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Power System Modeler and Analyst

The Economics and Forecasting Group within the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has an immediate opening for a power systems modeler and analyst to join a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative team of researchers developing and applying state-of-the art power system models to conduct leading-edge analyses.
NREL is the nation's primary laboratory for research, development, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Nestled in the foothills of Golden, Colorado, surrounded by grassland, and convenient to Denver, Boulder, and several suburbs, the NREL campus is a living experiment filled with curious researchers and concrete demonstrations of advanced energy technologies (e.g., best-in-class energy efficiency, daylighting, MW-scale solar photovoltaics, buildings heated by computers, optimized electric vehicle charging, hydrogen fueling station).
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
The Economics and Forecasting Group (EFG) develops and applies energy-economic models to evaluate and inform the evolution of energy systems from the regional to global scale. We are looking forward to welcoming a new power systems modeler to our team to conduct research around the future of the US power system.
Working with senior researchers, the successful candidate will initially be focused on the development and implementation of new methods to flexibly structure and solve our flagship power sector capacity expansion model—the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS). In addition, the new team member will implement ReEDS to study the impacts of policy and market conditions on the future of power systems, particularly in the context of high-penetration renewable systems. Broadly, the candidate will be responsible for a variety of tasks including model development, conducting scenario analysis, communicating results internally and externally through presentations at conferences, workshops, and other professional meetings, and contributing to publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Previous experience with energy and electricity modeling is preferred. Experience in analysis of the integration of renewable generation, energy sector policy/regulatory analysis, and an understanding of wholesale power markets are strongly preferred. Demonstrated experience presenting research findings to broad—technical and non-technical—audiences are also desired.
Specific job duties may include:

  • Contributing to the development and implementation of new advanced methods for capacity expansion modeling,
  • Researching rules, trends, and issues in power system planning and operation—e.g., energy policies, transmission planning, renewable energy integration, emissions restrictions, changes in electricity demand—and consider how to implement them into electric sector models,
  • Executing quality control methods,
  • Researching, acquisition, organization, and analysis of large data sets,
  • Developing new data architectures to generically and flexibly describe infrastructure systems,
  • Collaborating with analysts on other modeling teams to relate inputs and outputs across models
  • Executing scenarios, and analyzing and interpreting results for reporting,
  • Presenting work at conferences,
  • Writing and publishing results of analyses in peer-reviewed journals and technical reports,
  • Assisting in the development of proposals for new work,
Our Team
The EFG team consists of engineers, economists, physicists, and operations research experts. All are systems thinkers and life-long learners who strive to push the boundaries of innovation, integrated analysis, and tool development. You would join us in developing innovative modeling approaches, collaboratively applying them with a wide-range of research and industry partners to conduct high-impact analysis, and working to articulate current trends and chart future needs in integrated grid systems.


Requirements
Relevant Master's Degree . Or, relevant Bachelor's Degree and 2 or more years of experience .