Dr. Kourosh Malek

Title: A Data-Driven Approach for Value Analysis of Emerging Grid-Scale Storage Technologies

Speaker: Dr. Kourosh Malek, Division Head, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute for Energy and Climate Research (IEK-13), Division AI and Data Analytics, IEK-13, 52428 Jülich, Germany

Date & Time: March 8th, 2023, Wednesday, at 6pm PST

Place: An On-Line Event

Abstract: As versatile technological solutions, energy storage technologies provide valuable stability and flexibility to the grid by increasing the utilization of renewable-based electricity assets. Storage technologies have their capabilities to control grid power intermittency or power quality services in generation, transmission, and distribution, as well as in end-user consumption side. When combined with sophisticated and reliable business models, grid-scale storage technologies can contribute significantly to enhance asset utilization rate and reliability of the power systems. The latter is particularly critical for deployment of regional and national energy policies of implementing renewable sources. There are significant benefits that grid-scale storage technologies offer to renewable sources of electricity, however, there is a lack of appropriate valuation frameworks to quantify their benefits from planning, installation, demonstration, and full commercial operation.

Building upon advanced valuation models and an innovative typology of business models for adopting grid-scale storage technologies, we demonstrate a cost-benefit analysis tool to evaluate cost-effectiveness of energy storage technologies under various business models. Specifically, we assess the value of storage technologies for a range of grid services in different market structures. This data-driven valuation model clearly identifies monetization and cost-benefit ratios of relevant grid services, where various business models (utility-side, service contracted and Independent Power Producer models) are examined in detail.

Biography:

Dr. Kourosh Malek is the division head for artificial intelligence and data analytics at the institute of Energy and Climate Research: Theory and Computation of Energy Materials (IEK-13), at Forschungszentrum Juelich in Germany. With a primary focus on integrated electrochemical energy technologies, his current research is focused on accelerating discovery and integration of energy storage materials and components. His main research activities include deployment of advance AI and machine learning algorithms, data science & engineering, and big-data analytics for green hydrogen production and storage

Dr. Malek has 20+ years of extensive and direct experience in technical research, RD&D and technology management, product development, and commercialization of new materials and systems within clean energy sector, including fuel cells, advanced batteries and hydrogen technologies- for transportation, logistics, and grid-scale storage verticals. He has been the founder and director at Blueprime Analytics Inc., commercializing its proprietary Enterprise Intelligence Engine (blueAI) for Accelerating the Clean Energy Transition. Dr. Malek has strong track records in establishing & managing large-scale, multi-party collaborative R&D programs involving industry, government, and academic partners; currently severing as program manager for a German-Canadian Materials Acceleration Centre. In his previous position (2006-2021), he has been a senior research officer and program technical leader in energy storage at the National Research Council of Canada in Vancouver. He has been leading multi-years Canadian energy storage studies and techno-economic assessments for grid-scale energy storage technologies, including managing several major projects to monitor and assess existing and future publicly funded grid-storage demonstration projects across Canada. Prior to that, he has been a program manager for a major collaborative program on next generation bus fuel cells under Automotive Partnership Canada and in partnership with universities and Ballard Power Systems. He holds PhD and MBA, specialized in the management of technologies and electrochemical energy materials & processes and has led development of several analysis tools and practical frameworks for assessing technology readiness, technology development matrix, market evaluation, early commercialization, socio-economic, and environmental impacts of adopting advanced clean energy technologies.

About Forschungszentrum Juelcih:

Established in 1956; Forschungszentrum Jülich is the largest research centre in Germany and part of HELMHOLTZ society, leading research and development in energy, cloud computing, AI, and brain sciences with over 6500 employees and ~$800M in annual budget. The Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK) investigates modern energy conversion technologies within the framework of climate and environmental protection. The topics it covers in the energy sector range from photovoltaics and fuel cells, Hydrogen generation and storage through nuclear fusion and nuclear safety research, right up to innovative coal and gas power plants as well as an overarching systems analysis. The sub-section institute IEK-13, employs modeling, computations and data analytics capabilities to address the knowledge gap for function and design of the energy devices from materials to components and upto device integration. https://www.fz-juelich.de/en

Address:Vancouver , British Columbia, Canada