Before his employment at NREL, Owen worked for a wind developer and engineering, procurement, and construction contractor, building utility-scale wind projects domestically and in Central America. At NREL, he has been a field engineer and researcher with a focus on hybrid power systems, isolated grids, and microgrids, as well as wind farm development and siting, and wind turbine scaling with a focus on balance of system, towers, and transportation. His research has focused on wind plant layout optimization, turbine technology cost and scaling, and development of NREL’s land-based wind balance-of-station model and wind turbine system optimization.

Research Interests

Wind turbine and plant system optimization

Technical potential and capacity expansion modeling

Hybrid power systems

Education

M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Professional Experience

Researcher, NREL (2016–Present)

Engineering Consultant (2016)

Researcher, NREL (2010–2016)

Engineer, Tennessee Valley Infrastructure Group (2008–2010)

Featured Work

Evaluation of the potential for wake steering for U.S. land-based wind power plants, Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2021) 

NREL's Balance-of-System Cost Model for Land-Based Wind, NREL (2019)

Increasing Wind Turbine Tower Heights: Opportunities and Challenges, NREL (2019)