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As of December 2022, Dr. Fripp has left the department to pursue other opportunities.

Matthias Fripp specializes in optimal design of power systems with large shares of renewable energy—up to 100%—particularly focusing on the potential for demand-side response to help balance these power systems, e.g., charging electric vehicles automatically during sunny or windy times of day.

Current projects. Dr. Fripp's current activities include the following:

  • Lead author of the next-generation Switch planning model for power systems with large shares of renewable energy, storage and demand-side flexibility.
  • Member of the Technical Advisory Panel for Hawaiian Electric's Integrated Grid Planning (IGP) process, providing guidance on how to plan for 100% renewable power systems in Hawaii by 2045.
  • Consultant to Ulupono Initiative in the Hawaiian Electric IGP process.
  • Working with colleagues at Environmental Defense Fund, National Renewable Energy Lab, Princeton University, North Carolina State University, UC San Diego and Tufts University on intercomparison between Switch and other cutting-edge power system planning models for understanding a national renewable energy transition.

Research results. Journal articles, white papers and invited talks can be downloaded from this page.

Current position. Dr. Fripp has been an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa since July 2019. He was an assistant professor in the same department in 2012–19.

Education. Dr. Fripp received Ph.D. and Master's degrees from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2008 and 2003. He received a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from Lewis & Clark College in 1999.

Previous experience. Dr. Fripp was the NextEra Energy Resources Research Fellow in Renewable Energy at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford in 2008-12. He was Chief Modeler at Trexler and Associates in 2000–01 and Membership Director at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in 1991–95.

Curriculum vitae. A complete CV can be found here.

Courses (most recent time taught)

Semester Number Title Times Location
Fall 2021 EE 160 Programming for Engineers MWF 9:30-10:20 Online
Fall 2021 EE 435 Electric Power Systems MWF 1:30-2:20 Online
Spring 2021 EE 635 Smart Grids and Renewable Energy Integration MW 3:30-4:45 Online
Spring 2020 EE 213 Basic Circuit Analysis II MWF 2:30-3:20 WAT 112 / Online