Hadi is a Ph.D. student at the Sustainable Energy Research Group (SERG) at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of the University of Canterbury. His research focuses on green hydrogen and renewable energy integration, with a particular emphasis on modelling industrial energy hubs in future energy systems. He works on techno-economic and scenario-based analyses to explore the role of hydrogen in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation, shipping, and heavy industry. His current work contributes to the New Zealand-German Platform for Green Hydrogen Integration (HINT) project.
With a background in electrical engineering and energy systems planning, Hadi brings both academic and industry experience to his research. He has worked on large-scale solar PV and emergency electricity supply projects, and now contributes to the development of open-source models like PyPSA-Earth to support national energy transition planning. His key interests include renewable energy economics, energy markets, and multi-carrier energy systems.
Supervisors:
Featured publications:
- Journal papers:
- Vatankhah Ghadim H., Peer R., Read E.G., Haas J. “How much hydrogen could we need in New Zealand? Understanding the diverse hydrogen applications and their regional mapping”, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Jul 2024, Link
- Vatankhah Ghadim H., Haas J., Breyer C., Gils H.C., Read E.G., Xiao M., Peer R. “Are we too pessimistic? Cost projections for solar photovoltaics, wind power, and batteries are over-estimating actual costs”. Applied Energy, Apr 2025, Link
- Langer L., Bruninx K., Bjørn A., Barner L., Lavalley J., Vatankhah Ghadim H., Bramstoft R. "Ensuring low-emission electricity purchasing requires a broader systems perspective". iScience, Apr 2025, Link
- Conference proceedings:
- Vatankhah Ghadim H., Canessa R., Haas J., Peer R. “Electrolyzer cost projections compared to actual market costs: a critical analysis”. Proceedings of 12th IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies – Asia, Nov 2023, Auckland, New Zealand. Link
- Vatankhah Ghadim H., Ebadi Torkayesh A., Haas J., Peer R., Walther G., Venghaus S. “Green Skies Ahead: Streamlining the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply Chain in New Zealand”. 33rd European Conference on Operational Research, Jun 2024, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Vatankhah Ghadim H. "A Trans-Tasman Subsea HVDC Interconnection: An Alternative to Hydrogen for Electricity Buffer". PyPSA-meets-Earth Users' Regional Studies Meetup, Mar 2025, Berlin, Germany (Online), Link.
- Book chapters:
- Vatankhah Ghadim H., Fallah-Ardashir J., Odonkor P. "Effective factors and policies in Electrical Energy Security". In the book: The Handbook of Energy Policy, Springer Nature, Singapore, Link.
