Overview
Personal Profile
Alex Zolan joined NLR in August 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher. His recent work at NLR involves the development of models that seek optimal design, dispatch, and operations of concentrating solar power and hybrid energy systems. As a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, Alex collaborated with NLR in the development of an energy resource planning tool that provides optimal design and dispatch decisions for a microgrid built to support the energy needs of a forward-operating base in a remote location. His research experience is in the fields of stochastic optimization and Monte Carlo simulation.
Education/Academic Qualification
Bachelor, Economics, University of Pennsylvania
Bachelor, Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
PhD, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
Master, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
Master, Mathematics, Western Connecticut State University
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Collaborations and Top Research Areas From the Past 5 Years
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First Solar Thermal Energy Planner (STEP 1) and Nationwide Industrial Heat and Power Analysis
Gifford, J., Kadlec, J., Martinek, J., Hamilton, W., Zolan, A., Ma, Z., Sment, J., Plewe, K., Saeed Mohammed Alaqel, S., Garcia Maldonado, L. & Bean, B., 2026, 99 p.Research output: NLR › Technical Report
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Roadmap to Advance Heliostat Technologies for High Temperature Solar-Thermal Systems
Schell, S., Emes, M., Kesseli, D., Meyen, S., Muller, M., Ndione, P., Neber, M., Yellapantula, S., Zhu, G., Zolan, A., Armijo, K., Brost, R., Gordon, M., Sment, J., Spieles, A., Cholette, M., Picotti, G. & Yang, B., 2026, 213 p.Research output: NLR › Technical Report
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A Matheuristic for Design and Dispatch of a Utility-Connected Distributed Energy System: Article No. 37
Grymes, J., Newman, A., Zolan, A. & Mehta, D., 2025, In: Journal of Heuristics. 31, 52 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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An Uncertainty-Informed and High-Fidelity Performance Forecasting Framework for Heliostat Fields
Zolan, A., Kler, E., Hamilton, W. & Sment, J., 2025, 1 p. National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR).Research output: NLR › Poster
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Characterizing the Impact of Heliostat Size, Focus Method, and Optical Error on Concentrating Solar Tower Systems
Hamilton, W., Zolan, A. & Zhu, G., 2025, 1 p. National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR).Research output: NLR › Poster