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Student Spotlight: Christian Casillas
Student Spotlight Directory
PHOTO/R. NORGAARD
ERG PhD student, Christian Casillas.
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Home connected to a diesel grid. |
Diesel plant and grid connection. |
"Renewables and Diesel in Nicaragua"
Christian is a PhD candidate in the Energy and Resources Group. He is interested in how the reliability of diesel-powered electricity grids in rural communities may be improved through the integration of renewable energy technologies, efficiency measures, and different models of management, as well as the transformations which occur within communities that have reliable electricity access.
Over one quarter of the world’s population lacks access to electricity, the majority of them living in rural areas. Christian’s work over the past several years has been based on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, in partnership with blueEnergy, an NGO focused on capacity building and the provision of energy systems to the many isolated coastal communities. Eighty percent of the Atlantic coast population lacks access to electricity. The communities that do have electricity are typically served by government operated diesel microgrids, often run at monetary losses on the order of 50-60%.
Although Christian is working to narrow the focus of his PhD research, it will likely involve further exploring the following questions:
° Can demand side management, in conjunction with the integration of renewable energy technologies (wind, solar, biofuels), increase access and reduce the economic losses of diesel microgrid systems on the Atlantic Coast?
° Under what conditions do community, private, or government managed power systems offer greater net benefits to the local populations?
° What is the relationship between reliable electricity access and the autonomy and identity of communities on the Atlantic Coast?
Measuring end use.
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Community repairing a wind turbine. |
To better answer these questions, Christian’s research will continue to focus on the measurement and analysis of generation, distribution, and consumption patterns on the isolated power grids in Nicaragua. He will also build off of his master’s research to model the technical and economic constraints for integrating wind, solar and biofuels into the existing diesel grids, and begin to explore the role of different models of grid ownership and management, as well as what economic and social transformations have been occurring within some of these electrified communities.
Christian’s current work and research were largely motivated by his experiences teaching and travelling in rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa during his time as a Peace Corps volunteer. Christian has worked professionally as an atmospheric/ocean research scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, an engineer on a 12.5 kW PV/diesel system in New Mexico, and has served as a volunteer and technical advisor to blueEnergy since the end of 2005, initiating the testing and evaluation of blueEnergy’s wind turbines. Christian is a co-founder of La Mesita, a non-profit in New Mexico, dedicated to methods of mentorship-based education which has hosted several sustainability summer camps for New Mexico’s youth. Christian has also been active with ERG’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab (RAEL), working to develop a small wind turbine testing facility at Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station.
Christian has an environmental engineering degree from Harvard, a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Johns Hopkins, and completed a master’s in energy and resources from ERG in 2008.
ERG has been a great place for Christian to explore the social and technical dimensions of his research interests. His research has benefited from a UC Berkeley Chancellor’s fellowship, the advice and support of Professor Dan Kammen, and the supportive intellectual atmosphere fostered by the ERG community.
9/08
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