• CERAWEEK 2025 | March 10-14, 2025
  • CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Francis O'Sullivan

Lincoln Clean Energy, LLC

Senior Vice President, Strategy

Dr. Francis O’Sullivan is Senior Vice President, Strategy at Lincoln Clean Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orsted. In this role Frank is responsible for long-term market analysis and modelling to support Orstead’s onshore investment program in wind, solar and storage globally. Prior to joining Orsted, Frank was Director of Research and Analysis for the MIT Energy Initiative, and a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was Co-Director of the MIT Electric Power System Center. Dr. O’Sullivan’s academic, public and private sector work has focused energy markets analysis and design, with a particular focus on the economic and technical issues associated with large-scale integration of intermittent renewables in marginal cost-based electricity markets.

Dr. O’Sullivan has written and spoken widely on these topics, and has made presentations to the U.S. President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, the EIA, the EPA, the IEA, the Brookings Institute, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the National Governors’ Association, the National Association of Regulated Utility Commissioners, at CERAWeek, the American Physical Society, the American Geophysical Union and to numerous other academic, policy and industry forums. He was a lead author of the 2011 MIT Future of Natural Gas study, the 2015 MIT Future of Solar Energy study, and is a member of the upcoming MIT Future of Storage study working group. Dr. O’Sullivan is a member of the U.S. National Academies’ Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, he is a Senior Associate with the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and he is a Distinguished Associate with the Energy Futures Initiative. He has also served as a member of the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s working group on methane emissions, and as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy for the 2016 Quadrennial Energy Review. Prior to Orsted and MIT, Dr. O’Sullivan was a senior consultant with McKinsey & Company. Frank received his Ph.D., E.E., and S.M. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his B.E. degree from the National University of Ireland, all in electrical engineering.

Sessions With Francis O'Sullivan

Wednesday, 11 March

  • 03:30pm - 04:20pm (CST) / -

    Renewables & Grid Integration: Enabling technologies
    Clean Tech Innovation & Technology

    Declining costs in wind and solar are having a positive impact on increased renewable power generation. However, renewable integration into the electricity power grid is still in the early stages of development. What are the challenges to completely integrating with the grid? How have technological solutions managed load balancing and demand swings? What obstacles impede growth in renewable portfolios? 

Thursday, 12 March

  • 07:30am - 08:40am (CST) / -

    How PV Competes in a Low Cost, Low Revenue Environment?
    Clean Tech
    Utility-scale solar PV accounted for 20% of power capacity additions last year, growing from virtually nothing at the beginning of the century to over 270 GW of installed capacity in 2019. Solar power plants are expected to grow faster than any other technology, with installations to at least double again by 2030. At the same time, costs for newly installed systems have plummeted, driven by continuous innovations in the supply chain and fierce competition among developers owing to the phaseout of direct subsidies and the introduction of competitive tenders. Will the supply chain be able to deliver on expectations of further cost reductions? How can companies stay competitive in an extremely low-price tender environment? What is the reality behind “zero-subsidy” bids in recent solar auctions? How can developers deal with the risks of value erosion through revenue cannibalization in merchant markets?
  • 11:30am - 12:20pm (CST) / -

    New Pathways for collaboration: Big Data and Offshore Wind