Consulting

Over the past years, I have employed my physics knowledge and the skills I have gained by doing physics research (coding, creating analytical/numerical models, etc.) to help teams interpret data or accelerate R&D. Consulting allows me to apply my skills in different contexts and gain experience and understanding.

Example

In my PhD/Covid days, my good friend Osven Ledezma and I consulted for Atlas Renewable Energy. The project was to model a solar plant using ray tracing techniques.

Why ray tracing?

There are special bifacial solar modules, which, unlike traditional ones, can generate electricity from both sides. Thus, bifacial modules can benefit from both direct sunlight and reflected sunlight from the ground. This makes the estimation of the output energy much more complicated! That is where ray tracing came in. By following all the light bounces, we were able to estimate the power output for a typical year.

Why is it important?

A solar plant is more efficient if everything is adjusted to match the power output of the solar modules. Many of the power losses are associated with energy conversion, which we also incurred a bit on. Moreover, bifacial modules are more expensive, so knowing if they are worth it (for a given plant) is essential.

Did it work?

It worked pretty well! Here is a simulation of one day.

Yes, the modules also move following the sun. It was a lot a python coding, renting HPC computers, and iterations with the ATLAS team.