Elaine Hale is an interdisciplinary systems researcher in the Distribution Edge Group in the Grid Planning and Analysis Center. She focuses on understanding potential roles for flexible and demand-side technologies in future power systems with more variable renewable generation. With a background in control and optimization algorithm development, Elaine has enabled and conducted large-scale analysis of complex engineering systems, and systems of systems. She has helped found or has been a key early developer of multiple innovative NREL software tools.

Research Interests

Design, planning, and policy related to renewable energy and energy efficiency integration into new and existing energy systems

Modeling energy systems across multiple geographic and temporal scales

Efficient development and distribution of software tools for solving complex engineering problems

Education

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Texas

M.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Texas

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Professional Experience

Pfeiffer/VIGRE Instructor, Dept. of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Rice University (2005–2008)

Lab Assistant II, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (2000)

Engineering Co-op, Ethicon, Inc. (1997–1999)

Featured Work

Assessing the Value of Electric Vehicle Managed Charging: A Review of Methodologies and Results, Energy & Environmental Science (2022)

Cambium Documentation: Version 2021, NREL Technical Report (2021)

Absorbing the Sun: Operational Practices and Balancing Reserves in Florida’s Municipal Utilities, NREL Technical Report (2021)

Methods for Representing Flexible, Energy-Constrained Technologies in Utility Planning Tools, NREL Technical Report (2021).

Chapter 3: Electricity Demand Projects in The Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study, NREL Technical Report (2021)

Behind-the-Meter Solar Accounting in Renewable Portfolio Standards, NREL Technical Report (2020)

Managing Solar Photovoltaic Integration in the Western United States: Resource Adequacy Considerations, NREL Technical Report (2020)

Managing Solar Photovoltaic Integration in the Western United States: Power System Flexibility Requirements and Supply, NREL Technical Report (2020)

Stability and Control of Power Systems with High Penetrations of Inverter-Based Resources: An Accessible Review of Current Knowledge and Open Questions, Solar Energy (2020)

Maximizing Distributed Energy Resource Value for All Stakeholders, NREL Technical Report (2020)

Potential Roles for Demand Response in High-Growth Electric Systems with Increasing Shares of Renewable Generation, NREL Technical Report (2018)

The Demand-side Grid (dsgrid) Model Documentation, NREL Technical Report (2018)

Integrating Solar into Florida’s Power System: Potential Roles for Flexibility, Solar Energy (2018)

IGMS: An Integrated ISO-to-Appliance Scale Grid Modeling System, IEEE Transactions on the Smart Grid-Special Issue on High Performance Computing (HPC) Applications for a More Resilient and Efficient Power Grid (2017)

Capturing the Impact of Storage and Other Flexible Technologies on Electric System Planning, NREL Technical Report (2016)

View all NREL publications for Elaine Hale

Selected Software

dsgrid

RPM

OpenStudio

gdx-pandas

layerstack

R2PD

sssmatch