Smart grid group names executive director

David Manning may have left his job at National Grid, but he is still very much a part of the Island's energy scene.

Manning, who spent a decade as a high-profile vice president at KeySpan and its successor, National Grid, before leaving in 2009, now heads the energy practice for Boston-based engineering firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., working out of its Hauppauge office. But perhaps even more significant, Manning this week was named the first executive director of the New York State Smart Grid Consortium, a 2-year-old organization focused on creating smart-grid technology.

"Smart grid is a hard concept to explain to the public," said Manning, whose job it will be to fashion an understanding of the concept and help sell it to companies, consumers, government agencies and others. Simply put, a smart grid delivers energy from utilities to homes and businesses via technologies that control refrigerators and other appliances to save energy, reduce costs and improve reliability. But the term also applies to electric cars, and just about any device that uses energy.

Are we close to a smart-grid era? No, Manning said. But we're not that far off either, because, he said, the current power grids are aging and must soon be replaced.

Bob Catell, the former KeySpan and National Grid executive, is the consortium's chairman. Catell said Manning will be paid on a per-diem basis as executive director, while continuing in his post at VHB. The consortium includes Brookhaven National Lab, Con Ed, General Electric and other business and energy groups.

Manning's name has been mentioned as a possible new Long Island Power Authority chief executive. Catell said he'd make "an excellent one," but added he's not endorsing anyone. "Am I pursuing that? No," Manning said. "But am I watching it? I live on Long Island."More key right now, Manning said, is smart grid. "This age demands change," he said.