Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) has appointed Iliana Portugues as its new operations director. Portugues was previously a senior project manager at the Electric Power Research Institute in California.

PNDC, the £12.5m research centre to be launched later in 2012, is created by the University of Strathclyde, ScottishPower, and SSE, with support from Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Funding Council.

Portugues said: “It is a pleasure to accept this appointment and be given the opportunity to drive this world-class facility forward. The Power Networks Demonstration Centre epitomises how collaboration between industry, the public sector and academia can turn great ideas into reality.”

Portugues added: "The centre will provide a unique environment to test and demonstrate these new technologies in a controlled and safe environment. This will speed up the development of the technology while reducing delivery risk."

Portugues, a chartered engineer, is also a founder of Elimpus, a university spin-out company that provides products and services for monitoring electricity sub-stations using radio frequency measurements.

Graeme Burt, director of the University of Strathclyde's Institute for Energy and Environment, and PNDC project director, said: "I am delighted to have Iliana join the team, and I am confident that under her leadership the centre will quickly earn recognition as a key facilitator of technology acceleration and adoption. This will support lower cost integration of low carbon solutions."