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Dr. Steven Griffiths

Khalifa University of Science and Technology, UAE

Title: System Design for Achieving Very High Shares of Renewable Electricity

Abstract

Our global energy system will look much different in the future relative to the recent past because of both political and technological factors. Among the most significant changes will be widespread deployment of renewable energy technologies, distribution of energy supply, sector coupling through electrification and the adoption of digital technologies. The opportunity for renewable energy is strongest in the electricity sector given the significant cost reductions observed for solar and wind energy technologies over the course of the past decade. Although solar and wind energy have experienced very strong growth in recent years, continued advancement will require technologies and operational practices that overcome the inherent limitations imposed by the intermittent nature of the electricity they supply. This is a systems level challenge that is context dependent and requires both temporal and spatial considerations to achieve adequate system flexibility. Here, flexibility refers to the ability of a power system to respond to variability of the net load, which is the load less variable energy sources like solar and wind.

Many technological and operational options can be leveraged for electricity system flexibility. These options, which relate to energy supply, energy demand, energy storage and grid infrastructure, must be assembled to ensure that electrical power grids are able to achieve balanced supply and demand at time scales ranging from seconds to years. The appropriate selection of measures requires intricate knowledge of the power system in which they will be utilized. In this talk, a model-based case study of power system transformation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) demonstrates the tailoring of power system flexibility to context. The results show that long-duration and seasonal energy storage can be play a key role in helping the UAE achieve more than 40% of electricity from intermittent sources by 2050. Further, the UAE case study demonstrates that context-specific load shifting, and potentially other modes of intelligent demand side management, are integral to developing an electricity system that is capable of cost-effectively incorporating a very-high share of intermittent renewables.

Biography

Senior Vice President for Research and Development and Professor of Practice

Khalifa University of Science and Technology, United Arab Emirates

Dr. Steven Griffiths is Senior Vice President for Research and Development and Professor of Practice at the Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KU). At KU, his responsibilities include development and implementation of the university’s research strategy, management of the university’s research institutes and centers and management of the departments that are accountable for research partnerships, research grants and contracts, technology management and transfer, research computing and research laboratories.

Outside of Khalifa University, Dr. Griffiths is advisor to the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science, a Zayed Sustainability Prize Selection Committee member, an elected member of the Global Energy Prize International Award Committee, a member of the UAE Executive Team for R&D Expenditure Indicators. He advised the government of Alberta, Canada on provincial innovation system structuring throughout 2014 and continues to support the global advancement of research and innovation via evaluator and mentor roles in regional and international research and innovation competitions and programs.

Dr. Griffiths is Associate Editor and Editorial Board member of Elsevier’s international journal Energy Strategy Reviews as well as Associate Editor and Editorial Board member of Springer’s international journal Energy Transitions. He further is a non-resident Fellow of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, which is a leading Institute focused on energy, natural resource and environmental policy. In addition to these roles, Dr. Griffiths serves as advisor to journals and magazines focused on energy systems and technology innovation while regularly providing insights and commentary on innovation, energy policy and energy strategy for regional and international publications.

Prior to his position at KU, Dr. Griffiths was Vice President for Research and Associate Provost at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. Dr. Griffiths transitioned to the Masdar Institute from his role as Executive Director of the Technology and Development Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is a position he undertook while simultaneously serving as the Executive Vice President of Light Pharma Incorporated.

Dr. Griffiths holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.