Bill Becker is part of the Modeling and Analysis Group in the Integrated Applications Center. His focus is techno-economic analysis of renewable energy integrated with energy storage at buildings and microgrids. His work includes using and developing the REopt tool to perform these evaluations. Becker has experience developing thermal energy storage and high-temperature fuel cell technologies, including the design, build, and testing of pilot plant systems. He has developed energy storage dispatch models for wholesale electricity markets, and he has a broad understanding of power plant and energy storage valuation in deregulated markets.

Research Interests

Energy storage integration and techno-economics

Least-cost, high-reliability strategies for reducing the carbon footprint of the electric grid

Use of new software tools for data analysis and optimization

Education

M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines

B.S., Applied Physics, SUNY Geneseo

Featured Work

Resilience and Economics of Microgrids With PV, Battery Storage, and Networked Diesel Generators, Advances in Applied Energy (2021)

Computational Framework for Behind-the-Meter DER Techno-economic Modeling and Optimization – Reopt Lite, Energy Systems (2021)

Cost Reduction of School Bus Fleet Electrification With Optimized Charging and Distributed Energy Resources North American Power Symposium (2019)

Technoeconomic Design of a Geothermal-enabled Cold Climate Zero Energy Community, ASME Journal of Energy Resources Technology (2021)

REopt: Enabling Renewable Energy, Storage, and Combined Heat and Power, Proceedings of the ACEEE 2019 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Industry (2019)

Production of Fischer-Tropsch Liquid Fuels From High Temperature Solid Oxide Co-electrolysis Units, Energy – The International Journal (2012)

Design and Technoeconomic Performance Analysis of a 1 MW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Polygeneration System for Combined Production of Heat, Hydrogen, and Power, Journal of Power Sources (2012)

Patents

Electrochemical Device for Syngas and Liquid Fuels Production, U.S. Patent No. 9,631,284 B2 (2017)