Dr. Nidhi R. Santen is a Program Manager in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group at EPRI. She manages Program 178 on Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems and Project Set 178B on Integrated Energy Planning. Her primary research areas include long-term electricity sector resource planning, risk analysis and investment decision-making under uncertainty, and environmental and technology policy analysis.
Before joining EPRI, Dr. Santen worked at the MIT Energy Initiative on low-carbon electricity infrastructure planning, electricity market design, and hybrid modeling of economy-wide and electric power systems modeling tools. She also worked as a research fellow and project manager with the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she improved how uncertainty and technological change are represented within long-term energy planning models. For over a decade prior to that, Dr. Santen worked on electricity planning and environmental issues across industry, consulting, and non-governmental research organizations including CPS Energy, Synapse Energy Economics, and the National Academy of Sciences.
Nidhi holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Systems from MIT, an M.S. and M.P.A. in Atmospheric Science and Environmental Policy from Indiana University-Bloomington, and a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Recent Publications
- [1] Bistline, J., Santen, N., and D. Young. The Economic Geography of Variable Renewable Energy and Impacts of Trade Formulations for Renewable Mandates, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 106:79-96, May 2019
- [2] Analyzing Federal Clean Energy Standards: Policy Design Choices and Future Electric Power Sector Outcomes. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2021. EPRI Technical Brief. 3002020121.
- [3] Cost-Effectively Achieving Carbon Goals in Minnesota: Renewable Standards vs. Technology-Neutral Policies—A scenario-based analysis of electric-sector impacts through 2050. EPRI, Palo Alto, CA: 2019. EPRI Technical Brief. 3002015420
- [4] Santen, N.R., Webster, M.D., Popp, D., and Perez-Arriaga, I., 2017. "Inter-temporal R&D and capital investment portfolios for the electricity industry's low carbon future." The Energy Journal Vol. 38(5).
- [5] Santen, N.R. and Diaz Anadon, L., 2016. "Balancing solar PV deployment and RD&D: A comprehensive framework for managing innovation uncertainty in electricity technology investment planning." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 60: 560-569.