Electricity Grid

The electrical power grid that powers Northern America is not a single grid, but is instead divided into multiple wide area synchronous grids. The e Eastern Interconnection and the Western Interconnection are the largest. Three other regions include the Texas Interconnection, the Quebec Interconnection, and the Alaska Interconnection. Each region delivers power at a nominal 60 Hz frequency.

David K.A. Mordecai presented at the Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification Group

David K.A. Mordecai presented at the Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification Group

David K.A. Mordecai, President of Risk Economics,  presented at the Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification (VVUQ) Group lunch convened on March 28, 2025. The first part of his two-part invited presentation Weather Volatility, Transition Risk Exposure, and Credit Capacity addressed practical application of compound real options analysis and numerical optimization of temporal and spatial models from industrial economics for storage and transmission in the context of binding technical constraints related to comparative conversion rate efficiencies in the scalable deployment of low-carbon stochastic production.

The second part of his invited presentation Multi-resolution Remote-Sensing and Data Fusion for Multi-Modal Estimation of Mesoscale Terrestrial Atmospheric Scattering Fields: Statistical Models and Applications to Risk Domains discussed state estimation of the propensity and propagation of mesoscale severe convective storms, subject to prevailing localized spatial and temporal conditions at temporal and spatial scales which cannot be numerically simulated, as well as the role of remote statistical measurements at relevant temporal and spatial mesoscales. He highlighted the applicability and utility of sampling and assimilation of signals characterizing atmospheric composition based upon reflectivity, propagation, attenuation and doppler signatures of complementary acoustic, optical and radar-based emissions across a range of spectral bands, and under corresponding conditions of temperature, pressure and humidity.

David Mordecai is an Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has been recently appointed as Adjunct Professor of Law teaching quantitative methods at NYU Law School. He also advises research activities at RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU.

David K.A. Mordecai presented at the Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification Group

About RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute
The mission of RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU is the development of experimental testbeds and analytics that employ high-dimensional datasets from innovative sources by applying a range of computational and analytical methods to commercial and industrial sensor networks and edge computing embedded systems, focusing primarily on research and development (R&D) of remote- and compressed- sensing, anomaly detection, forensic analytics and statistical process control. By employing applied computational statistics within the context of robust and scalable data analytic solutions, the goal is robust and reliable integration of machine learning with signal processing for measurement and control, in order to conduct research fundamental to large-scale, real-world questions in risk and liability management in the public interest.

RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics was established in 2011 at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, an independent division of New York University (NYU). Courant is considered to be one of the world’s leading mathematics educational and scientific research centers, and has been ranked first in research in applied mathematics. RiskEcon® Lab is the cornerstone of the Computational Economics and Algorithmic Data Analytics (CEcADA) cooperative at New York University, established concurrently in 2011.

About Risk Economics, Inc.
Risk Economics® specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis. The RiskEcon® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators. For additional information, please visit https://riskeconomicsinc.com/.

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David K.A. Mordecai presented at NYU Law Integrity Policy Institute

David K.A. Mordecai presented at NYU Law Integrity Policy Institute

David K.A. Mordecai, President of Risk Economics, presented at NYU Law Integrity Policy Institute, on February 18th, 2025. His invited presentation, entitled Weather Volatility, Transition Risk Exposure, and Credit Capacity addressed the critical role of sector coupling, the thermodynamics underlying spatiotemporal weather conditions coupled with energy and power capacity engineering across industrial sectors, highlighting implications for mesoscale economics of supply and demand, and how  cross-product volatility across inherently coupled markets and production technologies serve as common factors underlying the economic viability of hedging cost structures for risk immunization and mitigation of deadweight loss in the scalable deployment of low-carbon stochastic production.

David Mordecai is an Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has been recently appointed as Adjunct Professor of Law teaching quantitative methods at NYU Law School. He also advises research activities at RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU.

The Institute for Policy Integrity, a non-partisan think tank founded 2008 at NYU School of Law, is committed to producing original scholarly research in the fields of economics, law, and public policy with a primary focus on energy and environmental policy.

About RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute
The mission of RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU is the development of experimental testbeds and analytics that employ high-dimensional datasets from innovative sources by applying a range of computational and analytical methods to commercial and industrial sensor networks and edge computing embedded systems, focusing primarily on research and development (R&D) of remote- and compressed- sensing, anomaly detection, forensic analytics and statistical process control. By employing applied computational statistics within the context of robust and scalable data analytic solutions, the goal is robust and reliable integration of machine learning with signal processing for measurement and control, in order to conduct research fundamental to large-scale, real-world questions in risk and liability management in the public interest.

RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics was established in 2011 at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, an independent division of New York University (NYU). Courant is considered to be one of the world’s leading mathematics educational and scientific research centers, and has been ranked first in research in applied mathematics. RiskEcon® Lab is the cornerstone of the Computational Economics and Algorithmic Data Analytics (CEcADA) cooperative at New York University, established concurrently in 2011.

About Risk Economics, Inc.
Risk Economics® specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis. The RiskEcon® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators. For additional information, please visit https://riskeconomicsinc.com/.

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David K.A. Mordecai Co-organized NYU-Princeton Workshop on Future Electricity Grids and Energy Markets

David K.A. Mordecai Co-organized NYU-Princeton Workshop on Future Electricity Grids and Energy Markets

David K.A. Mordecai, President of Risk Economics, co-organized, served as a session chair, panel moderator and presented, during the NYU-Princeton Workshop on Future Electricity Grids and Energy Markets convened on January 22nd and 23rd, 2025. During the two-day research workshop, his presentation entitled Power-to-X addressed the critical role of sector coupling, the thermodynamics underlying spatiotemporal weather conditions coupled with energy and power capacity engineering across industrial sectors, highlighting implications for mesoscale economics of supply and demand.

Dr. Mordecai is President and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, an Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School, and advises research activities at RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU.

David K.A. Mordecai Co-organized NYU-Princeton Workshop on Future Electricity Grids and Energy Markets

About RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute
The mission of RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU is the development of experimental testbeds and analytics that employ high-dimensional datasets from innovative sources by applying a range of computational and analytical methods to commercial and industrial sensor networks and edge computing embedded systems, focusing primarily on research and development (R&D) of remote- and compressed- sensing, anomaly detection, forensic analytics and statistical process control. By employing applied computational statistics within the context of robust and scalable data analytic solutions, the goal is robust and reliable integration of machine learning with signal processing for measurement and control, in order to conduct research fundamental to large-scale, real-world questions in risk and liability management in the public interest.

RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics was established in 2011 at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, an independent division of New York University (NYU). Courant is considered to be one of the world’s leading mathematics educational and scientific research centers, and has been ranked first in research in applied mathematics. RiskEcon® Lab is the cornerstone of the Computational Economics and Algorithmic Data Analytics (CEcADA) cooperative at New York University, established concurrently in 2011.

About Risk Economics, Inc.
Risk Economics® specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis. The RiskEcon® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators. For additional information, please visit https://riskeconomicsinc.com/.

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David K.A. Mordecai Spoke at the IMSI Architecture of Green Energy Systems Program

David K.A. Mordecai Spoke at the IMSI Architecture of Green Energy Systems Program

David K.A. Mordecai, President of Risk Economics, presented on June 18, 2024, during The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) Research Workshop, Architecture of Green Energy: The Underlying Problem and Its Challenges. During the week-long research workshop, his presentation entitled, Power-to-X as a Multi-Commodity Theory of Electricity Storage, Transmission and Transport addressed the critical role of multi-scale/multi-resolution statistics of thermodynamics underlying weather conditions coupled with energy and power capacity across industrial sectors, highlighting implications for mesoscale economics of supply and demand. Dr. Mordecai also attended as an active participant a subsequent three-day IMSI research workshop, Mathematical and Statistical Foundations of Digital Twins (DTs), which focused on mathematical, statistical, and computational foundations addressing challenges in data assimilation and statistical inverse problems, model reduction and surrogate model specification, as well as (sub)optimal control decisions and experimental design for risk estimation and uncertainty quantification.

The 10-week trans-disciplinary architecture of green energy program hosted by IMSI is aimed at understanding the technological, social and economic challenges of transitioning to systems that generate, deliver and consume 100% renewable energy, with a view to creating an effective physical and institutional “architecture” for this transition. Participants in the program are drawn from engineering, social sciences, economics and the mathematical sciences.

Dr. Mordecai is President and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, an Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School, and advises research activities at RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU.

David K.A. Mordecai Spoke at the IMSI Architecture of Green Energy Systems Program

About IMSI
The Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation (IMSI) is a mathematical sciences research institute funded by the National Science Foundation. It is co-managed by the University of ChicagoNorthwestern University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and hosted at the University of Chicago.

About RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute
The mission of RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics @ Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU is the development of experimental testbeds and analytics that employ high-dimensional datasets from innovative sources by applying a range of computational and analytical methods to commercial and industrial sensor networks and edge computing embedded systems, focusing primarily on research and development (R&D) of remote- and compressed- sensing, anomaly detection, forensic analytics and statistical process control. By employing applied computational statistics within the context of robust and scalable data analytic solutions, the goal is robust and reliable integration of machine learning with signal processing for measurement and control, in order to conduct research fundamental to large-scale, real-world questions in risk and liability management in the public interest.

RiskEcon® Lab for Decision Metrics was established in 2011 at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, an independent division of New York University (NYU). Courant is considered to be one of the world’s leading mathematics educational and scientific research centers, and has been ranked first in research in applied mathematics. RiskEcon® Lab is the cornerstone of the Computational Economics and Algorithmic Data Analytics (CEcADA) cooperative at New York University, established concurrently in 2011.

About Risk Economics, Inc.
Risk Economics® specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis. The RiskEcon® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators. For additional information, please visit https://riskeconomicsinc.com/.

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David K.A. Mordecai Taught Financing the Grid Course at University of Chicago Booth School of Business

David K.A. Mordecai Taught Financing the Grid: Valuing Transmission & Storage Capacity Course at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

David K.A. Mordecai, President of Risk Economics and Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, taught Financing the Grid: Valuing Transmission & Storage Capacity course in Spring 2024. His co-faculty were:

  • John R. Birge, Hobart W. Williams Distinguished Service Professor of Operations Management
  • Kevin M. Murphy, George J. Stigler Distinguished Service Professor of Economics Emeritus

The course provided a general introductory overview to fundamental instruments, and foundational concepts and practice principles from industrial economics, statistics and engineering applicable to financing and valuation of grid-scale electricity storage and transmission capacity.

Throughout the quarter, the course content addressed key principles underlying the engineering and economics of the grid. and introduced fundamental themes from applicable financial derivatives, as well as natural resource and environmental economics, foundational to the application of Cournot models and real options analysis, as well as statistical and econometric specification of spatial models from industrial economics for storage and transmission in the context of binding technical constraints. Beginning with foundational principles for fundamental pricing instruments applicable to electricity generation, consumption, storage and transmission, lecture and discussion addressed corresponding established and prospective industry practice related to spatial organization and colocation of industrial electricity supply and demand with additional implications for environmental and infrastructure regulation and finance, electricity trading and asset pricing (e.g., metals and ancillary commodity derivatives markets). Classroom discourse further extended technical fundamentals and foundational principles to  broader implications and impacts for political economy, energy policy and applied management science.

The course concluded with a panel discussion at which the three co-instructors were joined by colleague Mihai Anitescu, University of Chicago Department of Statistics Professor and Senior Computational Mathematician at Argonne National Laboratory.

David K.A. Mordecai Taught Financing the Grid - Course at University of Chicago Booth School of Business

David K.A. Mordecai, Ph.D. is President and Co-Founder of Risk Economics, a New York City based advisory firm. Risk Economics specializes in the application of computational economics and statistics to the proprietary development and scalable implementation of robust modeling and data analytic frameworks for valuation, strategic and systemic risk analysis, and dynamic asset-liability management. As Practice Lead for the Risk Economics® litigation, regulation and arbitration expert advisory practice, David K.A. Mordecai serves as an expert on (i) loss causation and economic damages related to liability from operational and model risk, machine testimony, algorithmic bias, as well as (ii) the analysis of computational and digital forensics, (iii) market structure, (iv) financial institutions governance, (v) complex issues related to finance, economics and market standards and practices within securities, derivatives, reinsurance, and commodities markets, as well as (vi) industrial engineering, economics and market structure across a diverse range of non-financial industry sectors.

As an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School, he also co-teaches the course Quantitative Methods in Litigation with a focus on machine testimony and machine behavior. His contributions to this course as co-instructor include his extensive testifying experience, as well as direct experience with technical review, evaluation, and testing of AI and machine learning applications across diverse institutional contexts, and industry and market settings.Since 2013, Dr. Mordecai has also served as the first Scientist-in-Residence at FinTech Innovation Lab, an accelerator platform for early and growth stage technology firms, organized by The Partnership Fund for New York City in conjunction with Accenture and a consortium of venture capital firms and global financial institutions.

He earned a Ph.D. with concentrations in Econometrics/Mathematical Statistics and Economics/Industrial Organization from the University of Chicago, and an M.B.A. in Finance from NYU Stern School of Business. His dissertation research applied principal components analysis to risk-based leverage estimation with a focus upon empirical tests of the limits of arbitrage, and how market shocks trigger contagion via the financing of highly leveraged financial institutions during periods of extreme market volatility. In addition to studying financial economics and market microstructure, as well as the economics of law, regulation and industry structure, his doctoral education included the study of Bayesian decision theory, social network analysis and behavioral economics.

About the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with nine Nobel laureates in the Economic Sciences, more than any other business school in the world.

About Risk Economics, Inc.
Risk Economics® specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis. The RiskEcon® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators. For additional information, please visit https://riskeconomicsinc.com/.

David K.A. Mordecai Taught Financing the Grid: Valuing Transmission & Storage Capacity Course at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Read More »

David K.A. Mordecai Authored Article The Critical Role of Transmission and Storage Capacity in ABA Natural Resources and Environment

David K.A. Mordecai Authored Article “The Critical Role of Transmission and Storage Capacity” in ABA Natural Resources and Environment

David K.A. Mordecai authored an article published in the Future of the Energy Grid Issue (Winter 2023) of the American Bar Association (ABA) Natural Resources and Environment, entitled The Critical Role of Transmission and Storage Capacity in Balancing Intermittent Generation and Transient Load.

Although investment in modeling, installation, and maintenance of scalable storage and transmission infrastructure is critical to grid modernization, other aspects are outpacing the measures and resources needed for reliable, resilient, stable and secure grid balancing operations, in order to mitigate the expanding exposure and increasing susceptibility to climate-related weather volatility and technological transition risks. This article discusses the law, economics, and finance, as well as risk engineering and regulatory implications of regional weather-dependent variability from transient electricity loads compounded by increasing resources needed for reliable, resilient, stable, and secure grid balancing operations.

Dr. Mordecai is an active member of the ABA Science and Technology (SciTech) Law Section, having been reappointed as Chair of the Space Law Committee, and Co-Chair of the Nanotechnology Committee, previously having served as Vice-Chair of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics from 2018 to 2022. In addition, Dr. Mordecai has been an invited speaker at the AI & Robotics Institute in both 2021 and 2020, and an invited speaker at the 2019 American Bar Association Annual Meeting and 34th Intellectual Property Law Conference (ABA-IPL).

Dr. Mordecai previously authored the article Automated Personal Assistants with Multiple Principals: Whose Agent Is It? in the Winter 2020 issue of ABA SciTech Lawyer, and co-authored the article Objects May be Closer Than They Appear: Uncertainty and Reliability Implications of Computer Vision Depth Estimation for Vehicular Collision Avoidance and Navigation – Part 1, in the Fall 2022 Issue of ABA SciTech Lawyer.

Dr. Mordecai is President of Risk Economics, Adjunct Professor of Econometrics and Statistics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Visiting Scholar at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences NYU, advising research at RiskEcon® Lab @ Courant Institute.

David K.A. Mordecai Authored Article The Critical Role of Transmission and Storage Capacity in ABA Natural Resources and Environment

About Risk Economics, Inc.
Risk Economics specializes in economic analysis of risk and liability. It provides advisory services at the intersection of commercial business-process engineering and risk engineering with a particular focus on coupling commercial reinsurance and financial technology, through the rigorous application of agent-based, demographic, and statistical methodologies to microeconomic and macroeconomic analytics.

The RiskEcon® client roster is diverse and includes governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, global insurance and reinsurance firms, leading law firms, technology firms, global banking institutions, asset management firms, multinational corporations with interests in natural resources, commodities, and energy, as well as government agencies and regulators.

David K.A. Mordecai Authored Article “The Critical Role of Transmission and Storage Capacity” in ABA Natural Resources and Environment Read More »