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Abstract:
The drive towards Net Zero at national and regional levels requires the balancing of a range of socio-economic, technologies, infrastructures and interests. While approaches to modelling of these systems is typically driven by top down paradigms, these limit the replication of the decision makers’ behaviours within them as well as procedural barriers are difficult to capture. Instead of the reductionism necessary in these modelling approaches, we instead seek to view the complexity and uncertainty inherent in these systems as a rich opportunity and intrinsic feature. We have therefore sought to embrace holistic approaches that capture the complex agency of the various actors involved, that allow these elements to capture the performance of energy technologies markets and the design and expansion of infrastructure. We will explore the application of the evolution of our approaches to the operation of local and national energy markets, energy infrastructure and supply chains.
Biography:
Sol Brown is Professor of Process and Energy Systems in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering (CMBE) at The University of Sheffield. He is the Director of Research and Innovation for CMBE and leads the Brown Group at Sheffield with ongoing projects funded by the EPSRC, BEIS/DESNZ, DASA, RAEng, the EC and Industry. His research focusses on mathematical modelling, process analysis and optimisation with a particular focus on clean energy processes and systems. Key areas include the development of agent-based models for energy systems and uncertainty quantification through Gaussian Processes.