Mario Veiga Pereira

mario@psr-inc.com

Mario Pereira is an electrical engineer and has MSc and PhD degrees in optimization. He founded PSR in 1987 and has been the company’s CEO until December 2018, when he became Chief Innovation Officer (CINO). In Brazil, he has advised most international and local investors on contracting strategies, acquisitions and investment in new capacity. He was also a Principal Presidential Advisor on the management of the 2001 energy crisis and in the design of the 2004 new power market rules. He was the lead formulator of the country’s energy contracting auctions (80 GW of new generation capacity contracted since 2005, for about US$ 550 billion); co-designed the country’s bioelectricity program (sugarcane biomass); and developed methodologies for wind energy auctions. Some of his recent international consulting activities include the development of a new generation planning model for the US Pacific Northwest and Western Interconnection; a price forecasting system for the Scandinavian Nordpool; the power market reform of Turkey, Vietnam and Mexico; the interconnection study of 8 South American countries; and studies for renewable integration in several countries worldwide. Dr. Pereira is a leading developer of advanced optimization methods. His stochastic dual dynamic programming (SDDP) algorithm is a worldwide reference and applied in dozens of countries. He also developed novel methods for optimal expansion planning and supply reliability evaluation. Dr. Pereira is an IEEE Fellow; an elected member of Brazil’s Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering; was awarded a Presidential Medal for his contribution to Brazil’s electricity sector; a Scientific Merit Medal for his research contributions; and is a co-recipient of the Franz Edelman Award for the development of stochastic optimization tools for the operation of hydrothermal systems. He is the author and co-author of four books and about 200 papers in refereed journals.