03/11/2026
By Danielle Fretwell

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Energy Engineering - Renewable, invites you to attend a Doctoral Dissertation defense by Sergio Eduardo Freeman on: "Toward a Zero-Carbon New England Power System: Planning with Wind, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicles."

Candidate Name: Sergio Eduardo Freeman
Degree: Doctoral
Defense Date: Monday, March 23, 2026
Time: 9:15 - 11 a.m.
Location: Perry Hall 415

Committee:

  • Advisor: Ertan Agar, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Chris Niezrecki, Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Cordula Schmid, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Juan Pablo Trelles, Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, UMass Lowell

Abstract:
This dissertation examines the technical and economic feasibility of deep decarbonization of the New England power system through renewable energy, energy storage, and large-scale electrification. Using multi-decade hourly weather data, the study evaluates wind–solar generation portfolios and shows that diversified renewable resources combined with short-duration energy storage (SDES) can meet up to
~84% of hourly demand, while achieving full reliability requires long-duration energy storage (LDES) and renewable overbuild. Integrating hydrogen-based and redox-flow storage technologies with short-duration batteries reduces total system costs by up to 55% and increases renewable energy utilization.
The research also evaluates the impact of large-scale electrification of transportation. Results indicate that 100% electric vehicle adoption could increase New England’s electricity demand by approximately 42%, while vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration reduces peak demand, lowers total system costs by roughly 35%, and improves operational flexibility.

At the distribution level, dynamic hosting capacity simulations on a representative New England feeder show that unmanaged distributed energy resources increase transformer aging and cause voltage violations, while coordinated management using Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) combined with V2G increases hosting capacity from 25% to 60% and significantly improves grid performance. Finally, integrating distribution-level constraints with bulk system adequacy analysis demonstrates that planning horizon length plays a critical role in system design: short planning horizons can underbuild capacity and increase loss-of-load risks, whereas longer horizons improve reliability and better capture the multi-year variability of renewable resources.

Together, these findings provide an integrated planning framework linking bulk system adequacy with distribution-level operational constraints, offering practical strategies for designing a resilient, cost-efficient, and deeply decarbonized New England electricity system.