tennessee.

In 2007, EnerNex and Mr. Gunther were recognized by the Department of Energy and other organizers of the GridWeek conference by receiving the Smart Grid Implementation and Leadership Award. The award announcement stated: “Under Erich Gunther’s leadership, the EnerNex team has clearly driven how we implement and deploy smart grid technologies from coast to coast and everywhere in between”. Erich also received the individual Smart Grid Award for Technology Leadership at GridWeek 2008 and 2010.

Mr. Gunther is presently leading the EnerNex team in its role as administrator for the NIST Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP). The SGIP is charged with supporting NIST to accelerate the development and implementation of the standards necessary to ensure multi-vendor, interoperable solutions for grid modernization are available to support the policy initiatives described in EISA 2007.

Mr. Gunther was part of the original team that developed EPRI’s IntelliGrid Architecture and led the team that refined and documented the IntelliGrid Use Case based requirements development methodology through its first major application at Southern California Edison for their AMI and Smart Grid programs. He is presently the lead consultant for EPRI to developing smart grid roadmaps for several utilities including Duke Energy, First Energy, Salt River Project, Southern Company, LIPA, and others.