BSc (Eng) Mechatronics UCT
MSc Electrical Engineering UCT
MSc FinMaths UCT

Senior Research Officer

Email: bruno.merven@uct.ac.za

Overview/ Research interests

Bruno has been working in the field of energy systems modelling and planning since 2005. He has worked on and has been involved in the development of several energy systems models of South Africa, Southern and Eastern Africa, West Africa, North Africa, South-East Europe, and in the Middle East, on various modelling platforms. In recent years, he’s been centrally involved in the linking of the South African TIMES model (SATIM), developed at the ERC and eSAGE, a CGE model based on the standard IFPRI CGE model with some detail added in the energy sector. The linked modelling framework, SATIMGE, has been used for several projects done by the Energy Systems Research Group, and is currently being used to update South Africa’s NDC for DEFF. Bruno also lectures/supervises MSc students on the Energy Systems Analysis Course at UCT and has been involved in several capacity building projects across Southern and Western Africa for the IAEA and IRENA. He holds a MSc Mathematics of Finance (UCT, 2008), an MSc in Electrical Engineering (UCT, 2004), and a BSc (Hons) in Engineering (Mechatronics) (UCT, 1999) and is currently also finalizing his PhD

Teaching:

  • Postgraduate Student Supervision

Publication Profile

  • McCall, B., Burton, J., Marquard, A., Hartley, F., Ahjum, F., Ireland, G. and Merven, B. 2019. Least cost integrated resource planning and cost-optimal climate change mitigation policy — Alternatives for the South African electricity system. SA-TIED working paper 29.
  • Merven, B., Hartley, F. and Ahjum, F. 2019. Road freight and energy in South Africa. SA-TIED working paper 60.
  • Merven, B., Hartley, F., Mccall, B., Burton,B., and Schers, J. 2019. Improved representation of coal supply for the power sector for South Africa. SA-TIED working paper 84.
  • Merven, B., Hartley, F. and Schers, J. 2020. Long term modelling of household demand and its implications for energy planning. SA-TIED working paper 99.
  • McCall, B., Burton, J., Marquard, A., Hartley, F., Ahjum, F., Ireland, G. and Merven, B., 2019. Least-cost integrated resource planning and cost-optimal climate change mitigation policy: Alternatives for the South African electricity system. Energy Research.
  • Merven, B., Hartley, F. and Arndt, C., 2019. Quantifying the macro-and socio-economic benefits of a transition to renewable energy in South Africa.
  • Arndt, C., Arent, D., Hartley, F., Merven, B. and Mondal, A.H., 2019. Faster Than You Think: Renewable Energy and Developing Countries. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 11.
  • Merven, B., Hartley, F. and Ahjum, F., 2019, SA-TIED working paper: Road freight and energy in South Africa.
  • Russow, D, Miketa, A, Merven B, Western African Power Pool: Planning and Prospects for Renewable Energy, IRENA, 2018. https://www.irena.org/publications/2018/Nov/Planning-and-prospects-for-renewable-power
  • Ahjum F, Merven B, Cullis J, Goldstein G, DeLaquil P, Stone A. Development of a national water‐energy system model with emphasis on the power sector for south africa. Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy. 2018 Jan;37(1):132-47.
  • Bruno Merven, Gregory Ireland, Faaiqa Hartley, Channing Arndt, Alison Hughes, Fadiel Ahjum, Bryce Mccall, And Tara Caetano, 2018. Quantifying the macro- and socio-economic benefits of a transition to renewable energy in South Africa, SA-TIED working paper.
  • C. Arndt, F. Hartley, G. Ireland, K. Mahrt, B. Merven, And J. Wright, 2018. Developments in variable renewable energy and implications for developing countries, SA-TIED working paper.
  • Fadiel Ahjum, Bruno Merven, Adrian Stone, Tara Caetano, 2018. Road transport vehicles in South Africa towards 2050: Factors influencing technology choice and implications for fuel supply. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa Vol 29, Number 3.
  • Stone A, Merven B, Maseela T, Moonsamy R. Providing a foundation for road transport energy demand analysis: The development of a vehicle parc model for South Africa. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa. 2018 Jun 22;29(2):29-42.
  • Caetano T, Merven B, Hartley F, Ahjum F. Decarbonisation and the transport sector: A socio-economic analysis of transport sector futures in South Africa. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa. 2017 Nov;28(4):9-18.
  • Durbach, I., Merven, B. and McCall, B., 2017. Expert elicitation of autocorrelated time series with application to e3 (energy-environment-economic) forecasting models. Environmental Modelling & Software, 88, pp.93-105.Merven, B., Arndt, C. and Winkler, H.E., 2017.  (No. 2017/40). WIDER Working Paper.
  • Ireland, G., Hughes A., Merven, B. A Techno-economic Renewable Mini-grid Simulation and Costing Model for Off-grid Rural Electrification including various Generation” and Storage Technology Options”. DUE 2017.
  • Caetano, T. and Merven, B., 2017. Energy system and economy-wide implications of a rapid transition to decarbonized energy in South Africa (No. 2017/39). WIDER Working Paper.
  • MERVEN, B., MARQUARD, A., SENATLA, M., STONE, A., MCCALL, B. and AHJUM, F., 2017. The long-term uptake of natural gas in the South African energy system.
  • Rodriguez, D., Delgado, A., Bazilian, M., Ahjum, F., Cullis, J., DeLaquil, P., Goldstein, G., Liden, R., Merven, B., Miralles-Wilhelm, F. and Sohns, A., Water Constrains South Africa’s Energy Future: A Case Study on Integrated Energy-Water Nexus Modeling and Analysis.
  • Altieri, K.E., Trollip, H., Caetano, T., Hughes, A., Merven, B. and Winkler, H., 2016. Achieving development and mitigation objectives through a decarbonization development pathway in South Africa. Climate Policy, 16(sup1), pp.S78-S91.
  • Arndt, C., Davies, R., Gabriel, S., Makrelov, K., Merven, B., Salie, F., & Thurlow, J. (2014). An integrated approach to modelling energy policy in South Africa.
  • Arndt, C., Davies, R., Makrelov, K., Merven, B., Hartley, F., & Thurlow, J. (2014). Economy-wide Implications of Energy Build Plans: A Linked Modelling Approach.Energy Procedia,61, 2862-2866.
  • Merven, B, Moyo, A, Stone, A, Dane, A and Winkler, H. Socio-economic implications of mitigation in the power sector including carbon taxes in South Africa, ERC working paper 2014.
  • Miketa, A, Merven B, Southern African Power Pool: Planning and Prospects for Renewable Energy, IRENA, 2014.
  • Miketa, A, Merven B, Western African Power Pool: Planning and Prospects for Renewable Energy, IRENA, 2014.
  • Merven, B, A, Hughes (ERC). Towards a New Power Plan. Technical Report for the NPC, 2013.
  • Tembo, Bernard, and Bruno Merven. "Policy options for the sustainable development of Zambia's electricity sector." Journal of Energy in Southern Africa 24.2 (2013): 16-27.
  • Yessian, K., DeLaquil, P., Merven, B., Gargiulo, M., & Goldstein, G. (2013). Economic analysis of clean energy options for Kuwait.International Journal of Energy Sector Management,7(1), 29-45.
  • Merven, B, Stone, A, Hughes, A & Cohen, B. 2012. Quantifying the energy needs of the transport sector for South Africa: A bottom-up model. ERC Working paper
  • Merven, B, Hughes, A & Davis, S. 2010. An analysis of energy consumption for a selection of countries in the Southern African Development Community. Journal of Energy in Southern Africa 21
  • Marquard, A, Merven, B & Tyler, E. 2008. Costing a 2020 target of 15% renewable electricity for South Africa. (With an appendix by Kilian Hagemann on South African wind resources.)
  • Merven, B 2008. Master Dissertation: Real Options Valuation of a Power Generation Project: A Monte Carlo Approach, UCT.
  • Merven B, Heinrich G 2007. Expansion Planning in the South African Power Sector Using TIMES. IEW 2007.
  • Merven, B 2004. Master Dissertation: Person Tracking in 3D Using Kalman Filtering in Single and Multiple Camera Environments, UCT.
  • Multi-Camera Person Tracking using an Extended Kalman Filter. Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa (PRASA) conference, Cape Town 2003.
  • Auto Camera Calibration Method for Person Tracking Applications. Scandinavian Conference on Image Analysis (SCIA), Gothenberg, 2003.
  • Fuzzy Flow number controller for propane grade polythene. Sasol symposium on process control, Germany, 2001