Editor-in-Chief of Switchgear Magazine, Douglas Maly tells the story of his career to date, explains why exhibitions like CWIEME Berlin are key for the industry, and shares his thoughts on the technologies that are going to have the biggest impact over the next decade. 

What initially interested you in power systems and electric machines?

Midway through my years at university, I reached a point where I decided to choose my field of interest. At the time, semiconductors were all the rage, but I ruled that out because I could not see what was happening inside a chip. Initially, I chose power systems. But when I went on an IEEE field trip to a power station, all the generators were spinning at constant speed. There was only one person in sight, pushing a broom. I still couldn't see what was happening. Eventually, I settled on electric machines because I could touch all the pieces and understand what was going on.

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My first job out of school was at a motor repair shop. At the time, I didn't fully appreciate the experience, but looking back, it was one of the best learning opportunities of my career.  I developed an intuition for electromagnetics by running diagnostics on a wide variety of motors, and by winding motor coils by hand and inserting them into stator slots.

Later, I migrated to power electronics. In some cases, other hardware engineers were hesitant to design their own electromagnetics. They thought it required specialised design house talent with expensive tools. But because of my background, I was able to design and fabricate switcher transformers and industrial motors with pencil and paper, using first principles. Ultimately, I launched Switchgear Magazine. So I came full circle back to power systems.

How does CWIEME Berlin help inform and inspire your magazine?

It's a great place to meet, in person, the people who design and operate the largest machine ever built: the electric grid. Merit Media’s flagship publication, Transformer Magazine, thrives in this environment because it is so fertile with human experience and intelligence.

One of our top priorities is preserving and distributing that knowledge. Right now, the industry is racing full speed ahead towards a bit of a train wreck: we're facing a huge loss of veteran talent combined with low recruitment levels, all while trying to navigate an information-age restructuring and a wave of new technologies.

What role do you think events like this play in moving our energy sector forwards?

They act as a necessary bridge. When you've got an industry moving this fast, with equipment this large, you need a space to cross-pollinate ideas between the old guard who intuitively understand the physics, and the new generation bringing in digital tools. Without a concerted effort at knowledge transfer, we risk losing the expertise that keeps the grid stable as we transition to newer, more complex systems.

What technologies do you think are going to have the biggest impact over the next ten years?

The most obvious is artificial intelligence, which is on everyone's lips. AI is already implemented in the grid to a degree. But it is poised to sweep the power industry at all levels, from component and materials design to protection and controls.

Beyond AI, two other technologies deserve attention. Unlike AI, both are technically mature yet have not widely penetrated the grid. That both are mature in other industries and already partially deployed in power systems makes it a sure bet that they will spread more broadly. The first is power electronics, notably solid-state transformers (SST). The second is blockchain, applied for example in Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) tokenisation and automated demand response in the age of DERs.