Dr Baran Yildiz

Baran is a Senior Research Associate at the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering (SPREE), UNSW. He completed his PhD in load forecasting & smart home energy systems, M.Sc. in Renewable Energy Engineering, SPREE, UNSW and B.Sc with Honors in Mechanical Engineering, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey. Baran is currently leading two major projects on the control and coordination of domestic electric water heating systems to soak-up excess solar generation in electricity networks: SolarShift (RACE for 2030) and Flexible demand trial (ARENA). Baran previously led Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and RACE for 2030 projects focusing on the development of integrated smart home energy management systems and integration of distributed energy resources. Baran's research is multi-disciplinary and involves collaboration with leading industry partners of Australia's energy market. His research has been translated into real-world products benefiting energy users and made policy impact by leading a rule change in Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC)'s recent determination report. Baran's research outputs have been featured in reports by AEMC, Energy Security Board (ESB), CRC and other prime media outlets such as ABC, The Conversation and RenewEconomy.

Current Research Projects:

• CRC RACE for 2030 - SolarShift - Turning water heating systems into Megawatt scale batteries (Lead CI)
• ARENA - Flexible demand trial of domestic water heaters (Lead CI)
• ARC Hub for Integrated Energy Storage Solutions (IESS) - Community battery energy modelling (Lead CI)
• Essential Energy Tariff Behavioural Trial (CI)
• NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) - PV fault diagnosis (CI)

Baran is the course convener and lecturer of SOLA 4012 Photovoltaic (PV) Systems Design in SPREE.