Expert Hearing on solar storms

14 - 15 Mar 2016

Organised by Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue
Location: Rüschlikon/Zurich, Switzerland

About the event

Click here to watch the summary video.

Agenda

	14 March
18.00	Informal get together drinks and dinner
	15 March
08.30	Intro & formal welcome Andreas Schraft, Head Cat Perils, Swiss Re
08.45	Part 1A: From solar activities to fluctuating magnetic fields in the magnetosphere Juha-Pekka Luntama, European Space Agency, Space Situational Awareness Program
09.30	Part 1B: From fluctuating magnetic fields and electrojets to electric fields on the earth Risto Pirjola, Natural Resources Canada, Finnish Meteorological Institute Juha-Pekka Luntama, European Space Agency, Space Situational Awareness Program
10.15	Break
10.45	Part 2A: From electric fields to GIC (Geomagnetically Induced Currents) in the power grid Risto Pirjola, Natural Resources Canada, Finnish Meteorological Institute Chathan Cooke, Lab for Electromagnetic and Electrical Systems, MIT
11.30	Part 2B From GIC to Blackouts Dietrich Bonmann, ABB Chathan Cooke, Lab for Electromagnetic and Electrical Systems, MIT
12.15	Lunch
13.30	Part 3: Terms and conditions, which damages/claims are insured due to a blackout? (a qualitative analysis) Heidi Webster, Claims Expert, P&C Business Management EMEA, Swiss Re
14.15	Part 4: How to calculate insured/reinsured losses? Michel Messner, Senior Risk Manager, Risk Management Reinsurance, Swiss Re Eric Durand, Senior Business Analyst, Underwriting Strategy, Swiss Re
15.30	Recap and next steps Andreas Schraft, Head Cat Perils, Swiss Re

This event may be photographed, filmed and/ or recorded. A summary of the event, pictures and/or a video of the event in which you may appear may be posted and made available on Swiss Re’s and the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue’s internal and external websites and in printed materials.

AGENDA

Time	Topic	Format	Speaker
11 Nov
18.30	Get together	Dinner
12 Nov
	Moderator of the day		Eric Durand
08.30	Intro & welcome	Short speech	Andreas
08.45	Part 1: Hazard in the US: Scientific findings of solar / geomagnetic storms	30 - 40 Minutes presentation followed by discussion	NN, MIT
10.30	Break
11.00	Part 2: Vulnerability of EPPs: Technology and resistance of EPPs	30 Minutes presentation followed by Q&A	Dr. Turhan Hilmi Demiray tbc, ETH Zürich, Forschungsstelle Energienetze
12.00	Lunch
13.00	Part 3: US Exposure assessment	30 Minutes presentation à input for scenario workshop	Aurel Schwerzmann, Swiss Re
	Workshop: Scenario analyses & impact on insured risks	Two – three groups discussion potential scenarios from two-three different perspectives	Moderators: Experts
	Feedback session	10 minutes each group	Moderator Eric Durand
15.00	Break
15.30	Part 4: Legal: Terms & conditions of insurance coverage	30 minutes presentation followed by Q&A	Peter Bütikofer, Swiss Re Beat Kramer, Swiss Re
16.30	End

Summary

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Speakers

Dietrich Bonmann

IEEE Transformers Committee

Links

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Chathan Cooke

Principal Research Engineer

Dr. Chathan Cooke is a Senior Member of IEEE with years of participation in CIGRE working groups. He graduated in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. Presently he is a lecturer and a lead researcher at MIT with specialties in dielectrics, sensors, high-voltage systems, wireless power, electronics and power apparatus. He is also a Professor of electrical engineering at Suffolk University, Boston. He has extensive experience on power transformer diagnostics and on-line monitoring. He has worked with many power industry utilities and suppliers of power apparatus both in the US and in Europe and Asia.

Dr. Cooke’s MIT academic experience includes teaching a diverse range of courses from Plasma Physics, to Control Systems, to Electronic Circuits. Recent basic research topics include ultrasonic diagnostics of insulators, power systems for all-electric ships, DC circuit breakers, and geomagnetic disturbances to power systems.

Eric Durand

Senior Business Analyst, Underwriting Strategy, Swiss Re

Eric Durand joined Swiss Re in 1990 as a research scientist in the Natural Perils team, developing new analysis and simulation models for European Storms and their effect to insured portfolios. He then worked for Swiss Re Australia as a cat specialist and underwriter for a period of two years before returning to Zurich to take over the leadership for a group of Property/Casualty treaty underwriters.

In 2002 he was appointed to SR-Iberica in Madrid as a Chief Underwriting Officer for the Iberian Peninsula, before returning three years later to Zurich as an Underwriting Manager Treaty Property. In 2014 he transitioned to Swiss Re's Group Underwriting to lead the newly created Cyber Center of Competence and to coordinate the company's efforts with regards to Cyber activities. He also leads SwissRe's project on Solar Storms and their effect to the bulk power grid.

Eric Durand grew up in Neuchatel (Switzerland) and graduated in Electrical Engineering at the ETH in Zürich. He holds a PhD from the same institution in Biomedical Engineering.

Michel Messner

Senior Risk Manager

See pdf attached.

Download

MichelMessner_CV_2013

Risto Pirjola

Research Manager, Finnish Meteorological Institute

Links

Click here to read the bio.

Andreas Schraft

Head Cat Perils & Treaty Centre, Swiss Re

Andreas Schraft, a civil engineer by training, is responsible for Swiss Re’s risk assessment for natural perils such as windstorms, floods, and earthquakes. His team develops the models used by underwriters to quantify natural catastrophe exposures and it supports underwriters in applying the tools for the assessment of specific underwriting cases. In his previous role, Andreas was responsible for Swiss Re’s Risk Engineering Services team which supports single risk underwriters in the assessment of man made hazards (fires, explosions, product defects, terrorism, risks of pervasive computing among others). Additionally, he was a facultative reinsurance underwriter and client manager for Swiss Re’s business in some European markets.

Heidi Webster

Claims Expert, P&C Business Management EMEA

I have worked in Reinsurance for 21 years, the last 13 being at Swiss Re in P&C Claims, handling mainly Property & Motor Liability claims. I am a member of the Nat Cat Expert Network & the "go to" person for any issues regarding property losses in the UK.