Our research
Our research explores, assesses, and proposes technological, policy, and market approaches to contribute to the pursuit of environmental sustainability, affordability, reliability, and justice in the energy sector.
Primary research areas
- Characterizing sources of uncertainty that increase power systems’ financial and reliability risk and designing risk management tools and strategies.
- Examining the attributes and characteristics of different electric power technologies and the possibilities and advantages of designing flexible policy mechanisms that consider the decision-making process and real options valued by those regulated.
- Assessing the economic, environmental, and reliability potential of renewable energy, storage, and emissions control technologies –– mainly related to their operational flexibility (e.g., use of different fuels, varying power output levels), the uncertainty that affects their outcomes, and the implications for the systems where they are integrated.
- The environmental life-cycle, global, and human dimensions of the energy and food sustainability challenge.
Current projects
- GRACE Energy Management System (EMS): Funded by ARPA-E to develop tools for advanced energy management that integrate uncertainty and risk considerations into short-term operations of power systems
- RTOGov: an initiative funded by the Sloan Foundation to evaluate how decisions are made in US electricity markets and how these governance processes impact real-world outcomes. Our team at Duke University focuses on how new power generation resources are interconnected to the US power transmission grid.
- Geothermal for the energy transition: Evaluates the benefits of repurposing oil and gas wells to develop Enhanced Geothermal Systems.