Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center

There is growing consensus about the potential role of renewable energy in decarbonizing the U.S. electric grid. But there are also a great number of unknowns. Do we actually understand the challenges associated with achieving a clean electricity system? If you want to hear one perspective on this topic, or offer your own, here is your chance. This talk is intended to be an interactive discussion between a leading researcher in the field of renewable energy integration and CMU students to explore what we think we know about the challenges and opportunities of achieving deep decarbonization primarily with variable renewable resources. But perhaps more importantly, we will discuss the major technical, market, and policy unknowns that need to be addressed, and solved by the next generation of researchers.

Paul Denholm is a Principal Energy Analyst and Senior Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. His research focuses on examining the technical and economic impacts of large-scale deployment of renewable electricity generation, and the role of energy storage. He has co-authored over 150 articles related to renewable energy integration. He holds a Ph.D. in energy analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.