Published March 22, 2024
By Christine Reed
The Hydrogen Energy Research Center (H2ERC) in the School of Energy Resources (SER) is pleased to welcome Sarah Buckhold to the research team.
Originally from Chico, Cali., Buckhold earned her undergraduate degree from California State University, Chico in mechanical engineering and came to the University of Wyoming in 2017 to study wind energy. She completed her master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2021 from UW and is currently working on finishing her Ph.D. in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Buckhold has dedicated her academic career to studying energy solutions. While in California, she helped research, design, and implement low-income energy savings programs to help reduce load on constrained residential substations. Since coming to UW, she has worked extensively on Wyoming energy research projects in the Wind Energy Research Center under the supervision of co-Directors Michael Stoellinger, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Jonathan Naughton, a professor of mechanical engineering.
With a main focus on wind energy resource and weather modeling, Buckhold was involved in the development of the WIND Toolkit Long-Term Ensemble Dataset (WIND TKE-LED) with researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center. Buckhold was tasked with running high performance computing simulations of wind resources across the United States which will result in a new, publicly available database.
In 2023, she conducted a feasibility study utilizing the WIND TKE-LED database with previous funding from SER to support an initial wind resource assessment for a potential wind projects on coal mines in Wyoming.
She has since expanded that work using a model to explore stranded Wyoming wind energy as a resource to power an off-grid hydrogen station in a study that she proposed and led, and was funded under H2ERC.
“We are so pleased to have Sarah join us in a permanent capacity in the Hydrogen Energy Research Center,” says H2ERC Director Eugene Holubnyak. “She has already proven to be a capable and enthusiastic energy scientist with a real passion for Wyoming. Her involvement in early hydrogen research projects will be invaluable to expanding the industry and exploring all of the options available for hydrogen production.”
In her new role with SER, Buckhold will continue to investigate applications of wind energy for hydrogen production or ‘green hydrogen,’ expanding the expertise of the research group, and enabling it to submit proposals for new funding opportunities. She will also work to integrate her modeling and mechanical background into existing projects, including the Department of Energy funded “Clean Hydrogen Production, Storage, Transport and Utilization to Enable a Net-Zero Carbon Economy” project integrating autothermal or steam methane reforming (ATR/SMR) for efficient hydrogen production.
“I am excited to be part of Wyoming and look forward to being a part of shaping its energy future,” says Buckhold. “Wyoming has some of the best renewable energy resources in the country and some of the best opportunities to integrate new, innovative energy solutions like hydrogen. I am excited to be a part of transforming the States’ economic portfolio and helping to tap its full resource potential.”
