Research

Research

My research focuses on computational methods and optimization models for long-term power systems planning, with emphasis on renewable integration, grid resilience, and climate adaptation.

Current Projects

Nationwide Planning Platform (DOE)

Developing a U.S. nation-wide ISO planning and analysis platform. This project builds comprehensive models for long-term power system planning at the national scale. PI, $2.7M, 3 years.

AI-Enhanced Power System Analysis (DOE)

Developing a power system analysis platform incorporating AI solutions for major U.S. ISOs, in collaboration with Washington State University. Senior Personnel, $1.5M, 3 years.

Network Reduction for Planning

Developing a novel network reduction approach for planning purposes, in collaboration with an industry partner. Co-PI, $250K, 2 years.

Offshore HVDC Grid Design

Designing offshore HVDC grid for the U.S. East Coast for offshore wind integration, incorporating weather and climate data for resilient planning.

Demand Response in Renewable Systems

Developing models to assess the role of demand response in reserve procurement in a 100% renewable future.

Weather-Aware Power System Planning

Incorporation of weather and climate data in power system planning models to account for extreme weather events, with high-fidelity production simulation, in collaboration with EPRI.

Research Funding

Since 2021, I have secured $4.4 million in funded research as PI or Co-PI, including grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and industry partners. Key grants include:

  • PI — $2.7M DOE funding (3 years): U.S. nation-wide ISO planning platform
  • Co-PI — $250K industry funding (2 years): Novel network reduction for planning
  • Senior Personnel — $1.5M DOE funding (3 years): AI-enhanced power system analysis for major U.S. ISOs

Selected Publications

For a complete list, visit my Google Scholar profile.

Journal Articles

  1. B. Berg, N. Kunwar, P. Guillante, S. Vanage, R. Mahmud, K. Cetin, …, A. Jahanbani Ardakani, et al., “Occupant-driven end use load models for demand response and flexibility service participation of residential grid-interactive buildings,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 96, 110406, 2024.
  2. A. Gholami, H. Nafisi, H. Askarian Abyaneh, A. Jahanbani Ardakani, “Dynamic stochastic joint expansion planning of power systems, natural gas networks, and electrical and natural gas storage,” IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 1489-1506, 2022.
  3. M. Rahimi, F.J. Ardakani, O. Olatujoye, A.J. Ardakani, “Two-stage interval scheduling of virtual power plant in day-ahead and real-time markets considering compressed air energy storage wind turbine,” Journal of Energy Storage, vol. 45, 103599, 2022.
  4. A. Bloom, J. Novacheck, G. Brinkman, J. McCalley, A. Figueroa-Acevedo, …, A. Jahanbani Ardakani, et al., “The value of increased HVDC capacity between eastern and western US grids: The interconnections seam study,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 1760-1769, 2021. (108 citations)
  5. M. Rahimi, F.J. Ardakani, A.J. Ardakani, “Optimal stochastic scheduling of electrical and thermal renewable and non-renewable resources in virtual power plant,” International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, vol. 127, 106658, 2021. (138 citations)
  6. A.L.F. Acevedo, A. Jahanbani-Ardakani, H. Nosair, A. Venkatraman, et al., “Design and valuation of high-capacity HVDC macrogrid transmission for the continental US,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 2750-2760, 2020. (70 citations)
  7. M.M. Hasan, S.A. Pourmousavi, A.J. Ardakani, T.K. Saha, “A data-driven approach to estimate battery cell temperature using a nonlinear autoregressive exogenous neural network model,” Journal of Energy Storage, vol. 32, 101879, 2020. (62 citations)
  8. E.S. Parizy, A.J. Ardakani, A. Mohammadi, K.A. Loparo, “A new quantitative load profile measure for demand response performance evaluation,” International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, vol. 121, 106073, 2020. (12 citations)
  9. M. Zolfaghari, N. Ghaffarzadeh, A.J. Ardakani, “Optimal sizing of battery energy storage systems in off-grid micro grids using convex optimization,” Journal of Energy Storage, vol. 23, pp. 44-56, 2019. (99 citations)
  10. A.J. Ardakani, F. Bouffard, “Prediction of umbrella constraints,” 2018 Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC), pp. 1-7, 2018. (44 citations)
  11. A.J. Ardakani, F. Bouffard, “Acceleration of umbrella constraint discovery in generation scheduling problems,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 2100-2109, 2014. (77 citations)
  12. A.J. Ardakani, F. Bouffard, “Identification of umbrella constraints in DC-based security-constrained optimal power flow,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 3924-3934, 2013. (214 citations)

Supervision

I actively mentor and supervise graduate and undergraduate students. My mentoring activities include:

  • Co-supervising/mentoring three Ph.D. students at Iowa State University (2021–present)
  • Mentored 16 honors undergraduate students in research work (2024–present)
  • Mentored five undergraduate students for their Engineering Design Project (2023–2024)
  • Co-supervised two Ph.D. and two Masters students (2016–2020)
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