Research Team and Projects
Our research team is led by Dr. Deniz Sezer and consists of Ph.D and Masters students from mathematics and statistics.
Deniz Sezer holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University and currently is an Associate Professor in Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Calgary. Prior to joining U Calgary, Dr. Sezer was a postdoctoral fellow at York University and Fields Institute. Her research is in probability theory, spatio-temporal processes, and applications.
Graduate students from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics are actively engaged in renewable energy research.
-
Tianxia Jia
I am a PhD student in Statistics from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at U Calgary. I graduated from Winona State University as a Distinguished Graduate in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in both Mathematics and Statistics. Later I graduated with a Master of Science in 2018 from the University of Iowa. I had a year of experience as a biostatistician prior to 2019 when I joined U Calgary. My primary research interest is short-term wind speed and power forecasting using novel covariance models and Bayesian hierarchical models. Being an outdoor enthusiast, I enjoy going on hikes in the Rocky Mountains and going fishing around Calgary.
-
James McCurdy
I am a PhD student in Statistics, and my research primarily involves combing large-scale atmospheric and geographic data to study turbulent fluids. Focusing on the densely populated wind farms of Southern Alberta, we are investigating the relationship between the large scales of turbulence, and the vortices that we see sweep across the prairies. Understanding how these vortices, and other coherent turbulent structures, interact is paramount to our understanding of wind, and will aid in improving our short-term wind forecasts.
-
Maryam Mahmoudi Gharaie
I am a 2nd year Masters student at the Deaprtment of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Calgary. I received a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering with a focus on control systems from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad - Iran in 2020 where I graduated among the top 15% of my class. My main research interest includes mathematical modelling of wind and solar energy.
I have been engaged in extracurricular activities and volunteer work since starting my Bachelor's. I currently am and plans to stay active in enhancing women’s position in STEM fields by serving as a mentor in programs such as AWM (Association for Women in Mathematics), WISE (Women in Science and Engineering at university of Calgary) and SCWIST(Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology).
-
Shanukie Vithana
I am currently following a program for PhD in Mathematical Finance at the University of Calgary. I received my Bachelor's in Statistics and Computer Science from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, with first-class honors. In 2019 I started my Master of Science Degree in Financial Mathematics at the University of Colombo and graduated in 2021 (GPA 4.00). My principal area of research is the modelling of electricity prices in markets with renewables employing mean field game models to analyze electricity producers' decisions. I am also interested in spatiotemporal modelling of renewable energy sources with the purpose of supporting and improving the energy system planning process.
From other departments of University of Calgary
-
Dr. David Wood
Professor David Wood is the Schulich Chair in Renewable Energy, a director of the Wind Energy Institute of Canada, and an editor for three research journals in renewable energy. His areas of expertise include wind turbine aerodynamics, wind resource assessment, wind farm condition monitoring and renewable energy integration.
-
Dr. Hamid Zareipour
Dr. Hamidreza Zareipour is a Full Professor of Electrical and Software Engineering at the University of Calgary, a Professional Engineer in the Province of Alberta and a Fellow of the IEEE. He works on the operation and planning of power systems in the presence of uncertainty. In particular, he has completed several research projects on forecasting uncertain variables (e.g., electricity market prices, wind and solar power production, load in buildings and micro grids and regional grids), and optimal integration of emerging technologies (e.g., storage, wind and solar) into power grids.
-
Dr. Robert Martinuzzi
Dr. Robert Martinuzzi is professor of fluid mechanics at the Dept. of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering. He is a fellow of the ASME and Pratt & Whitney Canada Research Fellow. His research interests include turbulence, aerodynamics, flow control and machine learning, renewable energy (energy harvesting).
Short-term wind forecasting
Accurate short-term wind forecasts are particularly important for Alberta because of the 2-hour-ahead power market. To utilise the large-scale atmospheric information, we consider regime-switching time-series models such as AR/VAR and mixture models for forecasting. Currently we are building novel spatio-temporal covariance models that take into account large-scale atmospheric patterns to predict up to 6-hour ahead wind speed across Alberta. (Investigating graduate student: Tianxia Jia; Supervisor: Dr. Deniz Sezer; Co-supervisor: Dr. David Wood)
Wind power ramp forecasting
We model the frequency and intensity of wind power ramps at multiple locations. Our goal is to find out the dependencies between different sites and the likelihood of simultaneous ramp events. Next, we aim to extend the models to make predictions for future sites by using spatial-temporal processes. In this approach, the probability of a simultaneous ramp event at two sites can be related to the geographic distance between them, hence making it more likely for nearby sites to have simultaneous ramps. (Investigating graduate student: Maryam Mahmoudi Gharaie; Supervisor: Dr. Deniz Sezer; Co-supervisor: Dr. Hamidreza Zareipour)
Stochastic modeling of electricity price in electricity markets with renewables
We aim to develop game theoretic approaches to model the electricity market where
agents are electricity suppliers (renewable or conventional or both), each seeking to maximize their
utility by taking certain actions. We explore models where the interaction between each agent
exists only via the spot price of electricity which is determined by demand and the merit order of supply bids. We are currently studying optimal siting of a wind farm using a mean field game approach. (Investigating graduate student: Shanukie Vithana; Supervisor: Dr. Deniz Sezer)
A snapshot of a vortex in Alberta (data: ERA5)
Sub-meso features of the wind flow and their interaction with the large scale dynamics.
Focusing on the densely populated wind farms of Southern Alberta, we are investigating the relationship between the large scales of turbulence, and the vortices that we see sweep across the prairies. Understanding how these vortices and other coherent turbulent structures interact is paramount to our understanding of wind, and will aid in improving our short-term wind forecasts. (Investigating graduate student: James McCurdy; Supervisor: Dr. Deniz Sezer; Co-supervisor: Robert Martinuzzi)