Dharik Mallapragada

Energy system decarbonization requires widespread adoption of variable renewable energy-based electricity supply and electrification of many end-uses. Both these strategies will increase the spatial and temporal variability in energy supply and demand that complicates system operations and necessitates technological and market innovations to ensure reliable and cost-effective supply of low-carbon electricity. At the same time, for end-uses where electrification is currently impractical, there is a need to identify flexible and scalable processes for enabling electricity use or alternative emissions reduction strategies that can complement grid decarbonization efforts.

The Sustainable energy Transitions (SET) group is interested in developing mathematical modeling approaches to analyze low-carbon technologies and their energy system integration under different policy and geographical contexts. The group’s research aims to create the knowledge and analytical tools necessary to support accelerated energy transitions in developed economies like the U.S. as well as emerging market and developing economy countries in the global south that are central to global climate mitigation efforts. We develop mathematical models for design and operations of processes and integrated energy systems. We use a wide range of computational techniques in our work including first-principle and data-driven modeling, formulating and solving mixed integer linear/nonlinear optimization models and data analytics for variability and uncertainty characterization.