Paul Denholm Distinguished as IEEE Fellow for Extraordinary Work in Renewable Energy
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has selected Paul Denholm from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to be a 2023 fellow based on his contributions to energy storage and renewable energy systems.
The IEEE Fellow program is a distinction reserved for IEEE members whose extraordinary accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest are deemed fitting. Denholm was selected for accomplishments in the field of grid planning and analysis to support renewable energy integration.
Denholm has published extensively on the large-scale deployment of renewable electricity generation and is a renowned expert in the field. Among his highly influential and pioneering papers, Denholm was one of the earliest researchers to identify factors causing the "duck curve," in which solar-rich power systems would lead to surplus (and deficit) electricity at predictable hours.
Denholm's research has also widened the scope of renewable energy science to account for environmental and policy impacts of clean energy integration in addition to technical and economic impacts. He has published numerous technical studies on how the United States and a variety of cities and states can technically reach their clean energy goals. He is an author of the landmark LA100 study and the industry-benchmarking Solar Future Study and has developed highly useful resources to explain the technical consequences of designing future power systems, including a guide to grid inertia and a review of how to decarbonize the final 10% of the power system.
The announcement from IEEE comes on the heels of another fellowship admission for Denholm—he and two other NREL scientists were elevated to NREL senior research fellow roles in late 2022. Denholm's elevation to both fellowships is equally based on his history as an exceptional leader and mentor: Denholm continuously engages with young and early-career scientists and goes out of his way to support others' understanding of scientific concepts to enable more thoughtful work.
IEEE's fellow program is over a century old, with online records of members dating back to 1964. New fellows are announced from global institutions each year, with around 7,000 fellows currently recognized, including other scientists at NREL.
Learn more about Paul Denholm's work and about renewable energy integration research at NREL.