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Ralph E. Abbott is a Principal in Plexus’ Boston office and is President of Plexus Research. He is an internationally recognized expert in electric utility customer communications and metering technology and applications, with emphasis on advanced technologies and market development. He has been involved with control and data acquisition systems for the utility industry for 30 years. Since 1973 he has concentrated on load management, remote metering and data acquisition, storage heating and cooling and other demand-side technologies.
Mr. Abbott’s strong technology business development skills in industry provide Plexus clients effective results in product definition, market assessment, technology commercialization, field test structure and management, utility diversification, joint ventures, business financing and staffing. He has direct oversight of the firm’s business strategy development group. Under his leadership, Plexus has served leading utilities, suppliers and research institutions throughout North America, Europe and the Orient.Mr. Abbott co-founded Plexus in the early 1980s. The firm was incorporated in 1985 and has since become the pre-eminent consulting engineering resource in its fields of expertise.
In 1980 Mr. Abbott participated in founding Vedette Energy Research as Vice President and General Manager, successfully developing the first broadcast FM radio subcarrier load management system. The firm secured FCC rules changes that provided RF Broadcast spectrum as a utility communications option. The Vedette system was developed to work in concert with SCADA/EMS systems. Mr. Abbott arranged Vedette’s acquisition and further technology development by ASEA Brown Boveri in 1986. Cannon Technologies now actively markets this system and has extended the protocols throughout its product line.
Between 1973 and 1980 Mr. Abbott was Vice President of American Science and Engineering. He is recognized as the driving force behind AS&E’s early success in AMR and load management, and as a basic contributor to the entire field. He developed the two largest systems in load management with Duke Power and Wisconsin Electric Power totaling more than 400,000 remote points, in addition to more than 20 other utility installations.
Between 1962 and 1973 Mr. Abbott held senior positions in applications engineering and marketing management with several control system firms, beginning with Bailey Controls. His experience includes direct sales, system design and application, field support and general management. Mr. Abbott received his BSME degree from Bucknell University in 1962. He attended the MBA Program of the Graduate Business School of the University of San Francisco. He participates regularly in national and international conferences on utility control, demand-side technology and remote data acquisition. Mr. Abbott has authored many papers in the field and has been widely quoted in the utility trade press, TIME Magazine, Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, IEEE Spectrum, etc., and is a frequently invited speaker at industry symposia. He has testified in load management matters before state regulatory commissions in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
Mr. Abbott holds three patents in communications and control systems. He is a member of the advisory committees for DistribuTECH (since 1995) and Metering Americas (since 2001). Mr. Abbott is a Registered Professional Engineer and a Senior Member of the IEEE Power Engineering Society. He has been a radio amateur since age 13. He is a private pilot, and enjoys boating, water skiing and snow skiing. He resides with his family in Acton, Massachusetts. | 