A.T.D. Perera portrait

Amarasinghage T.D. Perera

Bio. A.T.D.(Dasun) Perera is an Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University, working with Prof. Jesse Jenkins at ZERO Lab. Spanning from individual buildings to urban and macro scales, his models couple building simulations with capacity-expansion frameworks embedded in multi-scale physical contexts (urban and regional climate dynamics). He leads GPU-accelerated assessments across large building cohorts; is an expert in subsurface thermal storage (borehole, aquifer); and applies machine learning to energy-system planning, including reinforcement learning and Generative Adversarial Networks. Previously at LBNL and Empa–ETH, he earned his Ph.D. at EPFL. His work has received multiple awards and broad media coverage.

CV
LinkedIn
Google Scholar

Research

Linking building and urban physics with power-system planning—from single buildings to cities (urban) and regions (macro)—using optimization and machine learning.

Climate risks & grid resilience
Climate change simultaneously strains power systems by increasing electricity demand, reducing thermal plant output and transmission capacity, and making renewable generation more volatile due to compound extreme weather events like heat waves, droughts, and storms. I’m quantifying these multi-hazard impacts to provide concrete planning inputs, with effective resilience levers combining diversified portfolios and siting, grid-interactive buildings and flexible demand, storage and firm capacity, and improved forecasting and operations, thereby shifting systems from reactive to proactive climate adaptation.

Capturing urban climate and form in energy planning
Dense urban form and a warming climate jointly raise electricity demand—especially peaks—and add volatility that complicates renewable integration. Plans that ignore these effects tend to underinvest and face reliability gaps. I propose co-optimizing urban morphology (density, siting, shading/ventilation) together with energy portfolios (renewables, storage, flexible demand, firm capacity) consistently cuts costs while improving resilience, compared with treating city design and energy systems separately.

Methods development using machine learning
My work shows that machine learning can both design and stress-test energy systems: reinforcement learning (RL) can learn optimal design/control policies for distributed and building-centric energy systems, while generative models (e.g., GANs) can synthesize plausible futures to quantify climate and human-system uncertainty in planning. Together, they shift workflows from fixed scenarios to data-driven exploration, revealing flexible portfolios and controls that cut cost and improve reliability under extremes. In practice, this means co-optimizing technology choices and operating strategies with RL, then using GAN-generated variations in weather/demand/behavior to test robustness—so plans are not just efficient on average, but resilient across many possible futures

Macro scale modeling: buildings and and subsurface storage
I use GPU-accelerated simulations to scale physics-based resistor capacitor (RC) building models from single structures to city- and region-level cohorts. The framework couples these RC models with subsurface thermal storage—including aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) (and, where relevant, borehole TES)—to represent charging/discharging, transport losses, and comfort constraints. This lets us quantify how portfolios of buildings can shift heating/cooling demand, firm up renewables, and reduce peak stress on the grid under extreme weather. Result: fast, high-resolution planning tools that are both computationally efficient and physically more accurate.

Talks & Media

Invited talks, panels, and media features on climate risk, grid resilience, urban–energy co-design, and building-centric flexibility.

YouTube playlist
Media kit (bio + photo)

Recent invited talks

  • Cornell University — Linking Climate and Energy Models (2025). Slides
  • Nanyang Technological University — Mitigation & Adaptation of Macro & Urban Energy Infrastructure (2024). Slides
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — Energy Infrastructure Models (2024). Slides
  • IEEE PES Panel — Planning for climate risk (2024). Panel
  • Columbia University — Buildings as flexible assets (2023). Slides

Full list of talks →

Media highlights

  • Scientific American — Grid resilience for extremes. Read
  • WIRED — Feature on building-grid flexibility. Read
  • PV-Magazine — Subsurface thermal storage. Read
  • LBNL News — Interview on wildfire resilience of grid. Read

Press coverage (all) →

Selected panels & seminars (expand)
  • Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings (GEB) — DOE/utility workshop panel (2024). Agenda
  • Urban climate & energy — Academic mini-symposium (2023). Recording
  • Flexibility for renewables — Industry roundtable (2023). Notes

Papers & Code

Selected publications and links to code. For the full, always-up-to-date list, see Google Scholar; for code and examples, see GitHub.

GitHub @atdasun
Google Scholar
Selected featured papers
  1. A.T.D. Perera, K. Javanroodi, D. Mauree, V. Nik, P. Florio, T. Hong, D. Chen. “EU energy transition: quantifying challenges brought by urban expansion and climate change.” Nature Energy, 2023. (Link)
  2. A.T.D. Perera, V. Nik, D. Chen, J.-L. Scartezzini, T. Hong. “Quantifying the impacts of climate change and extreme climate events on energy systems.” Nature Energy, 2020. (Link)
  3. A.T.D. Perera & K. Parameswaran. “Applications of reinforcement learning in energy systems.” Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021. (Link)
  4. A.T.D. Perera, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera, V.P.C. Dassanayake. “A hybrid tool to combine multi-objective optimization and multi-criterion decision making in designing standalone hybrid energy systems.” Applied Energy, 2013. (Link)
Other publications in peer-reviewed journals
  1. Luo Xu, N. Lin, A.T.D. Perera, H.V. Poor, et al. “Cross-sector energy system resilience and interdependence in a changing climate.” Joule (Accepted / In press).
  2. Luo Xu, N. Lin, H.V. Poor, D. Xi, A.T.D. Perera. “Quantifying cascading power outages during climate extremes considering renewable energy integration.” Nature Communications, 2025. (Link)
  3. Future Earth Consortium & A.T.D. Perera. “Ten insights in Climate Science 2024.” One Earth, 2025. (Link)
  4. Luo Xu, K. Feng, N. Lin, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “Resilience of renewable power systems under climate risks.” Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering, 2024. (Link)
  5. K. Javanroodi, A.T.D. Perera, T. Hong, V.M. Nik. “Climate-dependent and interconnected urban energy infrastructures—A technical review for designing sustainable and resilient energy systems considering urban morphology.” Advances in Applied Energy, 2023. (Link)
  6. A.T.D. Perera, T. Hong. “Vulnerability and resilience of urban energy ecosystems to extreme climate events: A systematic review and perspectives.” Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2023. (Link)
  7. A.T.D. Perera, K. Soga, Y. Xu, P. Nico, T. Hong. “Optimal design of grid-connected distributed energy systems to improve wildfire resilience for vulnerable communities at the wildland-urban interface.” Applied Energy, 2023. (Link)
  8. F. Zhu, M.-P. Kwan, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “GIScience can facilitate the development of solar cities for energy transition.” Advances in Applied Energy, 2023. (Link)
  9. A.T.D. Perera, B. Zhao, Z. Wang, K. Soga, T. Hong. “Optimal design of grid-connected distributed energy systems to improve wildfire resilience for vulnerable communities at the wildland-urban interface.” Applied Energy, 2023. (Link)
  10. A.T.D. Perera, F. Khayatian, S. Eggimann, K. Orehounig, S. Halgamuge. “Quantifying the climate- and human-system-driven uncertainties in energy planning by using GANs.” Applied Energy, 2022. (Link)
  11. A.T.D. Perera, K. Javanroodi, V.M. Nik. “Climate-resilient interconnected infrastructure: co-optimization of energy systems and urban morphology.” Applied Energy, 2021. (Link)
  12. P. Florio, G. Peronato, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “Designing and assessing solar energy neighborhoods from visual impact.” Sustainable Cities and Society, 2021. (Link)
  13. A.T.D. Perera, V. Nik, Z. Wang, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Towards more interactive energy internet: designing distributed energy systems by using game-theoretic approach.” Applied Energy, 2021. (Link)
  14. A.T.D. Perera, K. Javanroodi, W. Wang, T. Hong. “Urban cells: Extending the energy hub concept to facilitate sector and spatial coupling.” Advances in Applied Energy, 2021. (Link)
  15. V. Nik, A.T.D. Perera, D. Chen. “Towards Climate Resilient Urban Energy Systems: A review.” National Science Review (NSR), 2020. (Link)
  16. Z. Wang, A.T.D. Perera. “Integrated platform to design robust energy internet.” Applied Energy, 2020. (Link)
  17. V.M. Nik, A.T.D. Perera. “The importance of developing climate-resilient pathways for energy transition and climate change adaptation.” One Earth, 2020. (Link)
  18. A.T.D. Perera, P.U. Wickramasinghe, V.M. Nik, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Introducing reinforcement learning to energy system design process.” Applied Energy, 2020. (Link)
  19. A.T.D. Perera, S. Coccolo, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Impact of urban form on energy efficiency and renewable energy integration.” Scientific Reports, 2019. (Link)
  20. A.T.D. Perera, P.U. Wickramasinghe, V. Nik, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Machine learning methods to assist energy system optimization.” Applied Energy, 2019. (Link)
  21. D. Mauree, E. Naboni, S. Coccolo, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “A review of assessment methods for the urban environment…” Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2019. (Link)
  22. K. Siraganyan, A.T.D. Perera, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Eco-Sim: A parametric tool to evaluate environmental & economic feasibility of decentralized energy systems.” Energies, 2019. (Link)
  23. A.T.D. Perera, V. Nik, P.U. Wickramasinghe, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Redefining energy system flexibility for designing distributed energy system.” Applied Energy, 2019. (Link)
  24. N. Mohajeri, A.T.D. Perera, S. Coccolo, et al. “Assessments of sustainable development scenarios for a Swiss village…” Renewable Energy, 2019. (Link)
  25. A.T.D. Perera, S. Coccolo, J.-L. Scartezzini, D. Mauree. “Quantifying the impact of urban climate by extending the boundaries of urban energy system modeling.” Applied Energy, 2018. (Link)
  26. D. Mauree, S. Coccolo, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “A new framework to evaluate urban design using urban microclimatic modelling…” Sustainability, 2018. (Link)
  27. M. Le Guen, L. Mosca, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “Improving the energy sustainability of a Swiss village…” Energy and Buildings, 2018. (Link)
  28. A.T.D. Perera, V.M. Nik, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “An integrated approach to design site-specific distributed electrical hubs…” Energy, 2017. (Link)
  29. A.T.D. Perera, V.M. Nik, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Electrical hubs: integrate non-dispatchable renewables with minimum grid impact.” Applied Energy, 2017. (Link)
  30. A.T.D. Perera, A.N. Madusanka, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera. “A multi-criterion analysis for renewable energy integration…” Journal of Renewable & Sustainable Energy, 2015. (Link)
  31. A.T.D. Perera, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera, V.P.C. Dassanayake. “Converting existing Internal Combustion Generator (ICG) systems into HESs…” Energy Conversion & Management, 2013. (Link)
  32. A.T.D. Perera, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera, V.P.C. Dassanayake. “Designing standalone hybrid energy systems minimizing initial investment, lifecycle cost and emission.” Energy, 2013. (Link)
  33. A.T.D. Perera, D.M.I.J. Wickremasinghe, D.V.S. Mahindarathna, et al. “Sensitivity of internal combustion generator capacity in standalone hybrid energy systems.” Energy, 2012. (Link)
Manuscript under consideration
  • Y. Wu, M. Atoufie, F. Chen, Q. Luo, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “Prioritizing demand-side applications for clean hydrogen to maximize environmental and economic benefits.” Nature Energy (under review).
Book chapters
  • A.T.D. Perera, S. Coccolo, P. Florio, et al. “Linking Neighborhoods into Sustainable Energy Systems.” In Energy Sustainability in Built and Urban Environments, Springer-Nature.
  • R. Rienzie, A.T.D. Perera, N.M. Adassooriya. “Biorecovery of precious metals from e-waste.” In Electronic Waste Management and Treatment Technology, Elsevier.
Publications in peer-reviewed international conference proceedings (Scopus-indexed)
  1. M. Beaud, H. Cai, A.T.D. Perera, P. Heer. “Performance gaps between energy system planning and operation…” CISBAT, 2023 (Switzerland).
  2. K. Javanroodi, A.T.D. Perera, V.M. Nik, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Towards Resilient Interconnected Urban Infrastructures…” iCBE, 2022 (Canada).
  3. A.T.D. Perera, S. Coccolo, S. Monna, J.-L. Scartezzini, D. Mauree. “The impact of urban texture on energy system design process.” CISBAT, 2019.
  4. C. Houmani, I. Krafess, S. Coccolo, et al. “Urban greening archetypes at the European scale.” CISBAT, 2019.
  5. I. Krafess, C. Houmani, D. Mauree, et al. “Local climate impact on the energy demand: an analysis at the European scale.” CISBAT, 2019.
  6. P. Florio, S. Coccolo, A.T.D. Perera, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Digital workflow to assess visual impact of solar panels…” CISBAT, 2019.
  7. Delannoy B., Puri S., A.T.D. Perera, S. Coccolo, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Climate impact and energy sustainability of future European neighborhoods.” IEEE-EFEA, 2018.
  8. A.T.D. Perera, V. Nik, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Impacts of extreme climate conditions…” Applied Energy Conference, 2018.
  9. S. Puri, A.T.D. Perera, D. Mauree, S. Coccolo, L. Delannoy, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Role of distributed energy systems in European energy transition.” Applied Energy Conf., 2018.
  10. A.T.D. Perera, V. Nik, P.U. Wickramasinghe, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Integrating renewables maintaining system flexibility.” IEEE-EFEA, 2018.
  11. A.T.D. Perera, N.A. Iliadis, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Multistage integration of renewables into standalone systems.” IEEE-EFEA, 2018.
  12. Z. Wang, A.T.D. Perera. “Robust optimization of grids with distributed generation and N-1 security.” Applied Energy Conf., 2018.
  13. M. Le Guen, L. Mosca, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “Building refurbishment & energy hub concept—Hemberg case.” CISBAT, 2017.
  14. A.T.D. Perera, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Energy hub concept—mixed buildings in Switzerland.” CISBAT, 2017.
  15. K. Siraganyan, D. Mauree, A.T.D. Perera, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Need for energy storage to enhance neighborhood autonomy.” CISBAT, 2017.
  16. A. Kuehner, N. Mdeihli, S. Coccolo, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “Extending BIPV using distributed energy hubs—Cartigny.” CISBAT, 2017.
  17. H. Bittel, A.T.D. Perera, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Locating multi-energy systems for a neighborhood in Geneva using k-means.” CISBAT, 2017.
  18. A.T.D. Perera, U. Wickramasinghe, V. Nik, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Optimum design of distributed energy hubs using hybrid surrogate models.” CISBAT, 2017.
  19. D. Mauree, A.T.D. Perera, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Influence of Buildings Configuration on demand & sizing in an urban context.” Applied Energy Conf. (ICAE), 2017.
  20. T. Chatelain, A.T.D. Perera, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Optimum dispatch of a multi-storage, multi-energy hub…” Applied Energy Conf. (ICAE), 2017.
  21. C. Athukorala, J. Jayasuriya, T.D. Perera, M.P.G. Sirimanna, R. Attalage. “Techno-economic analysis for integrated Solar PV/T for buildings.” IEEE-ICIAFS, 2016.
  22. W.J.A. Jayasuriya, A.U.C.D. Athukorala, S. Ragulageethan, A.T.D. Perera, et al. “Performance analysis of PVT panels…” ASME Power Conf., 2016.
  23. A.T.D. Perera, V.M. Nik, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Design optimization of Electrical Hubs using hybrid evolutionary algorithm.” ASME Energy Sustainability, 2016.
  24. A.T.D. Perera. “Minimizing waste of renewables in standalone hybrid systems.” ASME Energy Sustainability, 2016.
  25. A.T.D. Perera, V.M. Nik, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Optimum design & control of grid-integrated electrical hubs…” IEEE EnergyCon, 2016.
  26. A.T.D. Perera, V.M. Nik, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Sensitivity of dispatch strategy in grid-integrated hubs.” IEEE EnergyCon, 2016.
  27. A.U.C.D. Athukorala, W.J.A. Jayasuriya, S. Ragulageethan, et al. “Techno-economic analysis for PV/T with thermal & electrical storage.” MERCon-15, 2015.
  28. A.T.D. Perera, A. Wijesiri. “Designing smart hybrid renewable systems with V2G.” ICIAfS, 2014.
  29. A.T.D. Perera, M.P.G. Sirimanna. “Evolutionary algorithm to optimize building envelope for efficient buildings.” ICIAfS, 2014.
  30. A.T.D. Perera, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera, A.A.P. de Alwis. “Optimal design of grid-connected hybrid electrical system…” IEEE-ICIIS, 2013.
  31. A.T.D. Perera, A.N. Madusanka, A.A.P. de Alwis. “Optimization of MSW network using evolutionary algorithms.” ICT 2013.
  32. M.P.G. Sirimanna, A.T.D. Perera, R.A. Attalage. “View factors for simple roof enclosures.” IASTED EAS, 2012.
  33. S. Gamage, H.A.K. Madhushan, A.T.D. Perera, P. Kumarage. “Standalone solar thermal ORC with thermal storage.” IASTED EAS, 2012.
  34. A.T.D. Perera, D.N.S. Kuruppumullage, N.A.I.D. Nissanka, A.A.P. de Alwis. “Evolutionary multi-objective optimization to optimize waste-to-energy network.” GreenTech 2011.
  35. A.T.D. Perera, P. Kumarage, K.K.C.K. Perera. “Optimal design & control of multiple boiler systems…” ICIIS 2011.
  36. A.T.D. Perera, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera. “Multi-objective optimization of lifecycle cost… for ICG expansions.” ASME ES 2011.
  37. A.T.D. Perera, D.M.I.J. Wickremasinghe, D. Mahindarathna, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera, E.M. Bartholameuz. “Simulation-based evolutionary optimization for standalone HES.” ICCMS 2011.
  38. A.T.D. Perera, D.M.I.J. Wickremasinghe, D. Mahindarathna, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera, E.M. Bartholameuz. “Determining wind turbine capacity for off-grid ICG expansion.” IEEE SET 2010.
Conferences & symposiums (full papers, not Scopus-indexed)
  1. A.T.D. Perera, D.M.I.J. Wickremasinghe, D. Mahindarathna, R.A. Attalage, K.K.C.K. Perera, E.M. Bartholameuz. “How generator capacity & reliability affect HES sizing?” ERU Symposium, 2010.
  2. A.T.D. Perera, D.N.S. Kuruppumullage, N.A.I.D. Nissanka, A.A.P. de Alwis. “Multi-objective optimization of municipal waste management for Sri Lanka.” SLAAS, 2011.
  3. K.A.E.K. Perera, K.A.L. Kollure, W.A.K.S.S. Prasad, K.K.C.K. Perera, P.A.B.A.R. Perera, A.T.D. Perera. “Solar PV office AC in Sri Lanka.” ERU Symposium, 2011.
  4. A.T.D. Perera, V.M. Nik, D. Mauree, J.-L. Scartezzini. “Evaluating sensitivity of grid integration for multi-energy hubs.” CISBAT, 2015.
  5. W.J.A. Jayasuriya, A.U.C.D. Athukorala, S. Ragulageethan, A.T.D. Perera, M.P.G. Sirimanna. “Thermo-economic analysis of PV/T configuration settings.” CISBAT, 2015.
  6. S.V.R. Gamage, A.T.D. Perera, K.K.C.K. Perera. “Cascade solar thermal collector field for ORC with latent storage.” ICSBE, 2016.
  7. D. Mauree, S. Coccolo, V. Nik, D. Perera, et al. “Impact of climate change on the resilience of the EPFL campus.” ICUC/AMS Urban Env., 2018 (NY, USA).

Awards

  • 2023–2024 — Top 2% most-cited researchers (Elsevier & Stanford author database). Link
  • 2023 — Highly Cited Review (Advances in Applied Energy): GIScience can facilitate the development of solar cities for energy transition. Link
  • 2023 — Princeton CSML–Microsoft Azure mini-award — $5,000.
  • 2019 — President’s Award for Scientific Publications (Sri Lanka).
  • 2017 — Outstanding paper (top of ~800) at Applied Energy Conference for Quantifying the impact of urban climate by extending the boundaries of urban energy system modeling. Link
  • 2018 — Selected to represent EPFL at the Global Young Scientists Summit, Singapore.
  • 2017 — Award for exceptional contribution, Dean, ENAC (EPFL).
  • 2015 — President’s Award for Scientific Publications (Sri Lanka).
  • 2014 — National Research Council (Sri Lanka) Merit Award for Scientific Publication.
  • 2014 — Postgraduate research scholarship, EPFL Switzerland.
  • 2013 — SLAAS Postgraduate Research Award, Section C (Engineering, Architecture, Surveying).
  • 2010 — Best undergraduate research project in Mechanical Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

Note: The SLAAS Postgraduate Research Award is presented to the best postgraduate project completed in 2012/2013 and evaluated based on publications; eligible to students registered at Sri Lankan universities or research institutes.

Teaching

Research supervision and teaching across Princeton, ETH Zurich, EPFL, UCL, and the University of Moratuwa.

Research supervision
  • Co-Supervisor of Reza Fardi, PhD student, University of Groningen, Netherlands (since 2024)
  • Co-Supervisor of Maya Mutic, pre-doc student, Princeton University (2023)
  • Two master research projects, ETH Zurich (2020–2021)
  • 12 master research projects in Mechanical Engineering, Energy Management, and Environmental Engineering programs, EPFL (2015–2019)
  • 10 undergraduate final-year projects, BSc Mechanical Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2010–2012)
Modules to be conducted — University College London (UCL), UK
  • Master’s: Machine Learning in Smart Buildings (Lecturing Spring 2021)
Modules conducted — ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • Bachelor’s: Building Physics III — Non-stationary heat transfer (Lecturing Spring 2020)
Modules conducted — EPFL, Switzerland
  • Bachelor’s: Building Physics 1 (Assistantship only; 2015–2019)
  • Bachelor’s: Building Physics 2 (Assistantship only; 2015–2019)
Modules conducted — University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
  • Bachelor’s: ME 1822 — Basic Engineering Thermodynamics (Lecturer & practical coordinator; 2011–2014)
  • Bachelor’s: ME 2032 — Thermodynamics of Heat Engines & Work Transfer Devices (Lecturer & module coordinator; 2012–2014)
  • Bachelor’s: ME 4242 — Energy Technology and Environment (Lecturer & practical coordinator; 2013)
  • Bachelor’s: ME 1042 — Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Systems (Lecturer; 2014)