Michael Wood
My adventure with electricity began when I was about 10, watching my grandfather install a new battery in our small fishing boat, when he connected the terminals with the wrench and showered us both with sparks. I was more intrigued than scared, and began taking apart computers in high school, built a solar cell from scratch in college, and installed hydroelectric turbines in Rwanda. Now I design and optimize distributed energy systems with a lot of fancy tools, and I'm forever grateful for that original (wait for it) spark.
Education
Politecnico di Milano - Energy Department - Milan, Italy
Thesis: Novel Computational Intelligence Methods for Electrical Load Forecast and Microgrid Energy Management
Supervisor: Emmanuele Ogliari
PI: Sonia Leva
Politecnico di Milano - Milan, Italy
Notable Courses: Electric Power Systems I & II, Smart Grid Components, Planning and Operation of Distribution Systems, Network Protection and Automation, Electricity Markets, Communication Systems
Thesis: Deep learning networks for PV power nowcasting (PI Sonia Leva, Solar Tech Lab)
Dartmouth College Thayer School of Engineering - Hanover NH, USA
Notable Courses: Optimization, Numerical Methods in Computation, Electromagnetic Fields and Waves, Energy Conversion, Microcontrollers, Intermediate Electrical Circuits
Dartmouth College - Hanover NH, USA
Notable Courses: Semiconductor Theory, Science of Materials, Distributed Systems and Fields, Engineering Design and Methodology, Power Electronics, Modern Control Theory, Classical Control Theory, Analog and Linear Devices, Discrete Systems
Career
Senior Engineer
· Development of optimal energy management system
· Stochastic load forecasting using machine learning methods
Director of Engineering
Design Engineer
· Equipment selection and costing
· Load modeling and forecasting
· Dispatch optimization
Engineer
Fourth employee and only electrical engineer of startup solar technology company
· Lead designer on dual-axis PV tracking controller and remote communication
· Manufacturing and maintenance of controller and PV tracker
· Technology research and specification - normal, bifacial, and concentrating PV panels; inverters and module level electronics
· Design of hundreds of 4 kW residential and three 150 kW PV installs
· National Electric Code compliance
Research
Books
· Strategies for Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources Integration in Smart Grids and Microgrids, in "Hybrid Energy Systems: Planning, Operation, and Optimization." IET Publishing, In Press.
Papers
· Comparing Peak Electricity Forecasting Models for an Industrial and a Residential Building. Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 2025.
· The Value of Forecasting: The Effect of Building Load Forecast Errors on the Performance of an Optimal Energy Management System. RTSI, 2024.
· Impact of PV and EV Forecasting in the Operation of a Microgrid. MDPI Forecasting, 2024.
· Peak Shaving with Bifacial Solar PV: Simulated Storage Battery Dispatch for Electric Vehicle Charging. EEEIC, 2024.
· Solar and Grid Power Integration for Dynamic Energy Management in Electric Vehicle Charging and Load Fulfillment with Fuzzy Logic. AEIT, 2023.
· Day Ahead Electric Load Forecast: A Comprehensive LSTM-EMD Methodology and Several Diverse Case Studies. MDPI Forecasting, 2023.
Grants
· U.S. Department of Energy OCED / Wisconsin OSCE - $12.2M. PI Travis Simpkins, PhD. 2024.
· U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Tier 1 - $1M. PI William Bender, PhD. 2012.
Teaching
Solar PV Systems Lab
Electronics, Linear and Digital
Skills & Languages
· Python including pandas, tensorflow/keras, pyomo
· System Advisor Model
· MATLAB
· MS Office, Google Workspace
· Linux systems
· QGIS
· HOMER
· SPICE
· PowerFactory
· Eagle PCB
· PCB construction and repair
· Machining and hand tools
· Keeping track of earbuds
· Native English
· Professional Italian
Interests
· Learning, audiobooks
· Ski touring and mountaineering, bike touring, rock climbing
· Ukulele, cooking gluten-free, photography
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you - Neil Degrasse Tyson
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives - Anne Dillon