Contact Dr Pegah Mirzania
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 758566
- Email: P.Mirzania@cranfield.ac.uk
- ResearchGate
Background
Pegah is an Academic fellow in Local Energy Systems at the Center for Energy Systems and Strategy. She is the Module leader of the Energy Economics and Policy Module for the MSc in Renewable Energy Course. Pegah obtained her PhD at the Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings (CEREB), London South Bank University in 2019 where she researched distributed energy systems, in particular, Community-owned solar projects in the UK. The primary aim of her research was to evaluate how the integration of solar PV and electricity storage can be structured to be a feasible and financially viable model for community-owned solar projects in the post-subsidy condition. Pegah received her Master's degree in Energy and Economics from the City University of London, where she worked on energy performance policy frameworks to improve and promote energy efficiency in community and public buildings. In February 2019, Pegah has joined Cranfield University as a Postdoctoral research fellow. Her main research focus was on analysing the sustainability and livelihood impacts of Concentrated Solar Power plants on local communities by drawing insights from theoretical concepts on the socio-technical evolution of energy systems, and the territorial nature of energy networks.
Research opportunities
I am interested in supervising / co-supervising research (PhD) students with a research interest in:
Smart local energy system
Community renewable energy
Demand-side management
Decentralised energy system
Multi vector energy systems
Green Hydrogen Economy
Current activities
Pegah's overall research interests focus on developing ways to achieve a sustainable, fair and clean socio-technical energy system. She is particularly interested in developing innovative business and techno-economic models for local energy systems and investigating how communities fit in and function in processes linked to scaling up renewables.
Active Projects:
Protecting Minority Ethnic Communities Online (PRIME) 2022-2025: EPSRC funded project
Transition to low emission airport infrastructure from an energy systems perspective (TRILEMA) (2022): working on this project which is funded by HEIF as a Co-I researcher, the overall aim of the project is to create knowledge exchange activities between the energy and aviation sectors.
Completed Projects:
LOCESA- Department for Transport and Connect Places Catapult (2021-2022)- Low Carbon Energy Demand Scenarios For Aviation
Network H2, UK Research and Innovation - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Councils (2021-2021) Techno-economic feasibility study of hydrogen-fuelled freight transport
H2020-LCE-11-2017, Project number 792103, SOLWATT , Solving Water Issues for CSP Plants-Sustainability and livelihood impacts of CSP plants
JET-SEMLEP-Higher Education Innovation Fund- HEIF (2019-2020)- 'Just' Energy Transitions within SEMLEP Region (JET-SEMLEP)
Global Challenges Research Fund on (2019-2020, Co-I): Sustainable Energy transitions in South Africa: socio-economic aspects
The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) Networking Grant (2019, Co-I) -Beyond the Technical: Social and Political Implications of Delivering a Low Carbon Heat Future in the UK.
Clients
European Community-H2020 programme
Energy UK
UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC)
Brits Energy
Water Resources East (WRE)
Connected Places Catapult
London Borough of Hounslow Council
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Mabele B, Marais L, Balta-Ozkan N, Mirzania P, Mbobo B, .... (2024). Renewable energy, social disruption and formalising the social licence to operate in South Africa. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 31(1)
- Mirzania P, Gordon JA, Balta-Ozkan N, Sayan RC & Marais L. (2023). Barriers to powering past coal: Implications for a just energy transition in South Africa. Energy Research and Social Science, 101(July)
- Usman R, Mirzania P, Alnaser SW, Hart P & Long C. (2022). Systematic Review of Demand-Side Management Strategies in Power Systems of Developed and Developing Countries. Energies, 15(21)
- Parent PA, Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & King P. (2021). Post subsidy conditions: Evaluating the techno-economic performance of concentrating solar power in Spain. Solar Energy, 218(April)
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Marais L. (2020). One technology, two pathways? Strategic Niche Management and the diverging diffusion of concentrated solar power in South Africa and the United States. Energy Research and Social Science, 69
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Ford A. (2020). An innovative viable model for community-owned solar PV projects without FIT: Comprehensive techno-economic assessment. Energy Policy, 146
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Andrews D, Ofori G & Maidment G. (2019). The impact of policy changes: The opportunities of Community Renewable Energy projects in the UK and the barriers they face. Energy Policy, 129
Conference Papers
- Karim M, Almond H, Sansom C, Balta-Ozkan N, Mirzania P, .... (2020). The effect of concentrated solar power plants on the socio-economic and livelihood assets of the local community and environment
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Andrews D & Maidment GG. (2018). Breakthrough without Feed-in-Tariff: Techno-economics assessment of battery storage as potential business case for commercial and community renewable energy projects
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Andrews D & Maidment GG. (2017). Community energy in the UK: The end or the beginning of a brighter future?
- Mirzania P, Ford A, Akhavan Farshchi M & Maidment G. (2016). Investigating business models for the UK 's community renewable energy
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Marais L. Spatial divergence of South Africa’s energy transition and its implications for energy justice
- Mirzania P, Balta-Ozkan N & Ford A. For Post-Subsidy Solar PV Uptake in the UK: Techno-Economic Assessment of Integrating Solar PV and Battery Storage
- Makanga J, Mirzania P & Balta-Ozkan N. Concentrated Solar Power in South Africa: A Techno-Economic Assessment
Books
- Ford A, Gillich A & Mirzania P. (2020). Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficient Technologies In Letcher TM(ed.), Future Energy: Improved, Sustainable and Clean Options for our Planet (3). Elsevier.
- Ford A, Gillich A & Mirzania P. (2020). 28 Sustainable Energy and Energy Efficient Technologies In Future Energy. Elsevier.