Cristian Cortes-Aguirre (he/him) is from Santiago, Chile. Cristian is a Ph.D. student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCSD. He is advised by Professor Jan Kleisl. He graduated from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago, Chile with a master’s degree in 2012. Besides studying, he was playing soccer and involved in outreach activities like collaborating with physics classes in a non-profit pre-college program. Cristian has worked as a Project Engineer and a Researcher for five years where he focussed on solar energy technologies and solar resource assessment. His passion for physics and renewable energy has inspired him to get his Ph.D. in renewable energy grid integration.

Cristian’s research interests include solar resource assessment, solar forecasting, and distributed optimization and control of distributed energy resources (DERs). His earlier research work was on solar resource assessment through satellite images and short-term solar forecasting using sky images. His current research includes distributed optimization for voltage regulation using reactive power from solar inverters in distribution feeders with high PV penetration. He also focuses on demand charge reduction by optimal storage system dispatches.