PNNL

Alisha Fernandez is a systems engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory focusing on the impacts of climate change and energy system decarbonization. Her goal is to collaborate with the research community, policymakers, and industry to make data-informed management, planning, and investment decisions and identify mitigation and adaptation strategies that consider the linkages between climate change, regional power systems and markets, and water resources availability. She brings 15 years of experience in multi-disciplinary engineering research and water/energy policy analysis, with an emphasis on hydropower’s contribution to grid resiliency and reliability in a decarbonized future.

Prior to joining Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Fernandez co-founded the energy consulting firm McKeown & Associates LLC in 2015 that provided technical analysis expertise in the areas of renewable energy technology development (wind and water), the role of hydropower (conventional and pumped hydro) in grid resilience, stakeholder engagement in the energy/water sectors, and scientific communication. She also worked as a technical research analyst for BCS, Incorporated, contracting with the Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Office. She managed national laboratory projects on hydropower, climate change science, electric grid modernization, and energy market policy issues. Her early research at the National Center for Atmospheric Science on domestic and international research on water quality, human health, and ecosystem interactions in coastal environments solidified her career interests in energy-water systems analysis.

Fernandez earned a doctorate in energy and mineral engineering with an emphasis in energy management and policy from The Pennsylvania State University in 2014, and a BA in mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2007.

• Climate Change
• Hydropower
• Decarbonization
• Energy systems
• Energy Markets
• Renewable Integration
• Wind Energy

• Electric Power Systems
• Economics and Policy Analysis
• Stakeholder engagement
• Project Management

• PhD in energy and mineral engineering, Pennsylvania State University, 2014
• BS in mathematics, University of Colorado Boulder, 2007

2022

• Kao, S.-C., M. Ashfaq, D. Rastogi, S. Gangrade, R. Uría Martínez, A. Fernandez, G. Konapala, N. Voisin, T. Zhou, W. Xu, H. Gao, B. Zhao, and G. Zhao. 2022. The Third Assessment of the Effects of Climate Change on Federal Hydropower, ORNL/TM- 2021/2278, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN. https://doi.org/10.2172/1887712

2021

• Witt, Adam M., Fernandez, Alisha, Mobley, Miles H., DeNeale, Scott, Bevelhimer, Mark, and Smith, Brennan T. 2017. "How Standard Modular Hydropower Can Enhance the Environmental, Economic, and Social Benefits of New Small Hydropower Development." United States: N. p., 2017. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1461945

2013

• Fernandez, A., Blumsack, S., and Reed, P. 2013. "Operational Constraints and Hydrologic Variability Can Limit Hydropower in Supporting Wind Integration." Environmental Research Letters. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024037

2012

• Fernandez, A., Blumsack, S., and Reed, P. 2012. "Evaluating Wind-following and Ecosystem Services for Hydroelectric Dams in PJM." Journal of Regulatory Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149-011-9177-9

2011

• S. Blumsack and A. Fernandez. 2011. "Ready or not, here comes the smart grid." Energy. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2011.07.054