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Student Spotlight: Matthias Fripp
Student Spotlight Directory
ERG PhD student, Matthias Fripp.
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"How Much Wind and Solar Power Can California Use?"
Matthias Fripp is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. He is studying the optimal amount of wind and solar power to use in the California power system, balancing between emission reductions, low power costs, and high reliability.
Wind and solar power can provide electricity with minimal environmental damage. However, wind speeds and solar irradiance vary with weather and the time of day, and it is unclear how these energy sources will affect the reliability of the power system if they are used to meet a large share of our electricity requirements. Matthias is conducting the first study to assess the reliability of the combination of wind and solar power, when collected from all possible locations in a large electric grid.
This research first uses historical weather data to calculate the potential hourly power output over a multi-year period from wind turbines and solar modules dispersed across California. Then, this information is used in a power-generation adequacy model, with historical loads from the same period, to assess the optimal mix of renewable and conventional resources in the power system.
Matthias's dissertation research will assess the reliability of widely dispersed wind and solar equipment in California.
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Liquid helium is used to cool silicon samples as part of Matthias's Master's project research. |
Because some places will have strong winds or clear skies even when others do not, the collective output of renewable power from many locations is likely to be more reliable than the power from wind or solar equipment at any individual location. Consequently, Matthias’s research may show that California can and should use more renewable energy than has previously been envisioned. This finding would have immediate implications for the state’s policymakers.
Matthias came to ERG because of its unique focus on energy and because he was impressed by the fact that students are aware of environmental and social problems, but remain optimistic and determined to work on solving them.
He specializes in modeling large-scale economic and technical systems, to seek creative and realistic ways to address environmental problems. His previous work at the Energy and Resources Group includes research on the effect of daily and seasonal timing on the value of wind power in California, the effect of international trade on U.S. environmental accounts, the employment implications of renewable energy investments, and the energy level of a metastable defect in crystalline silicon. As an undergraduate, he studied the policy implications of experience curves in the wind and solar industries, transit-oriented urban development in Portland, and the environmental effects of the “voluntary simplicity” movement.
Matthias holds a Master’s degree from the Energy and Resources Group, and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Lewis & Clark College. He has previously worked as a modeler and researcher at Trexler and Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in climate change mitigation; and as a membership coordinator and database manager for Best Friends Animal Society, the nation’s largest no-kill animal shelter. He also volunteered with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka in 2005, after the south Asian tsunami.
8/1/07
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