Principal Power Systems Engineer
Academic Background
- M.S., Electrical Engineering, California State University, Sacramento 2008
- B.S., Electrical Engineering, University of California, Davis 2003
Professional Experience
Joseph Gillette is an electrical engineer with 15 years of experience performing power system studies in the electric utility industry. Mr. Gillette has extensive experience performing steady-state, voltage stability, and transient stability studies for various entities in the Western Interconnection and has experience demonstrating compliance for and serving as subject matter expert to various Transmission Planner (TP) and Planning Coordinator (PC) NERC reliability standards.
Mr. Gillette has worked for Utility System Efficiencies, Inc. (USE) from 2010 to 2013 and from 2019 to the present. In his time at USE, he has contributed to numerous power system studies throughout the Western Interconnection, including a system impact study of a proposed 500-kV project, annual planning assessments, interconnection studies, operating nomogram studies, and a major WECC three-phase rating process. These power system studies included steady-state, post-transient, transient stability, and reactive power margin studies.
Prior to his current position with USE, Joseph worked for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) from 2009 to 2010 and from 2013 to 2019. In his last position at SMUD, Mr. Gillette was the Manager of the Grid Planning Department and was responsible for developing long-term plans for a safe, reliable, and cost-effective transmission system with a staff of 6 planning engineers. He was a subject matter expert for fourteen (14) applicable TP and PC Standards, and he represented SMUD at various industry meetings and conferences, including WECC, BANC, NATF, and WestConnect meetings. Prior to his promotion to manager, Joseph performed numerous power system studies in support of various industry requirements and enterprise goals, including the first CIP 014 study (which would later receive a positive observation from WECC), minimum generation studies, and generation and load interconnection studies.
Mr. Gillette worked for the Turlock Irrigation District as an Assistant Electrical Engineer and Associate Electrical Engineer where he performed steady state, voltage stability, and transient stability studies in support of both the Transmission Planning and Transmission Operations Departments. He demonstrated compliance with the then-new reliability standards, including standards in the TP, TOP, FAC and EOP categories.
As an Energy Specialist in the Electricity Analysis Office at the California Energy Commission, Mr. Gillette assisted in the production cost modeling of the Western Interconnection to determine the effects of various scenarios and policies. He also created numerous computer programs and spreadsheets to collect and analyze various generation, transmission, and load data sets.
