Joe Nyangon

Joseph Nyangon is a global energy economist, scientist, engineer, author, and a designated expert on clean energy technology. He is a power and utilities innovation expert at SAS Institute, an American multinational empowering and inspiring customers around the world to transform data into intelligence through innovative software and services. He was previously a Senior Researcher at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy (CEEP) at the University of Delaware. Most recently, as a Postdoctoral Researcher focusing on energy economics and engineering systems at the University of Delaware, he led multiple studies applying analytics and optimization-based econometric models, including machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques, to investigate the effectiveness of policy implementation at the federal and state levels and electricity market transformation in the United States. He has delivered lectures on electricity markets and policy, decarbonization and energy transition strategies, and risk pricing strategies in over 30 countries.

Nyangon founded Sacital Energy Group, Inc., a New York-based energy and infrastructure advisory and consulting firm. He has served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Foundation for Renewable Energy and Environment (FREE), Non-Resident Fellow at the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Research Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies' Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP), and a Global Research Fellow at the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute) in Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria.

Education

Nyangon has a bachelor's degree in engineering (BSc(Eng)) from the University of Nairobi (2004), where he was elected into student government as president of the Engineering Students Association to represent over 2,500 engineering students in the Student Organization of Nairobi University (SONU) Parliament. He also served as editor-in-chief of the Student Engineer Magazine. He has a M.Sc. in computing systems from the University of Greenwich in England (2005), a M.P.A. from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in New York City, under the supervision of Steven A. Cohen (academic), and a Ph.D. in energy and environmental policy focusing on energy economics and engineering systems from the University of Delaware (2017), under the tutelage of Professor John Byrne, from whom he learned the Sustainable Energy Utility model.

Research and Honours

Nyangon's research focuses on power and energy systems engineering, with expertise in energy economics and policy, climate risk, decarbonization and energy transition strategies, and technological change. A prolific and highly regarded scholar with extensive worldwide experience in energy market reforms, he has investigated electricity market design and regulatory innovations for distributed electricity systems, assessing alternative utility regulation and pioneering grid modernization models like New York's New York's Reforming the Energy Vision process, Great Britain’s Performance-based regulation, called “RIIO” (Revenue = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs), Illinois’s NextGrid, California’s Energy Savings and Performance Incentive, Germany’s Energiewende, and the Australian Energy Market Commission's Electricity Network Transformation Roadmap.

He has evaluated spot market integration and potential price convergence between natural gas and solar photovoltaic electricity markets in the United States. He has published close to sixty articles, book chapters, and books on energy economics, energy and international environmental policy, and technological change. In particular, he has published research on how the design of Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and net energy metering (NEM) can incentivize solar energy development in the United States. His recent work investigated adoption trends for residential energy-efficiency measures in New York state by characterizing socioeconomic and building performance variables that influence the effectiveness of energy efficiency policies and their diffusion patterns in the long term.

Nyangon has received numerous awards and fellowships. He is a member of several national and international professional bodies, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Association of Energy Economics.

Selected academic publications

His publications include:

  • Nyangon, Joseph & Byrne, John (2021). Spatial Energy Efficiency Patterns in New York and Implications for Energy Demand and the Rebound Effect. Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy.

  • , https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86093

  • Nyangon, Joseph (2021). Smart Energy Frameworks for Smart Cities: The Need for Polycentrism. In J.C. Augusto (Ed.), Handbook of Smart Cities. London, UK: Springer International. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15145-4_4-2.
  • Nyangon, Joseph (2021). Tackling the Risk of Stranded Electricity Assets with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. In J. Nyangon and J. Byrne (Ed.), Sustainable Energy Investment: Technical, Market and Policy Innovations to Address Risk (pp. 11-33). London, UK: IntechOpen. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93488.
  • Nyangon, Joseph & Byrne, John (2018). Diversifying Electricity Customer Choice: REVing Up the New York Energy Vision for Polycentric Innovation. In P. V. Tsvetkov (Ed.), Energy systems and environment (pp. 3-23). London, UK: IntechOpen. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.76023.
  • Nyangon, Joseph; Byrne, John & Taminiau, Job (2017). Assessment of Price Convergence Between Natural Gas and Solar Photovoltaic in the U.S. Electricity Market. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, 6 (3), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.238

Nyangon has been interviewed on National Geographic, E&E News, the SAS Institute's Podcast Electrifying AI, among other news media companies and organizations.

Comments