Ruaridh Macdonald

I’m a research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative, where I am the Energy Systems Research Lead. My research is focused on improving energy system modelling tools to better support decision-making in infrastructure planning, R&D decisions and policy design. My recent work has looked at how best to compress model inputs to allow for decades of weather and demand data to be considered, incorporate important nonlinear details in technology representations, co-optimize multi-sector models, and decompose models so that they can be solved on large computing clusters. I use these tools to answer contemporary energy questions, particularly around grid reliability, intersectoral coupling, and the role of emerging technologies.

I am a co-lead developer of the MacroEnergy, GenX, Dolphyn, and Navi tools.

I’m originally from the UK & completed my PhD in Nuclear Science & Engineering at MIT.