Hydropower Planning in a Competitive Electricity Market Environment

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YEREVAN, Armenia – On July 28, 2015, the American University of Armenia (AUA) College of Science and Engineering held a lecture on “Short-term Stochastic Hydropower Planning in a Competitive Electricity Market Environment” with speaker and AUA alumna (Industrial Engineering and Systems Management, ’07) Yelena Vardanyan.

Vardanyan discussed changes and reforms in the electricity market, imbalances caused by wind power being used as an intermittent power source, and the development of more sustainable forms of energy. She commented that hydropower is a flexible and regulating energy source, and that new hydropower planning models must be developed that are capable to address uncertainties and changing dynamics that exist within the current marketplace.

Yelena Vardanyan received her Bachelor’s degree, with honors, from the Physics-Mathematics Department at the Gyumri State Pedagogical Institute in Armenia. She then earned her Master’s degree from AUA’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Systems Management in 2007. She served as the Dean of the Economics Department at Eurasia International University. She currently lives in Stockholm, where she is pursuing her PhD from the Electrical Power Systems Division at the Royal Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on short-term planning of hydropower under uncertain conditions. Vardanyan is also an active member of SOAR-Stockholm (Society of Orphaned Armenian Relief).

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality, graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.