Audun Botterud is a Principal Energy Systems Engineer in the Center for Energy, Environmental and Economic Systems Analysis. His research focuses on modeling and analysis of electricity markets and power systems, using a variety of mathematical optimization and simulation methods. He is particularly interested in decision making under uncertainty as it pertains to the planning and operation of power and energy systems.

After joining Argonne in 2005, Botterud contributed to the development of the Electricity Market Complex Adaptive System (EMCAS) model and agent-based simulator of restructured electricity markets. More recently, his work has focused on challenges related to the integration of renewable energy (wind, solar, hydro)  and energy storage into the electric power grid. He has led projects on improved wind power forecasting and better use of forecasts in operational decisions, electricity market design under high shares of renewable energy, resource adequacy and flexibility in low-carbon electricity markets, and energy storage optimization under a changing power grid..

Since 2016, Botterud has a co-appointment as a Principal Research Scientist in Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previous to his tenure at Argonne, Botterud was part of SINTEF Energy Research in Trondheim, Norway. At SINTEF, he developed optimization tools for hydropower scheduling and reservoir management, and conducted studies of the Nordic electricity market.

Botterud is a co-developer of two licensed software tools: EMCAS (Electricity Market Complex Adaptive Systems) and ARGUS-PRIMA (Prediction Intelligent Machine).

Featured Publications

• Extreme weather and electricity markets: Key lessons from the February 2021 Texas crisis
• Impacts of variable renewable energy on wholesale markets and generating assets in the United States: A review of expectations and evidence
• The long-term impacts of carbon and variable renewable energy policies on electricity markets
• Impact of battery degradation on energy arbitrage revenue of grid-level energy storage
• The value of energy storage in decarbonizing the electricity sector
• Dynamic scheduling of operating reserves in co-optimized electricity markets with wind power

Awards, Honors and Memberships

• Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Member, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)

Education

• Ph.D., Electrical Power Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2004
• “Sivilingeniør” (M.Sc.), Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 1997