Stephanie Ward ’19
Operations Research and Financial Engineering
Advanced Generation and Storage Technologies for Deeply Decarbonized Power
The goal of this project was to explore methods for scheduling and allocating various power sources in the Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland power grid. We wanted to add wind power or increase existing wind power while still meeting demand. My daily activities included analyzing, comparing and compiling notes on previously written papers about this topic; transforming equations into workable code and debugging them; searching for and compiling existing data to feed into our models; and creating simulated data. I often read ahead in the papers and models we considered and was able to catch potential difficulties or components we might want to include in the code. I gained an appreciation for the complexities of incorporating higher amounts of renewable energy into the power mix. For renewable energy to be successful, we need to accurately predict how much of it will be available and when, as well as have a plan for scheduling it and accounting for discrepancies between predicted and actual power. This project developed my skills as a researcher, coder and member of a team. I now possess strong background knowledge about electricity scheduling, which could be helpful when I write my senior thesis combining my major in operations research and my certificate in environmental studies.
2017
Alternative Energy
Energy Systems Analysis Group, Princeton University
Tom Kreutz, Energy Systems Modeler, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment