Becca works to inform stakeholders (including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) about benefits and tradeoffs for offshore wind farm placement, both in the US and internationally.  She uses state-of-the art models to simulate the installation of offshore wind farms and develops those models to reflect specific stakeholder needs about their technology type of interest.  Before coming to NREL, Dr. Fuchs was an Arctic climate scientist, with a focus on sea ice geophysics and has done extensive fieldwork in the high Arctic.  Her background is in geophysical fluid dynamics and climate modelling, particularly pertaining to physical oceanography.  She is an active ‘Science Alliance’ member of the nonprofit Protect Our Winters, where she works alongside elite athletes and other members of the Outdoor State to promote legislation that helps to fight climate change.  She transitioned into her role at NREL from academia with the personal goal of having a more practical impact on the energy transition.

Research Interests

Climate trends and change

Large-scale climate modelling

Techno-economic modelling of offshore wind farms

Education

Ph.D., Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA

M.S., Climate Science, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology & the School of Integrated Climate System Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

B.S., Environment and Chemistry, McGill University, Montréal, Québec

Professional Experience

Arctic climate scientist (Postdoc), Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany

Arctic climate scientist (Postdoc), University of Reading, England

Associations and Memberships

Science Alliance Member, Protect Our Winters

Featured Work

Considerations for Floating Wind Energy Development in the Gulf of Maine, NREL Technical Report (2023) 

Social Acceptance of a Reduced-Footprint Synthetic Mooring System for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines in the Gulf of Maine, NREL Technical Report (2023) 

Great Lakes Wind Energy Challenges and Opportunities Assessment, NREL Technical Report (2023)