Dr Alejandro Garces received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and his master degree in power systems engineering from the Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira (Colombia) in 2004 and 2006 respectively. He received his PhD degree from Norwegian University of Science and Technology in in 2012. Since gaining his PhD, he has been research fellow at NTNU, consultant for the inter-American Development Bank and the Latin-American organization of energy, as well as for the commission of regulation of gas and energy in Colombia. He participated in the Smart Grids Colombia Vision 2030 study which defined the roadmap for the implementation of smart grids in Colombia. Dr. Garces is currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Electric Power engineering, Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira. His current research interests include mathematical optimization and control for power systems applications, dynamics in electric grids, renewable energies, energy storage devices, microgrids and HVDC transmission.