Enielma Cunha
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Cunha da Silva is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering, Â鶹ÊÓƵ. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil, and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the State University of Mato Grosso (UNEMAT). She was a visiting researcher at Toronto Metropolitan University, working with Prof. Bala Venkatesh on breaker allocation and microgrid formation for resilient distribution systems.
Her research applies optimization to develop practical, scalable decision-support tools that support the modernization of power systems. On one front, she designs strategies that help energy communities and resource owners maximize their participation and revenue in energy and capacity markets. On another, she evaluates and expands the hosting capacity of distribution networks, enabling the safe integration of higher levels of distributed generation and electric vehicles.
Her current postdoctoral research, "Wildfire Resilience Tool: DER Allocation for Remote Communities," develops a decision-support framework to help utilities and policymakers build climate-resilient, self-sufficient grids for remote and vulnerable communities across British Columbia. It combines wildfire risk mapping to identify at-risk communities, assessment of locally available renewable resources, and optimization of the resulting energy and storage portfolio to ensure reliable power during extended outages. Her broader research interests include power system optimization, energy markets, hosting capacity, distributed energy resources, grid resilience, and climate-adaptive energy planning..